Monday 12th Oct. StrahanThe big boat trip today out into Macquarie Bay and up the Gordon river. Sarah Island out in the bay was one of the first and harshest penal settlements and our cruise stopped at the island for a guided tour but there is not much too see so they act out some of the incidents which happened there.We also stopped at Settlement point for a walk through the rain forest which really is in it's natural state trouble is it's a very narrow track and everyone gets of the boat and goes round at the same time so it was a bit like shuffling along in a chain gang without the chains.We sailed out of the harbor through Hells Gates into the Southern ocean which is the narrowest entrance to any harbor in the world and got the name from the convicts as they sailed into their new prison.Thankfully we turned round and came back because the next stop is Antarctica.We had our share of deprivation and hardship when the automatic window cleaning didn't work on our side of the boat and we had to look through dirty windows, It's not all beer and skittles being a tourist in Tasmania luckily because the boat was hardly a quarter full we were able to move seats to a clean window. We had a buffet meal which was excellent.

Back on dry land we tried to go through the Peoples park to see a waterfall but it was closed so we drove to Ocean Beach but the rain sheeted down and we wouldn't get out of the car shame really because you can pick up pumice stone of the beach and we were looking forward to a nice evening in getting rid of hard skin but it wasn't to be but enough of our personal lives.At 5.30pm the rain eased and we went to a play held kind of under canvas next to the visitor centre.The play is The Ship that Never Sailed and it is Australia's longest running play.Performed by 2 men it is the story of convicts who built a boat for the commandant but then stole it and sailed to Chile.They were eventually caught and brought to trial but their defense was the boat was never registered and there were no records of it being built so they couldn't be mutineers all they had done was steal some wood and they got off.The play is like a pantomime and they kind of construct and then dismantle a boat of sorts with people from the audience dragged in to help with the story.Joe was a captain who didn't stop them because he had gone fishing and he sat most of the time wearing a silly hat and fishing with a stick and string into a bathtub which had a shoe (sole) and a boot (eel) in it.We enjoyed it but were surprised at some of the language with children there.We wouldn't like our grandchildren to see it. After all that we are having an early night ready for Cradle Mountain tomorrow if we will be able to see it the forecast is pretty awful.move all our stuff across the cabin, come on show a bit of sympathy.It is a very good cruise