I Saw The Devil, and Went to Prison (Final Day)

The final day in Tasmania we decided that we couldn’t come to Tasmania and not see a Tasmanian devil. We had already decided to go to Port Arthur and lucky for us there was a Tasmanian devil conservation park on the way to Port Arthur. We checked out of the hotel and piled our bags into the car and got an early start to day. It wasn’t long before we got to the conservation park, and I was pretty psyched about seeing the devils. The park was pretty small, but had lots of interactive things to do with the animals. We arrived just in time to feed the Kangaroos and wallabies. Although I had seen so many kangaroos at the campsite before it was really cool to be able to hand feed them. You could tell that the kangaroos knew what time it was because every time people came in the gate a few of them would bound over to see if they had any food. The guy came with the food and we could take small handfuls out of the bucket and hold it out for the kangaroos. They were not shy that is for sure. The shy ones were the Pademelons. They were small little wallabies that hid in the bush, but I was able to feed one of them.

After the kangaroos we headed over to catch a Tasmania devil feeding. This was quite a sight to be seen that is for sure. While we were waiting for the guy to come and feed them the two of them started to scrap. I think they were getting a bit anxious while waiting for their food. What they say is true they are vicious little things. The teeth were bearing and the noise! The noise they make is crazy. I don’t even know how to describe it, and I tried to get it on video but it wouldn’t work. I think my camera has been used and abused more then the average person and is on its final legs. Anyhow we watched the two scrap and growl with each other until the guy came to feed them. Well he dangled a hunk of meat over the side of the fence and the two of them went ape shit! They were jumping and clawing, growling and sputtering. He dropped the meat and one of them grabbed it and took off. The other one grabbed the other end and there was a serious stand off before they ripped in half. I am glad I can say that I was able to see Tasmanian devils feeding. After the devil feeding we went over for a bird show.

I wasn’t too keen on the bird show, and didn’t expect much from it, but I was pleasantly surprised. He only had 5 birds in total but they were great! The first was a gala named Bossi and he was very smart. Galas are a type of parrot her in Australia, and are very easily trained. He was pretty cute, but the next bird was a real show. He brought out a white bird and said that if you had a dollar coin to hold it between your thumb and forefinger with your arm outstretched. Of course I had to participate in this! I didn’t have and dollar coins but I had a two dollar coin to hold out. This little bird flew over to each person, landed on their arm and took the coin out of their fingers with its beak. Then it took the coin over to the handler and put it in his pocket for him. I tried so hard to get a picture of this, but with no avail, the bird was just too damn fast. After collecting all the coins from the crowd the handler told the bird to take them all back. We had to stand up with our palms up and arm out. The bird flew to me, landed on my arm and dropped my coin back in my and. It was really really really cool! The other star of the show was a brown falcon. The handler lined up about 18 children and asked them to stand with their legs apart. He then swung a leather pouch thing with a piece of meat on it behind the line of kids and the bird swooped down and flew, so fast between the kids legs! The handler said his record was 33 people. It was neato! After the bird show we headed on the road again to go to Port Arthur.

Port Arthur is an old prison settlement on a tiny little peninsula on the southern tip of Tasmania. Also a few years ago a crazed gun man when to Port Arthur and opened fire on a bunch of tourists. There was a big massacre and he ended up killing around 35 people before the cops actually took him down. So now when you mention Port Arthur to any Aussie that is most likely what they think of. Needless to say, the tour guide skipped over that part of the tour. Dead tourists are bad for business. We bought a pass that entitled us to a guided tour and a harbor cruise, and of course we were free to explore the grounds on our own as well. The tour guide we had, Jeddah, was quite good at giving an informative tour. We later learned that this was her first week at this job so we made sure to give her some atta boys after the tour. It was really interesting to find out about the twisted history of Port Arthur. Port Arthur was a place for people that committed multiple offences or really bad things. Keeping in mind that back in the day you could be jailed for just about anything, so committing multiple offences probably wouldn’t be that hard. After the tour we walked through some of the old buildings on the ground, and got slightly creeped out by some of the stuff. Like in a building called ‘The Separate Prison’ the people there went through some harsh things. They were not allowed to talk, ever! They were forced to be silent and stay in single cells; the only time they were allowed to make a sound was to sing hymns at church. At church they had to stand in stall like things so they couldn’t see anyone else in the room but the pastor. Also there they had the punishment cell. This cell had walls a meter thick, no windows, a solid door, no bed, nothing just a small empty cell. I could go on and on about all the creepy interesting things we learned at Port Arthur, but just have a look at the pictures I posted on facebook. I was given a card when we first bought our ticket and then you can match up your card with a person that was at Port Arthur. My guys name was Thomas Davis and in the end he escaped for good from Port Arthur (for the whole story see my facebook photos).

After indulging in a little convict history of Australia we headed back to the airport to end our awesome journey. I had an amazing trip and am so grateful that I was able to go on this and have the experiences that I have now shared with you. My time here in Oz is coming to an end, and that is probably the best trip I have had since I have been here. Thank you Kim, I had a blast!!