Devilish Tasmania

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For a small area, Tasmania sure packs a lot in. We should be several inches shorter from all the hiking we're doing. The southeast quadrant of the island is loaded with islands, peninsulas, bays, cliffs, crashing surf, turquoise water and fine white sand beaches, and the capital city of Hobart. It's quite a menu.

In Australia's early years, when Mother England was sending convicts out by the shipload, Tasmania made a fine spot for some of the most hardened of characters. There was impenetrable forest, the natural barrier of the sea to prevent escape, and the insatiable economic urge to chop down trees using the free labor of strong, captive men. The first serious penal colony was set up in 1821 in the west, on Sarah Island in remote Macquarie Harbour. Nine years later a new and ingeniously brutal area was established in Port Arthur (no relation!) on the Tasman Peninsula near Hobart. This settlement lasted for many years, expanding and increasing in sophistication, including medical facilities, an insane asylum (solitary confinement didn't always successfully teach the error of one's ways), churches, and military and civilian settlements.

To prevent escape, a “Dog Line” was established along the narrow Eaglehawk Neck. A collection of particularly vicious dogs, chained at intervals to prevent them from killing one another, could rip to shreds any convict trying to flee to freedom.

In the More Current Crimes Dept, Japanese whalers, subsidized by the Japanese government, continue to hunt and slaughter whales in the Southern Ocean despite an international ban and the whales' endangered status. They say they're hunting for “research purposes,” but thousands are killed and curiously wind up on Japanese dinner plates. Greenpeace is working to change that. In addition to educating the people of Japan, which they claim is working to decrease the market for whale meat, they chase the whale-hunting ships around the ocean, shooting graphic photos and video, creating sea-spray to obstruct aim, etc. We learn that the Greenpeace ship Esperanza is docking at Hobart for a day, so we go to contribute our support and tour around the ship.

Then it's back to the countryside for us. We actually climb up and along the edge of that cliff, 900 feet straight down to the water.

Uh-oh, Mitcho was here. There are hundreds of cairn towers constructed of smooth, water-worn rocks. Of course we have to balance a few more.

We hike to South East Cape, Tasmania (and Australia's) southernmost point. We try to squint to see Antarctica. To the west the next land is South America.

Back in Hobart, we're extremely fortunate to have clear weather for our trip up massive Mt Wellington with its volcanically-formed granite spires and boulder heaps. We have a perfect 360-degree view overlooking the city of Hobart, the mountains and lakes to the north and west, the jumble of lands rising in Storm Bay to the east and south.

At our camp spot on national park land on Freycinet Peninsula, a Bennetts Wallaby happens along to offer advice.