Port Arthur in the rain

The remains of the penitentiary on a very wet day

The penal settlement of Port Arthur was a sobering experience. To walk among the ruins of this infamous place would have had an effect anyway but the misery of the existence of these poor souls was brought home even more with the rain pouring down.

The commandant's house

The church looking suitably ghostly during the ghost tour in the evening

Fortunately the second day was more clement and we had a very interesting trip to the Isle of the Dead where the convicts and their overseers were buried. 

Graves on the Isle of the Dead

A strikingly simple memorial to those killed
in the 1996 massacre

A tour guide who was passionate about her subject made it very interesting and the whole visit was well worth while. Add to that the memorial to those who were killed in the massacre of 1996 when a gunman ran amok and we were very quiet in the van for a while.

All the time of course we were checking on the progress of Yasi which was threatening to be catastrophic. It was indeed a monster and many places are destroyed but thankfully (and unbelievably) no lives have been lost. We have had no adverse reports of our house at Dingo Beach so we assume it is still standing. Many people are not so lucky.

The best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley. We have an ongoing problem with the toilet in the Winnebago for which we have been waiting for parts. Everything arrived the other day and therefore we set Monday as repair day, after which we would move on, do the remaining bits of Tasmania on the way to the boat to cross back to the mainland. A phone call from Winnebago today tells us that when they unpacked the new toilet bowl today in preparation for Monday, they found it had been smashed in transit. So we are back to the drawing board. Since it takes 10 days to get things sent we will now do our trip and come back to Hobart for the repair. The whole thing is a pain, and I can't wait to make a visit to Winnebago headquarters in NSW.