On the water
Feb. 5th, 2005 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithTwo noticable things about Strahan, firstly how tourist orientated it is. Down on the Esplanade, you'll find cafes, restaurants, accommodation cottages, the Visitor's centres and souvenir shops. All aimed at tourists. All right, that's not all there is. There are also the harbour cruise ships, the helicopters & light planes offering to give you aerial views and the yachts to charter.
The second thing is a serious lack of things to actually do. OK there's the odd building to look at and the old cemetery and a waterfall somewhere but they're usually extra things in addition to the "tourist attractions". I guess this is because you don't go to Strahan to look at Strahan.
Especially at 5 pm when it's very windy and cold. We did, however, go to the Visitors Centre where they have a rather cool exhibition about the area -- aborigines, convicts, piners, HEC & protestors.
That's Macquarie Harbour wrapped into one little bundle. You can go home now.
Instead, we went back up the street a bit and found the little supermarket/takeaway/laundrette/everything else shop (with cabins for accommodation out the back) and bought pizza for tea. Then we went back to the backpackers where we were staying, had a cup of tea, put the camera batteries on to recharge and went to bed.
The next morning, we got up, had breakfast and packed. And I discovered one of the batteries wasn't sitting in the charger properly. Possibly not a problem, the batteries usually last a while unless I use the flash.
Now we come to the reason for the trip, the harbour cruise out on Macquarie Harbour. (Quick peek at the map from yesterday -- Macquarie Harbour is the second biggest harbour in the country, after Port Phillip (Melbourne). We thought we were getting there nice & early (8.30 am for a 9.00 start) but all the good seats (side tables with views of both sides) were gone. We got a side table near the back. While we waited, we read the paper, at least mother did, and discovered that the day before there'd been wild weather to the east (around Launceston), the sort that takes out powerlines, beaches small boats and takes roofs off houses. Up in Melbourne, they had the coldest day in February ever recorded (13 0C/55 F) and it snowed in Sydney. Made our windy, cold & threatening to rain weather not seem to bad.
Until we took off.
The little white thing is the ferry for the other cruise company. For a better effect, there's a 5 second video
The ferry has three decks - the main & middle ones were enclosed seating with tables, and a bit out the back that was open; the top deck was all open. Obviously the top deck, with no obstructions, was the best place to take photos except as we headed toward Hells Gates it was a bit windy. The sort of windy where the air is blown away before you can breath it in and the saliva is blown out of your mouth. Needless to say there weren't many people up there and the couple that were spent most of the time huddled behind the little wall, occasionally sticking their head up to see where we were.
We didn't quite get there though. The captain announced they were turning around to go to Sarah Island first and we'd come back to Hells Gates later, when the tide was running the other way and it was, hopefully, less windy.
And so we headed for Sarah Island.
As we got closer, we could see some of the ruins.
We'll take a break here for a history lesson. Anyone who feels they are familiar with the history of Sarah Island may skip down to the next photo. Right, all ready?
Sarah Island was the site of the first penal settlement in Van Diemen's Land. Started about 1823, just 20 years after the British settlers arrived, it was a place of secondary punishment for repeat offenders. It was intended to be a deterrent. "Behave or you'll be sent to Macquarie Harbour." So, the punishment was brutal - flogging with a modified cat-o-nine-tails, solitary confinement - and the conditions were bad. A slave labour camp. From which escape was almost impossible -- an island in the middle of a remote harbour, surrounded by impenetrable forest (and ss we'll see later, by forest we're not talking just tall trees with some bushes growing down low) and a long way overland to civilisation. Anyone that did manage to escape, would most likely starve to death.
Some did. Most of the successful escapes were by water, stealing a whale boat or ship. There were some other ways (don't read if you're squeamish)
In later years there was a change of management, who realised that treating men well resulted in better works. I think it was in this later period that most of the shipbuilding happened. In the early year, it was timber cutting, particularly the lovely Huon Pine, which as being an attractive timber doesn't rot and it wonderful for ship building.
The settlement was finally abandoned in 1834, in favour of Port Arthur, which was much more accessible from Hobart.
Back to the present.
Bakehouse.
Gaol. Six solitary confinement cells (I think five are visible there) with their thick walls. Physcial punishment (floggin) combined with pyschological punishment (isolation), guaranteed to break a man's spirit?
I know a couple of those people!
The penitentiary is from the later years. The penitentiary was the barracks/dormitory, as opposed to the gaol, which was for punishment.
You can't really see the wind in the photos. As one guy in the group said, "just sending them here with the wind would be bad enough, don't need to work too". Although it was coming from a different direction than usual.
We had an hour on the island and the tour took up most of that, so there wasn't really time to look around on our own, unless we skipped the tour, before we had to head back to the ferry and leave. Is that blue sky starting to appear?
