Day 3: Pirate Bay and Tasman Arch

Our next stop after Richmond is Eaglehawk Neck - the gateway to the Tasman National Park - home to a wide range of land and marine animals, fascinating rock formations and some of the highest and most spectacular cliffs in Australia.

We started at the Pirates Bay Lookout, but unfortunately by now the weather has turned into rain. Normally we would be able to do a walk here, but it was really windy and wet, so we just walked to Cliff’s Lookout, took a few photos, and went back to the car. We skipped the Tessellated Pavement and the Blowhole.

After that we stopped at Tasman Arch to take a few photos and then did a short walk to see views of Devil’s Kitchen.

We discovered all the other passengers on the tour bus were visiting the Port Arthur historic site, and we were the only ones scheduled to do the Crescent Bay walk. On the way to Port Arthur, we passed by Doo Town. This small community started as a timber station back in the 1830’s. It would eventually become a shack community and that’s when the fun began. Somewhere around 1935, a Hobart architect by the name of Eric Round placed a nameplate on his shack. It read “Doo I 99.”

Being a small community, everyone in town learned of the nameplate quickly. Then a neighbour of Mr. Round responded with a nameplate of his own. It read “Doo Me.” The next neighbour plated his shack with “Doo Us.” And hence the name of Doo Town. The quirky tradition continues today just 79 kilometres southeast of Hobart on Pirates Bay near Eaglehawk Neck.