Walk from our accommodation to Port Arthur
Today we got up and packed the rest of our stuff and loaded it into the car. We left at 9:30 am and drove to Richmond to look at the old bridge that was built in 1823. There were ducks and ducklings in the river which Nathan and Toby loved. Then we continued on our way to Port Arthur. We made a couple of stops near Eaglehawk Neck; one to see the tessellated pavement, and another to visit the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park.
At the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park we saw a couple of devils being fed. The first one was the mother of 4 month old imps (baby devils, they can also be called joeys), but they were too young to eat meat, so they did not come out of the nest. We had some lunch and then went to see another Tasmanian Devil being fed. The enclosure he was in had a tunnel that we (or the kids) could crawl through, and there was a plastic dome, or bubble, where you could look out into the enclosure. When the keeper came he threw some food right up to the bubble, so we had a very close encounter with the devil. I tried to hold both kids up to the bubble at the same time, but they are heavy and I wasn’t really successful.
We had a look at some of the other devils there, and some other birds and animals, but Toby was tired and resisting being in the mei tai so we left, and Toby was asleep 5 minutes later in the car. We drove to our accommodation, a very nice cabin close to the historic site of Port Arthur. It was very fancy, with loads of space, a balcony, spa bath, nice kitchen, and even a dishwasher, washing machine and dryer. We had a lovely view from the windows of trees, since it was a pretty bushy place but Andrew was disappointed that we didn’t have a view if the bay.
Toby didn’t sleep long, so after he woke we went to a supermarket to get a few things, then went for a walk from our cabin to the historic site. By this time it was getting quite late in the afternoon, and both Toby and Nathan were tired and cranky and it was a very difficult walk, so I took them back to the cabin and left Andrew to look around the historical site for a bit before coming back.
The kids had a bubble bath in the spa while i cooked dinner. It was their first bath since we have been away, so it was already exciting for them to have a bath, but life couldn’t get any better for them when we turned on the spa jets. After dinner the kids were so tired that they both went to sleep pretty easily, so I got to relax in the bath before bed (without the jets because they were pretty noisy).
Toby showing Angus Bear the sights
Lookout on the way to the Tessellated Pavement
Mummy devil having lunch next to her nest
Kiln at Port Arthur historical site
