Field Trip Part 3 (the last installment)

After the second night in the field center (which the ghost tour lady from the night before told us was haunted), we left to continue with the trip. Though not before we left our mark on the much-graffitied walls (below, left).

The day was mostly focused on our academics (this field trip, unlike Perth, actually relates to our class). At the end of this class, we have to submit two papers relating to ecotourism and conservation. Basically there’s a catch-22 with declaring something a protected area. As soon as a new protected area is announced, more people hear about it and want to see it, thus making it harder to protect. So, we went to a few places to see this dynamic in action.

The first place was called Robertson’s Bridge, and it was a random rainforest smack in the middle of a normal forest (above). It is a protected area, but the area around it is not protected. So, it has been heavily logged, right up to the border of the rainforest. This caused a forest fire to spread to the rainforest, which is usually too wet to burn. We made another stop at a beach where people had planted pine trees, ruining the natural ecosystem there. We did our part and pulled up as many pine trees as we could find.

Then we went to Mayfield Bay, a really popular camping area (beach, above). It was an example of a place where sustainable efforts were working and had cleaned up the beach considerably in the last 5 years. Also at Mayfield Bay was a convict-built bridge with arches that made for a cool picture (above). We finally made it to our hostel in Coles Bay, where we enjoyed a lovely sunset (above).

Yesterday we went to Wineglass Bay, which recently was named one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world (above me). We hiked up to a lookout point for fantastic views of the Bay, and couldn’t resist taking lots of pictures of ourselves (me, Eric, above). Framing the bay were these really cool rocks and cliffs (above). It was pretty awesome.

After a long drive, we returned to Hobart. It was a fantastic trip, but I was glad to be home.

Field Trip Part 2

On Wednesday we went to Port Arthur, Australia’s first convict settlement. It was for repeat offenders, so some of the people’s initial crimes were minor like stealing silverware, but they continued to repeat those crimes so they got shipped here. They were sent here mostly for their labor rather than to punish them.

When we first got there, we were given a playing card that corresponded to a real convict who went through Port Arthur. Then, we could follow them through the exhibit and see what their life was like. At the entrance, there was a sign that said “All cheerful, contented, cleanly, obedient, industrious, and cheerful prisoners please move this way,” with the arrow pointing straight into the wall (above). My prisoner (above) was sent to Port Arthur for military desertion, and while there he received 782 lashes and 267 days in solitary confinement. Crazy stuff. I got to further simulate being a prisoner with these leg irons (above). They were quite heavy, and some convicts had to do hard, manual labor in them.

After the museum, we went on a walking tour and were able to explore the grounds on our own. We went to the Separate Prison, which is where they put prisoners for solitary confinement (prison hallway, above). They were really insistent on these prisoners not having any human contact. So insistent that in church they had to stand in stalls that prevented them from seeing anyone but the priest (above). It was pretty hard core.

What was really weird is that if you put aside all of the sick and twisted history of Port Arthur, it was quite a beautiful place (all brick buildings, above). The buildings were mostly made out of this orangey brick. There was a brushfire about 100 years ago (I don’t remember), so a lot of the buildings are just ruins of what they used to be. So it was my closest experience of the ruins my friends in Europe get to see on their field trips. There also were pretty gardens on the grounds, a replica of what the free people at Port Arthur enjoyed to take their minds off of the horrible things they were doing to the prisoners (flowers, above).

Then we went on a cruise of the Port Arthur harbor (us on the boat, above). We went around the Isle of the Dead (island with trees, above), where they buried all of the people who died at Port Arthur. There are more than 1,000 people buried on that island, which seems impossible to me because it looks so small.

After Port Arthur, we went to Remarkable Cave (that is the real name, I am not lying). It is so remarkable because while it just looks like a normal cave (closest picture to text, above), the opening on the other side of the cave is in the shape of Tasmania. The picture above the orange flower shows the opening, and above there is a map of Tasmania so you can compare.

We continued to hike to Maingon Blowhole, a really deep hole formed by erosion (looking down to the bottom, above). There was some beautiful coastline with pretty orange rocks and turquoise waters (above). We posed for a photo op in front of the water (above).

At night we went back to Port Arthur for a ghost tour. Sadly, it was not as scary as the one in Fremantle because nothing jumped out at us and our group was too big. It was interesting to hear the stories, but to me it seemed like nothing more than stories. I guess I shouldn’t be so skeptical the next time I go on a ghost tour.

Field Trip Part 1

Since I have so many pictures from our field trip, this will be a 3-part entry.
On Tuesday the Walkabout-ers (plus two friends visiting from home), our teacher Lorne, and our bus driver John departed for our 4 day adventure.

Our first stop was Pirates Bay (arrrrrgh!). It was low tide, so we could see lots of cool animals in tide pools on the rocks (mussels, left). The rocks themselves were pretty cool. Due to differences in height and salt erosion, some sections were flat with raised cracks (above, called pans) and some were raised with lowered cracks (above, called loaves). Then we went to Tasmans Arch, a natural rock arch formed by erosion (above).

After that, we went to Lorne’s friend’s property, called Windgrove. So this guy was from Detroit and went to Harvard, and decided to move to Tasmania to become a sculptor. He bought all of these acres of land years ago for $30,000, and it is now worth millions. For good reason.

His property includes Roaring Beach (above), a beach that made all of us salivate with surfing envy. Well he doesn’t actually own the beach itself, because in Australia all beaches belong to the government. But that is the view from his house. Also on his property was absolutely spectacular coastline, with amazing views everywhere you looked (above). Decorating the landscape were his sculptures (left), most of which symbolized peace and hope. Equally as cool as his land was his house (wooden room, above). He built it all himself, and it is 100% sustainable. He makes his own power from solar panels (above), collects rainwater from the roof, and has a composting toilet (picture a 3 sided outhouse with the fourth side being made up of a bush). He certainly leads an amazing lifestyle, but not one I could ever see myself living.

Finally, we drove to the Koonya Field Center, our accommodations for the first two nights. It used to be a hospital, and probably gets the award for creepiest place I’ve ever been (rotting wood building, above). Lorne said that one of the bedrooms used to be the morgue, though we’re not sure if he was pulling our leg or not. We thought that our room (bunks, above) was a likely candidate for the morgue because there was a hallway behind our room that looked suspiciously capable to hold dead bodies. Adding to the creepiness was the bathroom, whose water was definitely not safe to drink.

We ended our night around a bonfire, completing an awesome day.

Ahoy, matey!

After another trip to the awesome Salamanca Market, a few of us Ithaca pirates took a cruise on a sailboat all around Hobart’s harbor.

Our trusty vessel was an old-fashioned sailboat called the Lord Nelson (above), but its stylings led all of us to call it a pirate ship. We assumed our sea faring responsibilities immediately, keeping a close watch on the seas and participating in other piratey activities (above).

During our voyage, we saw some other sailboats (left), some nice views of the Hobart coastline (above), and Mount Wellington off in the distance (above). We sailed under the Tasman bridge also (way above).

We also got to see how a sailboat works. There were tons of ropes everywhere you looked (left). Mary got to ring the boat’s official bell (above), and several of us got to steer the boat. At left you can see me at the helm, where I safely avoided the nonexistent obstacles for about 2 minutes. It was awesome. We got to go down below (which amplified the seasickness feeling times 10), and saw how crew live aboard the boat (above, with Matt pretending to be a sailor).

I think all of the above pirates would agree that it was an awesome outing.

note: I can finally upload pictures (hence the last two posts), but I can't control where they go or the order they're in. Unless someone wants to teach me html.