100 km south east of Hobart. Head east from Hobart across the Derwent River. At Sorrell head south down Arthur Highway to Port Arthur. In the 1830s this was established as the most notorious penal colony on Tasmania. It’s on a peninsula which is exposed to the chilling Antarctic winds. This can only be reached by way of a narrow neck of land, which was guarded by chained dogs, and the sea all around was notorious for sharks. More than 12,000 convicts served time here, and most of them quickly decided against embarking on any do-it-yourself reduction in their sentences. The place has been restored to its former hideous glory. You can even see the lunatic asylum, and the Isle of the Dead where more than 1,700 of the inmates ended up. The illspelt gravestones here are particularly moving.