On to Hobart...

 

 

     On January 2, 2019 Andrea, Adam, Owen, and Olivia flew back to Sydney from Launceston. While Steve and I took a bus about two hours south to the largest city of Tasmania, Hobart, about double the size of Launceston and a lot busier.

 
     We were happy to just settle into our hotel, wander about, and visit the visitor center for sightseeing ideas. We arrived in town just after the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, an annual sailing event that brings loads of tourists to Tasmania. Plus, The Taste of Tasmania was still in full swing along the waterfront. It's the peak of summer here now and the height of tourist season Down Under. And it's hot!
     Steve and I separated for a bit that first afternoon and he stumbled upon an interesting place -- Mawson's Huts Replica Museum. Apparently in January 1912 a group of 18 scientists and technical folks under the leadership of geologist Douglas Mawson landed at Macquarie Island following a monthlong sea voyage from Hobart. It was the beginning of Australia's exploration of the Antarctic.

Macquarie Island vis-à-vis Australia and Antarctica

 
     From there the team headed south to Cape Denison on Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. There the expedition set about building two huts that would shelter them and their dogs for two years as they learned about survival at the South Pole. The huts had to withstand freezing blizzards and hurricane level winds. When the expedition team finally returned home in 1914, they left the huts behind with many of their personal effects. The huts lay frozen and undisturbed for 60 years! Starting in the 1970s efforts were begun to preserve the huts and their contents. Exact replicas of them can now be visited along the Hobart waterfront.

Cape Denison, Antarctica

     On our second day in Hobart, we were delighted to meet with Dany and Dave. Dear Seattle friend Veleta first met Dany around 30 years ago when they worked together as architects in Liverpool, England. About 20 years ago, Dany decided to move from England to Hobart. Lucky for us! Steve and I enjoyed a lovely lunch in the magnificent Hobart Botanical Gardens with them. And then they took us for a drive to the summit of Mt. Wellington. And finally a visit to their home and beautiful garden. Thank you, Dany and Dave, for such a perfect day!

Dany, Steve, and Dave
 

Dave, Dany, Sara

Hobart's Botanical Gardens

 

Dany in her own garden.

     On our final full day in Hobart, Steve and I decided to take an all-day tour to Port Arthur, a key reminder of Australia's convict past. Today Port Arthur is a World Heritage Site run by UNESCO, but it used to be known as the end of the line for repeat offenders who were "transported" to Van Diemen's Land (the old name for Tasmania).

     Located about 100 kilometers southeast of Hobart, the first convicts were sent to Port Arthur in 1830 to clear the site and build the British penal colony. From 1833 until its closing in 1877, Port Arthur was used to house criminals from throughout the colonies. By 1840 there were more than 2,000 convicts, soldiers, and civilian staff living there. The prisoners all worked and a variety of goods and materials were produced at the site, including: bricks, boats, furniture, shoes, and clothing. And when they died, their bodies were shipped to the nearby Isle of the Dead.

Remains of the penal colony at Port Arthur.

 

Church at Port Arthur -- all prisoners had to attend.

Isle of the Dead - where some 1,100 people (prisoners, soldiers, and staff) are buried.

A nice spot for a prison.

     On April 28, 1996, Port Arthur experienced another piece of its difficult history when it became the site of an horrific massacre. A mad gunman took the lives of 35 people and wounded 19 more. Today, there is a Memorial Garden on the former site of the Broad Arrow Café where 20 visitors and staff were killed. The killer's name is never mentioned. This tragedy became the impetus for massive gun reform in Australia and there has never been another mass murder since. Sigh, if only the US could learn the same lesson that it took Australians only one atrocity to figure out...

     Steve and I are now back in Sydney with the family. And in just 10 days we'll be flying home to the Pacific Northwest. That's all for now...