The infamous Port Arthur in Tasmania’s south-east is no longer remote nor a place of human suffering; it’s a tourist venue.
I got as far as the car park. Ruins are not just mellow colours and decorative patterns of bricks and stone. They hold memories, and one look told me I must not allow these ones into my too impressionable mind.
But the wilder landscape of the area compensated. I saw this parrot first here, but then elsewhere and often. It’s a Green Rosella, and is apparently the state’s most common parrot. ‘Green’ is hardly an adequate description of its many and subtle colours.
In light drizzle I walk through the narrow strips of coastal bush to each designated lookout or natural wonder, and am distracted by the frequency of the prolific pinks of this shrub whose name I do not know.
But it is the rocks of these bays that attract me most. Tumbled and shaped by southern seas, they grow lichen with as much ease as rainforest trees. Creams and limes and yellows and oranges predominate, with a lurid Dayglo green on any timber.
On the wild ocean edges, the colour is in the rocks themselves, revealing their origins as they are ceaselessly, slowly, weathered into mighty cliff formations like the Remarkable Cave or rolled upon each other to perfect smoothness, like the pebbles at its base.
Hi Christa! Glad such a traveller as yourself is enjoying my small wanders.
Wonderful armchair travelling with you. Thanks for sharing your impressions.
Love
Christa
Hi Trevor, hadn’t spotted the map; thanks! but it’s a map in Tasmania for Tasmanians, of that over-rated big blob to the north.
And Denis, I am very glad I didn’t go in; lots of people mustn’t pick up such strong vibes as we do, or they couldn’t wander about those ruins so nonchalantly, eating ice creams and admiring the view of the bay. Or if they do, they can leave them behind in the carpark.
Hi Sharyn
Keep your all -too impressionable mind off the dark side in Port Arthur.
Even 30 years ago it was a place to make my skin crawl.
Lovely images.
I think the pink berries are something related to the Epacris family, but not sure what. Hopefully some helpful Tasmanian Blogger will let you know.
Nice images of the Grasses and lichens, etc
.
Cheers
Denis
Nice little map of Australia among the lichen Sharyn. No Tasmania to be seen though…wierd!
ATB from Trev.
Hi Gaye,
There’ll be a few more; I’m also writing about it in more detail for a nature writing piece. I aim to go back to see more of it. Such a treat for nature lovers like us!
Sharyn
What a beautiful place Tasmania is with such a wide variety of vegetation, wildlife and history. Your post brings back pleasant memories of my trip many years ago to the island state. Thank you for sharing your observations.
Cheers,
Gaye