Reflections on our week in Tasmania

Tasmania is an island state and despite its small size it is if full of contrasts. It was the site of one of the largest prison colonies in the region and yet has some of the most friendliest people we have ever met. l Our first three days on the island we stayed with the Walker family; Adrian & Judi, Isaac, Samuel and Peter. Cliff met Adrian at a church conference in Florida last summer. They kept in contact over email and their family hosted us at their farm for our first three days on the island. Their home was a peaceful abode nestled on the top of one of the smaller mountains in the Hobart area. Our kids had a great time playing with their three boys. They are now talking about having their own animals when we get back to Canada. If they could I am sure they would have tried to smuggle a rabbit back on the plane with us. We have never experienced hospitality quite like that. They even blessed us with the use of their van for the week.

While there we managed to get to Hobart for an afternoon, did the Tahune Airwalk in the treetops and Keegan and Calia did Hang gliding on a zip line above the Huon River. It was quite interesting how the hang gliding worked out. Keegan had been talking about it for days with the Walker boys. He was quite excited to do it and was well prepared for it,...even deciding to take a camera on it with him. On the day that we were there at the Tahune Airwalk, Calia said to me rather quietly. "Mom, I really want to do it too". Since she is an adrenaline junkie I bought her a ticket and that made her day. Here are my two flying daredevils.

I found Port Arthur to be a sad place. People were sent here from England, imprisoned in chains, never see their family or loved ones again, and forced to work in the colony. There was hope for them if they would behave themselves and learn a trade and work hard.

When we went through the Visitors Centre we were each given a card with a prisoners identity on it. Then we all walked through the replica ships hull and had to go through different doorways which represented some of the choices the prisoners made when they got to Port Arthur and their eventual fate. Very interesting lessons for all of us.
A lot of the prison buildings were in ruins. The best preserved prison there was the separate prison. There the prisoners were kept in a cell 23 hours a day, while in the exercise yard for an hour they were kept isolated. While out of their cells they had to wear a mask so if they passed another prisoner in the hallway they would not recognize each other . They went to church on Sundays, the chapel had separate cubicles so the prisoners could attend church with no human contact. I know I would lose my mind if kept like this, a lot of them did.

Lesson learned from this experiment,...we need people, we need each other.

So, as I reflect on this part of our Tassie experience, tell someone you love them, phone a friend or even buy a stranger a coffee.

Tomorrow, stay tuned for the next part of our Tassie adventures.