The Remarkable Cave on the Tasman Peninsula
We’d heard about the Remarkable Cave on the Tasman Peninsula, but when we got there we saw a sign for a lookout that we didn’t know about. The Maingon Bay Lookout was one of my favourite lookouts ever. 
There’s no way to convey how amazing it is through pictures. You’re just going to have to go there yourself! 
Here’s a close-up of Cape Raoul in the distance. See all the pinnacles and towers? There’s a walk you can do to the cape but it was 5-hour return with warnings of hazardous cliffs and unprotected track edges. Not the best choice for us right now. 
The waves hitting against the rocks were spectacular to watch. 
I just had such a feeling of peace here, watching the ocean swell and recede, listening to the sounds of the waves. 
Bonus toddler picture. 
After not nearly long enough at this lookout we made our way over to the trail for the Remarkable Cave. Um, it turns out it wasn’t really a trail. Just steps, lots of steps. Steps that would have to be climbed up again on our way out. 
Can you tell why it’s remarkable? 
See that shape that the cave makes? It’s the shape of Tasmania. Remarkable! 
TurboBug always gets the most comfy ride. It’s also a good way to contain him so we aren’t chasing a toddler all over the place. 
I wish I’d taken a picture of that sign. It had an old photograph on it showing people from decades ago sitting on a big boulder (still there in front of us, you can see part of it in one of the photos above) enjoying the view of the cave. 
We’d been looking forward to playing in the water. I’d read reviews about the hike that said you could go into the cave at low tide. But they’ve built a walkway now, probably to keep anyone from venturing in at high tide. 
And here we go… 
How do kids always have so much energy? She just bounded up the steps. 
This was a short, lovely walk that’s a must-do if you ever somehow find yourself on the Tasman Peninsula!
Port Arthur, part two
Part one can be found here. After our harbour cruise and some food we headed into the grounds to tour some of the buildings. We started with the penitentiary. I really wish there had been some signs with some detail to tell us more about this building. Other buildings did have information, so maybe we somehow missed it with this one. 
Once you went around back there was a walkway that led to another view. 
It’s been long enough that I’m fuzzy on the details about all the different buildings. 
This was the Commandant’s home. They’ve furnished and decorated many of the buildings. 
This little wooden doll freaked me out a little. I think it was the placement of it. Why the floor? 
Love this kitchen! 
Later the house was used as a boarding house, this was the bedroom of the lady that ran the house. 
Her daughter slept up in the loft. When I explained this to my kids they immediately all wanted to climb up there to see what it was like! Too bad it was blocked off. 
I think this was the pantry, but I have in my head a picture of a very different one. Maybe there was more than one, or maybe the one I’m thinking of was in a different house. 
This is the Guard Tower. 
I don’t even remember this at all, but it shows up in my pictures right after the Guard Tower. It must be in one of the nearby buildings. 
I think this is from the Junior Medical Officer’s House. If I’m remembering correctly, one of the doctors that lived here had something like nine children (or more?). 
I love this picture. :) I kept pointing out the wash basins to the kids, something we don’t see anymore. 
And the church. I love old churches. 
TurboBug thought he needed to stand here for a picture. He backed up to the wall and smiled and wouldn’t move until I’d taken one. 
Big Sister followed suit. 
According to the signs they don’t know who made these bells. They suspect it was a convict with previous experience at bell casting since it requires a specific skill set. These are probably the first bells cast in this country. 
This is another little church nearby, St David’s Church. LadyBug walked in and pronounced it small but beautiful. 
Port Arthur is huge. The entry ticket includes admission for two consecutive days. I would have liked to go back to explore some of the buildings we didn’t get to see. But two days in a row is too much for the kids…all that walking around all those boring old buildings. :) I really wish they’d allow you to do your second visit within a week or even a month. We were exhausted by the end of the day and we would have been dragging some pretty grumpy kids along if we’d done a second day. Sean did take SkeeterBug over to the Separate Prison, which made an impression on both of them. The convicts were treated pretty severely for minor infractions. Port Arthur was also the scene of an awful massacre in 1996. There’s a memorial garden and I also noticed a plaque in the visitor centre dedicated to the employees who were killed that day. It’s the event that spurred on Australia’s gun control laws. I won’t say more, you can easily search the web for more information. It was impossible not to walk around the grounds and think of that day. Our visit to Port Arthur was very educational for me, not knowing much about Australian history. JitterBug surprised me by saying this was one of his favourite things we did in Tasmania. I’m glad he forgot how tired his legs were that day. 😉
Port Arthur, part one
During our stay on the Tasman Peninsula we visited Port Arthur, a must-see for Australian history. It was fascinating. 
We went through the exhibition which teaches you about the lives of some of the convicts. We were each given a playing card which matched up to a convict’s name. You could read about their crimes and the work they did at the prison. The exhibits gave a look at various tools and such. It was very well done. Unfortunately it was not well lit, I suppose for atmosphere, so I didn’t take many pictures. The kids did try on the leg irons, which of course I needed a picture of! 
Then we headed outside for the group tour. 
The tour was quite interesting, but the kids were bored with all that talking and we had a toddler to chase. 
I think they said that this tree was one the British brought with them to remind them of home. That means it would have been planted in the mid to late 1800s. It was huge. 
Here’s TurboBug under it for some perspective. At one point during the tour we were able to keep him occupied collecting acorns in his hat. It worked for awhile. 🙂 
This is the penitentiary. The original building was damaged from a bushfire but they have done much work to preserve and restore it. 
