We flew to Tasmania on one of the world’s worst Airlines, Tiger Airways, which seem to be in direct competition with Ryan Air for the worst service award in air service.  In Melbourne they have a separate terminal just for them, which is definitely no frills.  It’s an old hangar that was probably retired from housing planes so of course it is fit to be a terminal.  Everyone was doing the “Tiger Shuffle” which means that they unpacked all their bags and re-shuffled belongings in hopes they would pass the weight test.  Luckily, we were successful in our shuffle.  At least the plane brought us to Hobart in one piece.

We rented a car and drove to Richmond right away.  It is famous for housing Australia’s oldest bridge which is still in use, so of course it was a great thrill to drive over it (twice) and also for the oldest Roman Catholic Church, St. John, still in use.  It was a very cute town and both the church and bridge were very picturesque.  There we also visited Old Hobart Town, which is a model village of Hobart from 1820s.  It is fun because you can play a scavenger game in the village looking for certain things.

Then we drove to Port Arthur and on the way stopped to see the tessellated pavement at Eaglehawk Neck lookout.  It is pretty cool considering it is not man made.  We stayed in Stewarts Bay Lodge, which was very spacious and had a great view of the bay.  We wanted to make dinner, but the nearest grocery store was quite a drive away and did not have much food anyway.   Nevertheless, we scraped something together.

tessellated pavement

That night we went on the Port Arthur Ghost Tour.  The stories were entertaining and our guide was good, it just would have been better if the groups were half the size and if no flash photography was allowed.  We had one very avid photographer who kept flashing at everything, blinding us.  The tour is lead by candlelight so it was pretty dark and flashing was incredibly annoying.

Port Arthur by night (No, I did not use flash).