Day 5 - Port Arthur to Richmond

12 March 2023 - Hmmm... this morning I was bested by the weather.



I had planned to go right to the southern point of the Tasman region, south of Port Arthur. I had read about a walk out to the Cape Raoul Viewing Point, and there were also another couple of interesting landmarks down that way... But I decided to skip all of them. I didn't have a lot of motivation to hike for 45 minutes each way, in the rain, to a lookout that would likely be surrounded by clouds... And I was tired!

At least I had been lucky when they had allocated my camper site. I spent two nights at White Beach Tourist Park (my only 2-night stop) and my site was just outside the left edge of this shot. I could hear the ocean all night, which was a bit of a treat. 🌊🥰


There were a few breaks in the weather so I could get out and have a bit of a look around. This is Tasmans Arch:


Then a short walk to a gulch that goes by the name of Devil's Kitchen:




And my trusty camper followed me everywhere I went...


A bit further on I found a sad excuse for a blowhole. Or maybe the tides weren't doing the right thing just then. There was a lot of noise and a good build-up, and then a fairly disappointing result. 😝


I walked around to Fossil Bay Lookout. Very cold and windy and exposed there!


I was managing to keep just ahead of the rain. I could see it following me up the coast and I only had a couple more things on the list before I headed to Richmond for the night. First up was the Tessellated Pavement. This phenomenon looks man-made, but actually occurs naturally over many centuries. I read the information board at the site, but I was not put on this earth to be a geologist. Wiki knows a bit about it, and Google is all-knowing... Apparently a very rare phenomenon only found in a few places on earth (with another site being Point Cartwright, right here on the Sunshine Coast).






The last stop on my way to Richmond was the Tasman National Park Lookout. It was a winding drive up the hill and seemed like a fairly remote place, and what do I find at the top???


COFFEE!!! A random coffee cart in the middle of nowhere doing almighty amounts of trade. Where did all these people come from?




So, being done for another day, I headed for Richmond. It was a slower-pace day, which I definitely needed. I made one more stop at the Richmond Bridge because it seemed to have a lot of admirers... Admittedly, it was pretty. But it wasn't until I looked it up later that I found out its significance. It is Australian National Heritage listed and is the oldest surviving large stone arch bridge in Australia. As with so many things in this region, it was built by convicts. It was completed in 1825 (with a few modifications over the years to make it more resilient to flooding and the ravages of time).





There were a lot of ducks that seem to call the waters under the bridge home, and a very handsome rooster with an impressive cock-a-doodle-doo.

And another day was done. It was good to slow down a bit and get checked into the caravan park before sunset! 

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