Tasmania - Australia 2004 - page 622

Arch, Devil's Kitchen, and the Tessellated Pavement, as you pass through Eagle-
hawk Neck.
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE Port Arthur is a 1 1 ⁄ 2 -hour drive from Hobart via the Lyell
and Arthur highways. Tasmanian Tours & Travel Tigerline ( & 1300/653 633
in Australia, or 03/6272 6611; www.tigerline.com.au) runs trips from Hobart to
the former penal settlement on Tuesdays, Wednesdays (in summer only), Thurs-
days, Fridays, and Sundays. Tours cost A$60 (US$39) for adults and A$38
(US$25) for children 4 to 16. Another option also takes in Bushmills Pioneer
Settlement, a sawmill with old buildings, which features a narrow-gauge steam
railway. It's near Port Arthur. This tour costs A$70 (US$46) for adults and A$60
(US$39) for children 4 to 16. Tours depart from 199 Collins St. at 9am and return
around 5:30pm. Both trips include a guided tour of the Port Arthur site.
EXPLORING THE SITE
The Port Arthur Historic Site ( & 03/6251 2310; www.portarthur.org.au)
is large and scattered, with some 30, 19th-century buildings. (Most of the main
ones were damaged during bushfires in 1877, shortly after the property ceased
to be a penal institution.) You can tour the remains of the church, guard tower,
model prison, and several other buildings. It's best to tour the area with a guide,
who can describe what the buildings were originally used for. Don't miss the fas-
cinating museum in the old lunatic asylum, which has a scale model of the
prison complex, as well as leg irons and chains.
The site is open daily from 9am to 5pm; admission is A$22 (US$14) for adults,
A$10 (US$6.50) for children 4 to 12, and A$48 (US$31) for a family. The admis-
sion price is good for 2 consecutive days and includes a walking tour and a boat
cruise around the harbor, which leaves eight times daily in summer. There is also
a separate cruise to the Isle of the Dead off the coast of Port Arthur twice a day;
some 1,769 convicts and 180 free settlers were buried here, mostly in mass graves
with no headstones. The cruise costs an extra A$5 (US$3.25) per person.
A new visitor center opened in January 1999. The main feature is a fabulous
Interpretive Gallery, which takes visitors through the process of sentencing in
England to transportation to Van Dieman's Land. The gallery contains a court-
room, a section of a transport ship's hull, a blacksmith's shop, a lunatic asylum,
and more. Allow between 3 and 4 hours to explore the site and the gallery.
EN ROUTE TO PORT ARTHUR
On the way to Port Arthur you might want to stop off at the historic village of
Richmond and at the Tasmanian Devil Park Wildlife Rescue Centre.
Richmond is just 26km (16 miles) northeast of Hobart and is the site of the
country's oldest bridge (1823), the best-preserved convict jail in Australia
(1825), and several old churches, including St. John's Church (1836)—the old-
est Catholic church in the country. Richmond also has plenty of tearooms, crafts
shops, galleries, and antiques stores.
Eighty kilometers (50 miles) from Hobart is the Tasmanian Devil Park
Wildlife Rescue Centre, Port Arthur Highway, Taranna ( & 03/6250 3230; fax
03/6230 3406), which houses orphaned or injured native animals, including
Tasmanian devils, quolls, kangaroos, eagles, and owls. The park is open daily
from 9am to 5pm. Admission is A$12 (US$7.80) for adults, A$6 (US$3.90) for
children, and A$30 (US$20) for a family. Tasmanian devils are fed daily at 10