Port Arthur

We returned to the historic site in the morning to see the things we couldn't get to yesterday.
We started at the talk in the Separate Prison, where we heard about the regime that drove many insane. Thereafter, we saw the old hospital ruins and military area, the cottage allocated to Smith O'Brien, an Irish Nationalist political prisoner who was given special status, finishing at the Commandants House.
We left the site at lunchtime to drive the short distance to Remarkable Cave, which we descended 115 stairs to see. Returning to the top, this was the start point for a bush walk along the cliffs . The pathway was fairly busy with people returning from the walk to Mt Brown. We set off, walking along a well defined pathway once again (walking here is very well catered for). We passed over a viewing point for a blowhole many hundreds of feet below us, and continued through scrub land until we reached the bottom of the mountain. The last part of the walk involved a fairly steep scramble up through rocks to reach the peak, where there were great views of Stewarts Bay, Puel Point and the headlands. We then had to retrace our steps back to the car park, again arriving back pretty exhausted.Read more