Gaol Time

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Day Nine - Arakoon
Still raining... but we took a window of opportunity and snuck out to walk over the top of the peninsular to the next beach. The vegetation is low and salt burned but very lush. We reached the top and saw whales spouting immediately. They move around that cape all the time but it was a real treat to actually see them myself. They weren’t breeching, but seeing the spouts was pretty magic. We continued the walk and ended up in the gaol - an historic building that has been preserved. During the first world war, German citizens who were in Australia were locked up here ‘just in case they were enemy aliens’ and they spent 3 years confined there while being used to build a breakwater so ships could have a safe harbour. Three years and several hundred thousand dollars resulted in a few hundred metres of breakwater that was washed away in a storm and by then they realised they didn’t need the harbour anyway. But as far as prison camps go, it sounds more like a retreat. The interns played tennis, went swimming, and had ‘family’ gatherings were the wives were housed nearby for periods of time so they were generally treated pretty well. It sounds like it was one of the better places to be during the war. It was freezing while we were there so I gather it wasn’t all holiday though.
We went to Port Douglas to pick up Eric that afternoon and drove through the most torrential rain I have ever experienced. I am glad I wasn’t driving!

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