Tasmania 2014 Day 12 – Bonorong and Port Arthur

Woke up 7am today as it was the start of road trips for this holiday. However we had to get breakfast first, which we found a suggestion on tripadvisor, Jackman and McRoss bakery. It was located at Hamden street, at the Battery point where we visited the day before.

Checked out the lovely hotel and proceeded to the bakery. Luckily we have utilized the GPS as we found out that there were many streets that were just single directional and it would be a problem if we drove into the wrong lane.

Parked at the nearby street where parking was free for an hour (figured the parking symbol since last Sydney trip) and dined in, not so packed at 830am. Ordered the tomato pie and the Eggs Benedict and these were just so delicious! I loved the Eggs Benedict particularly. The home made tomato sauce that accompanied the pie tasted great too, and therefore we also purchased a jar of it (at 6.80aud) to bring home.

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary was our first stop, which we arrived after about 30mins of driving. It was unlike the one in Sydney, we had to drive through a short dirt road to get to the entrance of the sanctuary that was located on a gentle slope.

The entrance fee was 25aud per person and we were each given a bag of feed for feeding kangaroos. Entered the sanctuary and headed to the wombat enclosure where we were advised that they had been fed and might be active. Once there, we saw the backside of a wombat still eating away inside a dugout. So we continued on.

There were many enclosures and a couple of them were for birds that were injured and now under rehabilitation. These birds were not shy and would fly close to the cage to have a closer look at me and my camera.

We walked on to the Kango county where kangaroos were free to roam and we could stay go feed them. We were told that these animals loved to be scratched in between their chests and it was true! Scratching them and seeing them enjoy the scratch was really entertaining. With the feed, we saw kangaroos would approached us voluntarily. Some were even shameless enough to follow you even after being fed. A goose actually came to us too to have some of the feed.

Washed our hands after the feeding and on the way, saw a group that had a staff introduce the koala to them. The koala was brought out of the enclosure and many had the opportunity to touch its butt, we didn’t – done that in Sydney.

Went looking at Tasmanian devils. There were many enclosures with them, some for older ones and one that had a transparent panel that we saw one lying next to it. Fun to see them walk around and try to take a photo of them yawning.

As we walked back to the entrance after seeing some Emus and spending 1.5 hrs already, we saw a staff conducting a tour and was introducing a small wombat in his arms. We just joined in and heard interesting details about this marsupial and got to touch its butt to feel its cartilage. He went on to the Tasmanian Devil enclosure for the next introduction and we followed as well, and got to see him feed the devil which also drew some of the other devils towards it, and it’s where we saw the devil making some interesting sounds, as defense mechanism. Left after this as we had other plans in mind already.

Port Arthur was our next destination, just under 70km away. Had to pump gas midway and took the chance to get some KFC burgers that was at the service station too.

Arrived at the historic site around 2pm and bought the tickets for 35Aud, valid for 2 days. We were also given a poker card to take on as a convict character. Visited the museum at the same building and followed through to see which convict we were and what the convict did. Interesting exhibit engagement.

Proceeded to the jetty where there was a free cruise around the waters at Port Arthur. On board, there was some introduction of the various buildings such as the dockyard and the islands such as the ones for the juveniles and the ones where the dead were buried. The ride was about 20mins.

We then explored the rest of the area on foot, going to the various ruins and some of the buildings were converted into a museum, like the asylum and the separate prison. By the time we finished walking around, it was close to 5pm already, closing time. We decided to skip the introduction tour as the staff on board the cruise recommended the walkabout and read off the brochure that was given to us, in order to see more within the short span of time.

We weren’t taking the ghost tour and so we checked with the info counter to see where was a good option for dinner; we found out on the way to Port Arthur that there wasn’t much dining options along the way. Not a big town in sight. She recommended some places close by and we drove towards our accommodation, 10km away from Port Arthur.

Arrived at the Mussel Boys at sunset. There wasn’t anyone at the reception when arrived but saw a post it note for me about our villas being ready. We drove to the back and sure enough, the place was already warmed up.

The modernly designed villa had a jacuzzi beside the bed, how cool is that? There was a kitchenette and also washing machine and dryer. There was a air-conditioner, used as a heater and the toilet has a heater too. There was a balcony but no view to match though.

We decided to go to a suggested place on the information menu provided by the accommodation. It was called Havnabite and located at Caribbean court, off Blowhole road at Eaglehawk neck. The twilight drew a nice hue onto the lake nearby our accommodation as we drove in partial darkness to this location. Our GPS does not have the road name and thus we got ourselves to Blowhole road first before squinting to find the shop. When we did see a store that looked like a convenience store, we stopped in front of it, and found that that was the store that we were looking for.

Can’t decide what to cook so we ended up buying a wood fired baked pizza, Pirates flavour and a can of soup. Bought other stuff from the convenience section and took away the pizza (there was a choice to dine in as well). We drove in darkness, guided only by road reflectors, back to the accommodation.

Used the kitchenette to cook the can of soup and eat the pizza, which was pretty tasty. The aircon didn’t seem to warm up the place fast enough and I decided to use the jacuzzi.

On filling up the jacuzzi, I saw a spider coming out from one of the air jet holes, it was kinda big and I had to kill it and flush it away and refill the tub again. While already enjoying it, I noticed another dead spider carcass in water and getting stuck at the water suction inlet. What a turn off.

After my bath separately in the toilet, my wife called to me, informing that was another spider on the bed. I guessed all the spiders were hiding from the cold and going into my villa.

There weren’t much stuff on tv and so we jumped into bed with heated mattress early. Although it was a short day, we had to rest early as the road trip the next day was going to be two times longer.