views from an alpine mountain overlooking a temperate weather city, its 4,167-foot summit is visited by 300,000 people annually. Although you won’t need a sherpa to climb this peak, fickle weather means the clear view offered at the start of your hike may be long gone when you actually reach the top. Driving up the asphalt road is much faster and allows tours to sandwich the summit visit between other sites in order to maximize the view. Some excursions include nearby Tahune Airwalk, a raised pathway in the trees more than 65-feet in the air. Lazy bikers can schedule a Mount Wellington descent tour, riding up by van and coasting down by bicycle.
Tasmania’s convict history are Richmond Historic Village and Port Arthur. While America was gaining its independence, the British practice of sending repeat criminal offenders to the American colonies ended, and Australia became the alternative. From the late 1700s to mid-1800s, more than 160,000 convicts entered Australia. Most of the inmates’ offenses were trivial (stealing small items or livestock), but British punishment of minor crimes, even by women and children, was harsh, especially for repeat offenders. When faced with hanging versus transportation to a penal colony for a set number of years, most offenders chose the latter. The British believed
Author Cheryl with a Wallaby at Bonorang Animal Sanctuary.
With more than 40 percent of its land composed of unspoiled reserves, national parks, and world heritage sites, it has much to offer visitors. But it sure is a devil to get to! Picturesque Richmond Bridge and church in the background were both built by prisoners.
Finally, when the weather is totally uncooperative, visitors can drown their sorrows while touring the Cascade Brewery in the foothills of the mountain. The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is a short ferry ride upriver. Unlike any other Australian museum, MONA’s humorous and rather odd art was the brainchild of a local philanthropist. Carved out of sandstone and looking more like a bunker than museum, the catamaran ferry transporting visitors there offers a “posh pit” with champagne and canapés. All Aussies (Tassies included) love their food and drinks! Sites that speak to 40 L I F E S T Y L E | F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 7
prisoners could be reformed through a combination of backbreaking work, religion, education, and trade-training, which guaranteed employment once freed. Wherever prisoners went, industry and manufacturing grew as penal colonies strove to be selfsustaining and profitable. Many convicts’ skills and labor created what would become the infrastructure of Australian society. Port Arthur – Located on a peninsula attached to Tasmania by a narrow isthmus, Port Arthur is just a 25-mile straight-shot from Hobart, but 62 miles by road. That isolation and formidable
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A two-year-old koala with a ranger now ready to return to the wild after treatment at Bonorong Animal Sanctuary.
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