A harbour cruise is included in admission, so we headed over for our turn to see the view from the boat. 
I don’t remember the names of these islands. You could do tours of them but we opted not to, it was pricey and the day was going to be long enough for the kids. One island had a cemetary, and the other was for kids. They wanted to separate the kids from the influence of the adult convicts. There were kids, prisoners, as young as nine on this island. 
Antarctica straight ahead!!! 
I think this is the one with the cemetary. The Isle of the Dead? 
While we were on the boat we ran into a couple we’d camped next to a few nights before and they snapped this pic of all of us. 
Back at the visitor centre we found this beautiful seat that the kids couldn’t resist lying on. 
I found this cute picture of TurboBug on my camera, the kids had been taking pictures of this other. I have no idea why his shoe is hanging there, but at least it wouldn’t get lost like that! 
Also this one in the lift. Such a LadyBug expression on her face. 
I have many more pictures from Port Arthur, so I’ll break it up into more than one post.
The Magical Beach in Dunalley, Tasmania
Our next stop after Freycinet National Park was the Tasman Peninsula. We stayed in Dunnalley at a spot right next to the beach. The first day we were there we headed down for a look. Thank goodness we did because it was the only good beach day we had during our stay there. The tide was out, the waves were calm, the water was shallow and warm. But there was something magical about this beach that we hadn’t anticipated. 
There were crabs everywhere! 
The kids called this sandy spot Crab Island. It was very hard to walk without stepping on a crab. 
It was so neat to watch them bury themselves in the sand. They’d turn in circles and make this pattern which dotted the beach. 
So sorry if you are looking at this and don’t like crabs. I thought they were gorgeous. It was a great experience for the kids to see so many in one place. We had so much fun watching them skitter around. 
Dad spotted something in the ocean. Can you see it? Another magical creature! 
It was just hanging out there in the shallow water, not moving. This was quite far from the shore. We didn’t get any closer. 
Such a great spot. Because the water was shallow it was so warm and nice to wade in. 
As the afternoon wore on the crabs all buried themselves in the sand. Suddenly the beach was bare. Magical, no? 
In one of the tide pools we found several of these squishy snail egg masses, complete with snails. This was before I knew what these gelatinous blobs were so I wondered why the snails liked them so much! 
The kids ran for their boogie boards. There weren’t any waves, but they pulled each other around and had great fun. 
This guy enjoys the boogie boards too. 
I love beach pictures. 
See the baby crab? They were hard to find. 
We saw more of those Pacific Gulls that we’d seen in Coles Bay. 
The others took off down the beach to look for a good fishing spot. I stayed behind with JitterBug and TurboBug. 
Love this kid. 
Suddenly he shouted ‘Is that an echidna?’ and wow, it was. On the beach. I’m not sure if it had been in the water or just walking down the shore. We watched as it headed across the beach and disappeared into the long grasses. 
It hesitated next to this water but then walked on through. 
I nearly forgot TurboBug was with us. He happily sat here for ages playing with the bucket and shovel. 
A great toddler smile! 
The next day it was windy. Very windy. The wind pushed the waves up the beach and the ocean was choppy. We never saw the crabs again. I’m so glad we headed down to the beach as soon as we got there. I think I have some videos of the crabs, I’ll put them in another post since this one is long enough!
We’re In the ACT!
So the blog’s been kind of silent. We came back from Tasmania toward the end of March after five weeks there. We loved it. We were exhausted and spent some time resting and recovering. We went back home for Easter and stayed a couple of weeks. Since then we’ve travelled into New South Wales. We spent time in Wagga Wagga and Junee. Now we are in Canberra and plan to stay a week or two to explore our capital city. I’m hoping to catch up on blogging while we are here. I’ve enjoyed a nice break from blogging but need to get back to it before I forget all the places we’ve been! More posts coming soon.
Nine Mile Beach near Swansea, Tasmania
We’d heard that the Nine Mile Beach near Swansea was a lovely beach so we stopped in for a look. We drove to the end of the road where we were surprised to find some caravans. There’s a sign that says camping is not encouraged, but I guess it isn’t prohibited. The vans were all hitched to their tow vehicles, maybe so they could leave easily if told to move along. What a spot! It was a nice warm day and the water was a beautiful blue. 
To the left is a view up the Meredith River. 
To the right is a view out to the open ocean. That’s the Freycinet National Park in the distance. 
We walked up to the end where the beach curves to the right. 
This was the view. Nine miles of beach stretching all the way back to Swansea. The waves are going in all different directions because of the curves of the coast and the river flowing into the sea. 
This little town a stone’s throw across the water is Swanwick (I believe). How would it be to live there? What a view! But do you see the giant sandbags? Not so sure about that. 
It was quite windy in this spot where the river met the ocean. I think it’s called Point Bagot. 
We see these gelatinous blobs all over the place. After some searching, I think they are these snail egg masses. We’ll have to bring along a magnifying glass to the beach sometime and have a look to see if we can spot any eggs in one. 
This seemed like such a special, secluded spot. In reality I bet it’s pretty popular in the summer months. 
The kids didn’t walk down the beach with us, they chose to stay behind and play in the shallow water. 
I never know exactly what this map will look like when I upload the blog post. On the left is Swansea. The Nine Mile Beach stretches across the middle of the picture. On the right where the river meets the sea, where the land nearly touches, that’s where we were. To the right of that is Freycinet National Park where we’d been camping. (You can zoom in or out to see it all better.) I feel blessed to have been there. We didn’t spend long, but I am so happy we took the time out of our drive to have a look.