Saint Columbia Falls

St Columbia Falls was the first waterfall we'd seen on this trip. It is accessible via a short walk trail though lush forest down into the valley below. We were a bit disappointed with the lack of water, but it was the middle of summer and Tasmania is experiencing a drought, so it is to be expected.

The walk along the train was worth it for the grove of tree ferns that it meanders through.

 

Binalong Bay

 

We had been so very comfortable in our spacious house with spectacular views and resident wildlife. Reluctantly, we had to move on from Bicheno. Today we would transit to Launceston the long way round starting with Binalong Bay.

As we set off the rain started and became progressively heavier the further north we travelled. Fortunately it let up as we got closer to beautiful Binalong Bay.

Binalong Bay

Binalong Bay is part of the Bay of Fires which is charactorised by the red lichen that grows on the tidal rocks.
 

Binalong Bay also has a spectacular beach. The silky white sand squeaks under your feet. Harry was in his happy place digging holes & launching sand bombs. He and I even went for a body surf in the crystal clear (and cold) water.

Relectantly, we left this magical place as we still had a lot to see. We made a quick stop in Saint Helens for snacks and found a dragon! (below).

From Saint Helens, our route headed inland and into the forests and farm land. It soon bought us to the Pyengana Dairy Company where it was time for cheese tasting & milkshakes. The dairy had an automatic milking station where the cows come in when they feel like it. As a reward they are able to snack on their favourite food while they are being milked & get a scratch from a rotating brush on the way out.

Freycinet Peninsular

This morning we were woken up before day break by a passing dry lightning storm. It was one of many during the morning that had Harry very uneasy.

The family of Bennett's wallabies were still around close to the house in the early morning which gave us something to see while we were eating breakfast.

The early wake up meant that we were on the road early. Today was much less driving as we were back tracking south to the Freycinet Peninsular. We were away by 7.30 am which gave us the jump on the crowds despite the 40min head start having to travel down from Bicheno. The main aim of the day was to do the short but steep hike up to the Wineglass Bay lookout and maybe descend down to the beach in the bay.

It all started pretty well with the car park near empty and everyone enthusiastic about the climb. A short way into the ascent we were able to stop to look back over Coles bay and the mainland. The skies looked to be clearing so we pressed on with Harry leading the way.

Unfortunately, one of the many dry lightning storms blew across from the mainland and scared the life out of Harry. He managed to find a rock to hide under for a while.

We pressed on to the summit with lightning occasionally striking the peaks above us. Harry was terrified. Then the rain started forcing us to find shelter for 5 minutes until it had passed.

We took our obligatory shots from the lookout but didn't stay long because Harry wanted to go back to the car where he wouldn't be scared anymore. Sadly, the photos weren't exactly postcard worthy. Unfortunately it took the gloss off what should have been a highlight of the east coast.

Wineglass Bay.

 

We descended back down to the car park much to Harry's pleasure. Ironically, by the time we were back at the car, the weather had cleared. Oh well. We weren't about to hike back up to the lookout so we moved on to Cape Tourville.

Cape Tourville

 

There is a short loop track that circles the Lighthouse at Cape Tourville. The views from the track are stunning with a fraction of the effort of the Wineglass Bay climb. In fact, from the cape you can look back into Wineglass Bay and the peninsulas that encompass it (above). The cape cliffs dive into the ocean and seem to keep going into the abyss.

Cape Tourville was the first place that we saw the red growth on the rocks that are characteristic of the northern part of the east coast. We also saw a number of jagged rocky islands scattered near the cape.

Needless to say, Harry was far more impressed with Cape Tourville than Wineglass Bay & he wasn't the only one.

Friendly Beaches

 

We made one stop on the return to Bicheno at Friendly Beaches. We pottered around the rock pools and marveled at the extensive stretches of powdery white sandy beach.

 

Sea Hare

 

We had our lunch overlooking the beach and watched the sea fog engulf the peninsular. The beach suddenly didn't feel so friendly anymore, but it was an integuing phenomonen.

We were back in Bicheno by mid afternoon, where the fog had also claimed the ocean views. 

Aspley River Waterhole

We set off for the Aspley River Waterhole, a short, off-road drive from our house on the hill. It is a pristine clear water pool which was quite cold despite the summer temperatures. Harry was very brave and swam right across to the far side of the lake.

We were happily enjoying the cool water before a helicopter started buzzing overhead. As it tuened out, it was part of the fire fighting group and we had to leave because of a blaze in the neighbouring valley.

Superb Fairy Wrens.

Back at our base camp, Harry & I went around the gardens photographing the resident fairy wrens. They were busy flitting around chatting & catching bugs.

One of the males was especially proud of himself having caught himself a juicy march fly! The fairy wrens became our best friends from now on because the march flies had already made themselves very unpopular.

As dusk approached, the Bennett's wallabies started to reappear from the forest. They didn't seem too concerned by our presence.

Hobart to Bicheno

This was out view this morning from the breakfast table in our apartment. The clear sky allowed us to see Mount Wellington in full splendor.

Today our route (above) took us from Hobart to Bicheno with a few stops and detours including the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens before we'd even gone a kilometre from our overnight stay.

Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

The gardens are fairly impressive with a number of very different environments.

 

 

 

Harry got in some photography practice in prior to us getting into the adventure properly.

Richmond 

And so we set off on our adventure. Richmond was the first tourist stop on the way to Bicheno. Richmond is about half an hour's drive from Hobart. Richmond has two main historic sites, the jail and the bridge.

We did a tour of the gaol which was both interesting and horrifying. It is the oldest intact gaol in Australia.

A bonus for Harry was a fire truck parked outside the gaol.

The Richmond bridge is Australia's oldest stone span bridge. Harry seemed more interested in the water birds.

Orford

We followed the narrow windy Tasman highway along the Prosser River valley to the east coast. Orford is a small holiday village located where the Prosser River meets the Pacific Ocean. We thought it was the perfect place to eat our picnic lunch.

Three Thumbs Lookout

After lunch we took a short detour into the state forest south of Orford along a steep and windy dirt road to the Three Thumbs Lookout.

The view from the lookout was surprising. We could see across to Maria Island (above) and along the coast north to the Freycinet  peninsular (below). We would follow the same coast for the next couple of hours. Tomorrow we plan to visit Freycinet tomorrow.

Harry was busy with his camera again trying to capture the perfect shot.

Raspin's Beach

A kilometre from Orford is the lovely Raspin's Beach which has brilliant powder white sand and tranquil clear water. (Three Thumbs lookout is at the top of the small hump just to the left of centre of the photo above.)

The drive north was fairly unremarkable until we were alongside the bay just out of Swansea. We could clearly see the Freycinet Peninsular across the Great Oyster Bay.

Swansea

We stopped at Kate's Berry farm just outside of Swansea for a cooling ice cream while we enjoyed the view across at the peninsular. There was no berry picking to be done, I think because it isn't that kind of berry farm but the ice cream was well worth the stop.

We did pull in briefly to the Swansea township, but the wind was howling so we kept going.

Bicheno

We reached our base camp for the next two nights in Bicheno around mid afternoon. We have the entire top level of the house below which was more than adequate to spread ourselves out and be comfortable for a few days. The view from the deck of the coastline is nothing short of stunning. The photo above paints about half the picture.

While Kerri & mum hit the supermarket, Harry & I headed for Waubs beach for some much anticipated digging & splashing in the Pacific Ocean.

As the sun set, the animals around the house started to come out of their daytime hide-outs. There seems to be a family of Bennett's wallabies that call the area home. Tomorrow we are off early to Freycinet National Park to beat the crowds to Wineglass Bay.