After leaving the island, the ferry headed for Gordon River, best known because it wasn't dammed 20 years ago.
But that's tomorrow's tale.
The second thing is a serious lack of things to actually do. OK there's the odd building to look at and the old cemetery and a waterfall somewhere but they're usually extra things in addition to the "tourist attractions". I guess this is because you don't go to Strahan to look at Strahan.
Especially at 5 pm when it's very windy and cold. We did, however, go to the Visitors Centre where they have a rather cool exhibition about the area -- aborigines, convicts, piners, HEC & protestors.
That's Macquarie Harbour wrapped into one little bundle. You can go home now.
Instead, we went back up the street a bit and found the little supermarket/takeaway/laundrette/everything else shop (with cabins for accommodation out the back) and bought pizza for tea. Then we went back to the backpackers where we were staying, had a cup of tea, put the camera batteries on to recharge and went to bed.
The next morning, we got up, had breakfast and packed. And I discovered one of the batteries wasn't sitting in the charger properly. Possibly not a problem, the batteries usually last a while unless I use the flash.
Now we come to the reason for the trip, the harbour cruise out on Macquarie Harbour. (Quick peek at the map from yesterday -- Macquarie Harbour is the second biggest harbour in the country, after Port Phillip (Melbourne). We thought we were getting there nice & early (8.30 am for a 9.00 start) but all the good seats (side tables with views of both sides) were gone. We got a side table near the back. While we waited, we read the paper, at least mother did, and discovered that the day before there'd been wild weather to the east (around Launceston), the sort that takes out powerlines, beaches small boats and takes roofs off houses. Up in Melbourne, they had the coldest day in February ever recorded (13 0C/55 F) and it snowed in Sydney. Made our windy, cold & threatening to rain weather not seem to bad.
Until we took off.
The little white thing is the ferry for the other cruise company. For a better effect, there's a 5 second video
The ferry has three decks - the main & middle ones were enclosed seating with tables, and a bit out the back that was open; the top deck was all open. Obviously the top deck, with no obstructions, was the best place to take photos except as we headed toward Hells Gates it was a bit windy. The sort of windy where the air is blown away before you can breath it in and the saliva is blown out of your mouth. Needless to say there weren't many people up there and the couple that were spent most of the time huddled behind the little wall, occasionally sticking their head up to see where we were.
We didn't quite get there though. The captain announced they were turning around to go to Sarah Island first and we'd come back to Hells Gates later, when the tide was running the other way and it was, hopefully, less windy.
And so we headed for Sarah Island.
As we got closer, we could see some of the ruins.
We'll take a break here for a history lesson. Anyone who feels they are familiar with the history of Sarah Island may skip down to the next photo. Right, all ready?
Sarah Island was the site of the first penal settlement in Van Diemen's Land. Started about 1823, just 20 years after the British settlers arrived, it was a place of secondary punishment for repeat offenders. It was intended to be a deterrent. "Behave or you'll be sent to Macquarie Harbour." So, the punishment was brutal - flogging with a modified cat-o-nine-tails, solitary confinement - and the conditions were bad. A slave labour camp. From which escape was almost impossible -- an island in the middle of a remote harbour, surrounded by impenetrable forest (and ss we'll see later, by forest we're not talking just tall trees with some bushes growing down low) and a long way overland to civilisation. Anyone that did manage to escape, would most likely starve to death.
Some did. Most of the successful escapes were by water, stealing a whale boat or ship. There were some other ways (don't read if you're squeamish)
In later years there was a change of management, who realised that treating men well resulted in better works. I think it was in this later period that most of the shipbuilding happened. In the early year, it was timber cutting, particularly the lovely Huon Pine, which as being an attractive timber doesn't rot and it wonderful for ship building.
The settlement was finally abandoned in 1834, in favour of Port Arthur, which was much more accessible from Hobart.
Back to the present.
Bakehouse.
Gaol. Six solitary confinement cells (I think five are visible there) with their thick walls. Physcial punishment (floggin) combined with pyschological punishment (isolation), guaranteed to break a man's spirit?
I know a couple of those people!
The penitentiary is from the later years. The penitentiary was the barracks/dormitory, as opposed to the gaol, which was for punishment.
You can't really see the wind in the photos. As one guy in the group said, "just sending them here with the wind would be bad enough, don't need to work too". Although it was coming from a different direction than usual.
We had an hour on the island and the tour took up most of that, so there wasn't really time to look around on our own, unless we skipped the tour, before we had to head back to the ferry and leave. Is that blue sky starting to appear?
After leaving the island, the ferry headed for Gordon River, best known because it wasn't dammed 20 years ago.
But that's tomorrow's tale.
