This tour comes in two options: Port Arthur historical tour and Port Arthur historical tour with Salamanca Market. These tours are identical, except the latter includes a visit to Hobart’s premier market.
Port Arthur Tour:
You will be picked up from Gray Line Terminal, Brooke Street Pier or your Hobart hotel (subject to availability) by air-conditioned coach and taken on a trip back through Australia’s past. There will be English narrated commentary on board.
Cross the Tasman Bridge, a massive concrete overpass that extends more than 4500 feet across the Derwent River.
Arrive in Port Arthur, which functioned as the largest penal colony in Australia from 1833 until the 1850s. It was a destination for the most hardened British and Irish criminals. Today it stands as a harsh and haunting reminder of Europe’s draconian criminal justice system in the 19th century.
Interpretive and interactive presentations bring to life the harrowing experiences of Port Arthur’s convicts, who were subject to horrible abuses and privations.
Take a two-hour guided walking tour with access to over 30 restored buildings and ruins.
Visit the empty cells of the Penitentiary, where many believe the ghosts of former convicts still roam. See a one time granary and flour mill, and tour the
Commandant’s House, where you’ll see a haunted rocking chair that is said to rock back and forth of its own accord, even on windless days.
Tour the Separate Prison, whose completion in 1853 marked a shift from physical to psychological torture on the island. Here, convicts were hooded and made to stay silent, supposedly to give them time to reflect on their crimes.
Take a 20-minute cruise on Carnarvon Bay, whose waters were once filled with sharks to discourage escape attempts. Circle the Isle of the Dead, the final resting place of all who died inside the prison.
On your way home you’ll skirt the beautiful forest and spectacular coastline of Tasman National Park.
Your tour will end where it began.
Port Arthur Tour and Salamanca Market:
This tour mirrors the one above, except it also includes a visit to Salamanca market, a vibrant outdoor marketplace before crossing the Tasman Bridge. Situated between stately plane trees and the fading sandstone facades historic warehouses, the market sells local organic fruits and vegetables and beautiful Tasmanian arts and crafts. You will spend approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes at the market.