Mini break in Tasmania

Hubby and I recently went to Tasmania for a mini break.  We stayed in Hobart as there were several things we wanted to do in the area so it seemed a good place to base ourselves.  We had a wonderful time, the weather was very kind to us and we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful scenery and views Tasmania has to offer.  

We hired a car so we could travel around and our first stop after getting off the plane was Richmond.   I visited Richmond in 1984, the bridge built by convicts is still beautiful, the gardens have improved and we took the opportunity to visit Richmond gaol, the oldest gaol in Australia that has been left in it's original state. Before that we had a yummy brunch at this lovely cafe.

Richmond gaol

This is a man trap and were set to capture escaped convicts.  It looks horrible.

 

The irons prisoners were often held in.

 Although this was quite a gruesome place to visit, I was interested in learning the history of how some early our Australians were treated.  Not very pleasantly it would seem.

Opposite our hotel in Hobart was this lovely display of Violas and

there was a fountain in the middle of these trees that was lit up at night.

The view from our hotel window.  I love the yellow green colour of the leaves on the trees.

On one of our days we visited Port Arthur, stopping for coffee on the way at a lovely cafe in Dunalley which overlooked the water.

 
We also wanted to stop at Dunalley to inject a little money into their local economy after the devastating bush fires in January this year.  We saw mile after mile of burnt bushland and many houses being rebuilt as we drove along the road.

I visited Port Arthur in 1984 and am very impressed at the amount of work that has been undertaken to improve this wonderful historic site including some beautiful gardens.  There is much information available, guided tours if you like, or as we did, wander around at our leisure immersing ourselves in the history of the buildings, enjoying a ferry ride which was included in our entry fee.  Here are a few photos from our visit.

A view from our ferry ride.

Beautiful old church ruins.

As you can see our weather was lovely.  After our visit to Port Arthur, we stopped to look at the Blowhole, Tessellated Pavement, Tasman's Arch and the Devil's Kitchen, which I'll share in another post.

Anne  xx