WEDNESDAY 8 DECEMBER     WHITE BEACH

After breakfast, I went to the Library, at the High School, returned books and borrowed more.

Bought raspberries and loganberries at the fruit store near the turn off – $2 a punnet, and grapefruit. It is a great shop.

After lunch we drove to Eaglehawk Neck and visited the main tourist attractions there. The Neck is a narrow strip of land that joins the Tasman Peninsula to the next section of land – the Forestier Peninsula. In parts it is only about twenty metres wide. This fact was used in the time of the Port Arthur convict settlement, when a line of savage dogs was set up across the narrow Neck, to warn of convicts trying to escape – and also to deter them. The dogs were so close together that a person could not get through between them – but just out of reach of each other. There were some escapes, but it seems the dogs did deter many – or raise the alarm to the many soldiers stationed there.

There are several interesting natural features around Eaglehawk Neck. We visited the Blowhole. There was quite a sea running and it was performing well, with waves crashing up.

The Devils Kitchen is a sort of chasm where the waves can be spectacular on a day like today was. We also looked at Tasman Arch, a sort of natural rock bridge, presumably caused when part of the roof of a cave made by the sea, fell in.

Back at camp, worked on Xmas letters.

Tea was sausages, jacket potatoes and salad.