Tasmanian Wilderness and Port Arthur Historic Site

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Tasmanian Wilderness

   At this latitude, almost the whole of the southwest corner of Tasmania is wilderness in the strict sense: no towns, almost no roads, and a climate that comes straight from the Southern Ocean. The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area covers a fifth of the island and includes button-grass plains, glacier-carved valleys, rainforest and the long white quartzite ranges.

   Read the complete Tasmanian Wilderness write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Tasmanian Wilderness is where the day begins. Next is Cascades Female Factory.

2. 2. Cascades Female Factory

   In the shadow of kunanyi, the mountain that rises behind Hobart, a set of high stone walls in South Hobart marks the site of the Cascades Female Factory, where thousands of women convicts transported from Britain and Ireland were held in the nineteenth century. They worked here at laundry, sewing and other labour, and some were punished with solitary confinement, hard work or shaved heads. Many arrived with children, and the death rate among infants was appallingly high. The factory is part of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage listing, which includes eleven places across Australia that tell the story of the forced migration of convicts and the building of the colony.

   Read the complete Cascades Female Factory write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Cascades Female Factory comes up about 122 km into the recorded legs. Next is Port Arthur Historic Site.

3. 3. Port Arthur Historic Site

   At the end of the Tasman Peninsula, south-east of Hobart, the ruins of Port Arthur sit on a quiet green bay surrounded by eucalyptus forest, and it is hard to imagine a more beautiful place for such a grim history. From 1830 to 1877 it was a penal settlement for convicts who had committed further crimes in the colonies, a place of hard labour, harsh punishment and, later, a model prison where silence and isolation were supposed to reform the mind. The great sandstone shell of the penitentiary, the church, the separate prison and the houses of officials still stand in the grounds, and the boat trip to the Isle of the Dead, where convicts and free settlers were buried, completes the picture. Port Arthur is one of the eleven Australian Convict Sites inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2010.

   Read the complete Port Arthur Historic Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 194 km into the recorded legs you reach Port Arthur Historic Site. Next is back through Cascades Female Factory.

4. 4. back through Cascades Female Factory

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cascades Female Factory write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Cascades Female Factory, late in the day. Next is Tasmanian Wilderness.

5. 5. Tasmanian Wilderness

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Tasmanian Wilderness write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Tasmanian Wilderness. That is the ride.