The 11 Convict Sites are mostly concentrated around Sydney and Tasmania. While staying in Hobart, I visited the Port Arthur Historic Site. I did so on a day tour with a Grayline Bus, but in retrospect, I would rather have hired a car so I could have visited some of the other Tasman convict sites too that are in the same area.

One of the reviewers below calls Port Arthur “another Disneyland to entertain the mindless hordes”. I would not go that far, but it was a disappointing visit. The worst thing indeed is the crowds (a few hundred people were there on the same day as me), and the way they are herded through the site. There’s a “guided walk” included in your ticket, where you will not walk at all but only get to hear the basic story about Port Arthur standing in the wet grass with about 80 other people.

I had paid extra for a tour of the Isle of the Dead. It’s in the bay in front of the historic buildings. Every entrance ticket will get you on the “cruise” through the bay where you can see a glimpse of Point Puer (where the young convicts were held) and the Isle of the Dead. The lucky visitors with the extra ticket could get off on the island for about 20 minutes, also on a tour presented by 2 very Australian guides (casual, going through the motions).

What I did like at the site is the great variety of buildings that are left, or at least ruins of them, which gives a feel for how the convict community worked.