Our ethos on this holiday was to try and not do too much driving in one day with the kids. We'd limited ourselves to one to two hour trips and honestly, some days that was just too much for two little men who'd rather be running around or digging in the dirt. It was a nice surprise, however that when we planned to travel from Bicheno southwards, the boys were travelling so well that we got an extra hour down the road to the Dunnalley pub where we free camped for the night overlooking the spectacular bay toward Bruny Island. That meant that the next morning we were able to head off and reach the historic site of Port Arthur (or Poor Farter as coined by J!!) by lunch time. Now I really hadn't been terribly present in the process that led to us going to visit the ruins of Port Arthur and was a little under-prepared for how to frame the concepts inherent with the site to a particularly sensitive but curious 4 year-old mind. But we managed to answer his questions as best we could with-out pathologising the role of 'convicts' or fostering a fascination with the brutal methods of punishment systems of the 1800s. J seemed happy with our responses and I was surprised to see him thoroughly enjoy scampering around the old buildings, in and out rooms and up and down stairs. It was a little more confronting for M and I, as we moved around trying to empathise with the inmates of such a brutal regime and how this land, that has been so hospitable to us, was for them, torturous and enslaved them despite it's beauty.
We enjoyed two nights at a small caravan park on White Beach, where the view over Parson's Bay at sunset was just jaw-dropping. Again we drifted off to sleep to the sound of the southern ocean lapping at the shore.
We fell in love with the rugged beauty of the Tasman Peninsular and it's relative remoteness. It's gentle rolling green hills and unrelenting cliffs that plunge into the icy blue waters. I think it's safe to say both M and I left a little bit of our hearts there somewhere amongst the contented cattle and pure white sand. And, as our holiday draws to an end, we are already hoping to return and explore more of this beautiful place.
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