Port Arthur, Tasmania Trip (Day 5)

19th March 2016, Saturday

Rainbow

Clouds covering Mount Wellington

Toys cars for sale

Tulips bulbs

German Sausages

Woke up in the middle of the night as the heater was too warm, but luckily still able to sleep back. In the end, woke up @7 am. The sky still looked gloomy and a lot of thick clouds floating today. Saw a rainbow too in the morning. I had my hot chocolate as usual and then after preparation, we went down to the Salamanca Market which was just located at the start of Kelly's steps. There were a lot of stalls selling Australia local made products, mostly wooden stuffs like pens, spoons, bowls, etc. There were food stalls too, selling honey and honeycombs, sausages, salts, fruits. So we took our time to walk around and had our breakfast from the stalls. There were also some musicians who would just set up a mic and with their musicals instruments, they will start to perform for some donations from the public.

Berries Ice Cream

My friend went super excited when she saw a stall selling berries, an auntie who walked past us was even telling us my friend was so excited and she can even feel her excitment...hohoho...So we bought a berries ice cream to try...it was quite nice, just that i am not a fan to berries...hehehe....

We walked till almost 11am, then we had to leave for Port Arthur for our wildness journey cruise. So i went back to the apartment to put our goodies while my friends went to get our lunch. I heated up our remaining small lies while waiting for my friends to come back.

Then we were on the road again, it took us about an hour to reach the cruise office. The road was wavery and zig zag. We drove onto the Tasman Highway and onto the roads where big yellow fields were seen with sheeps and cows. We almost drove past the office as the GPS preset location was not reached. We had to make a small u-turn when i told my friend who was driving that we had passed the office. Upon arrival, i went down to the counter to report. It was raining and was cold. Later i learnt that my friend was experiencing motion sickness, so we asked her to eat the sandwich bought earlier as we watched the cruise video. It doesn't look like normal cruise, it was bumpy ride and looked like get super giddy type. We waited for some time before the guide came and gathered us around. 

He gave us an introduction and the route that we will be going, and then he told us the ride would take about 2 hours and there is no toilet on board the boat. As water may splash in to the boat, we had to take care of our own cameras too. After the briefing, we drove our car and followed the bus. It was a half an hour ride to the jetty. The wind was blowing real strong and we walked towards the boat. There was also a group of china people joining. The boat looked like a big speedboat with 4 engines running and the crew gave us some safety tips before we set off. They also gave those who were scared getting motion or sea sick a ginger pill and instructed us to inform them immediately if feeling unwell. My friend took a pill too. Then the crew passed us each the waterproof jumpsuit to wear.

After that, we were off for our adventure. The ride was super bumpy and fun, like riding roller coaster with the big waves beating the boat. We were brought to the edge of the cliffs along the sea coast and the guide would gave us some introduction on the stones and rocks which were formed naturally. There were also many small caves near the edges of the coast. There was even a waterfall, and there were some stones with colours. The guide also showed us sea eagles' nest. My friend just feel super sea sick after 15 minutes of the ride, so she was brought to the back of the boat where the bumping motion is not so much. Her husband followed awhile later to company her at the back of the boat. So i sat alone in the middle row. The wind was super strong, and the water also splashed onto my camera once. Luckily, my camera still works fine. Later, they brought us to near a shore, where the water was clear and green. It was also super quiet. Then we were brought to see the sea lions out in the sea. The sea lions were all having their afternoon nap but we can take photos quite close up. After the sea lions sighting, they drove the boat further out to the south pacific ocean to let us catch any sights of sea eagles and to experience the big waves. 

Fried Oysters

Fish & Chips

The boat was just bumping all the way back to the starting point. We reached the shore around 4pm. Then we walked to the blowhole and the pirate bay to view the ocean from a higher ground. It was really nice standing and watching the big waves splashing onto the rocks. After that, we headed to the oysters restaurant, Barilla Bay Oysters for dinner. It took us about an hour plus to reach there. We ordered the fried oysters, fish & chips and a whole proofer fish. The food were sooo yummy, it's no wonder the reviews for this restaurant was super good online. We had a super nice dinner but we were quite worried my friend would get motion sickness again when we hit the road back to the apartment. Anyway, we left and drove back to the apartment. I would just check on my friend on and off along the way though. Luckily, she don't feel uncomfortable. We saw a rabbit hopped at the side of the road but were not sure whether it is wild. 

Once we were back in the apartment, my friend just sat on the red rest chair. Funny thing, she still finds the boat ride was fun even being seasick..hohoho....we all took turns to shower and had apples for supper. My 2 friends ate their sandwich as they were hungry....lol...After that, it was sleeping time.

Hotel Stayed:
Sullivans Cove Apartments - Salamanca Battery Point

Places Visited:
Salamanca Market
Tasmania Island Wildness Cruise