November 8, 2009
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Tasmania, Day two (part one)
November 1st, 2009.
Spend the morning at Port Arthur.
Lunch at a fabulous seafood restaurant in Taranna.
Driving from Port Arthur to Swansea.After breakfast at the 'Storm Bay Guest House' we drove back to Port Arthur Historic site to have more of a look around in the daylight:
Looking at this photo -- these beautiful ruins in this lovely green lush place -- it's just so hard to imagine that Port Arthur was the place of such horror in the 1800's.
One of the cool things they do at Port Arthur is that when you arrive, they give you a playing card and using your playing card you can trace the life of 'your' prisoner.
My prisoner had been sent to Port Arthur for stealing two £5 notes.
This is the church that is the background of the Ghost tour photo.
The the ruins of the Separate Prison are on this hill behind the willow tree to the right. The energy in there was so bad during the Ghost tour, that I didn't want to go back, even in the daylight.
After another hour or so looking around, we headed over to the jetty, to go on the harbour cruise.
This little island is Isle of the Dead, where the bodies of over 1,000 convicts were buried.
Just out of the shot on the right is a jetty, and if you had purchased a special pass you could get off the boat and do a tour of the island.
The building at the front is part of the Guard Tower, we didn't tour any of that part of the site, so we missed out on the Guard Tower, the Officers Quarters and the Commandants House.
Oh well, we'll just have to go back.
We had a booking for lunch, so we had to go.
We drove to Tranna, stopping for a quick look at the Tasmanian Devil park on the way.
I'd done a lot of research on food in Tasmania, and this one seafood restaurant stood out, so I insisted we go there.
I'm in two minds as to if I should name the place, but I must say, I was very disappointed.
Our first course of Oysters came out and tasted great, although, the presentation could have been better (I think).
(Salt and szechwan peppered Oysters, and Oysters Kilpatrick)
Our main dishes came out, and the only way I can explain it is this.
You know on Master Chef, when the cooks are given a recipe of something amazing by award winning chefs, and they have to go away and cook/present it?
And at the end, it kinda looks OK, but if you compare it to the chef's dish, it looks (and tastes) a bit dodgy.... well that's what the food was like.
I had duck with five spice pancakes, and while it all tasted fine, it honestly looked like it had been cooked and plated up by someone who'd never cooked before.
Considering the cost of the place, it wasn't as good as it should have been, our dinner the night before at Felon's Bistro tasted (and looked) better, and cost approx half as much.
Part two, to follow.
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