Freycinet National Park and The North East

16th March 2011
Isn't it funny how our memories can sometimes deceive us. My recollections of Wineglass Bay from my last visit were of us spontaneously deciding to wander over there from the campsite in little more than our swimmers and a towel and thongs. This time around it seemed like a much more arduous venture. The walk into Wineglass Bay took us about 1.5 hours over a spur between two mountains. The bay itself is pure magic. A perfect semi-circular bay with a stunningly beautiful white sandy beach which gives the shallow bay it's amazing blue-green colour. Again the attractiveness of the beach lures you into it's icy waters. Jay played jump-the-waves as I scanned the bay for signs of dolphins since it was here that I previously had the opportunity to swim whilst the dolphins played around us. Disappointed that we didn't get to see any this time we reluctantly headed off to complete our circuit. Following the Isthmus track to Hazard Beach which was littered with abalone shells, possibly the remains of aboriginal middens, we returned to the carpark, completing our 11km journey.



Slipping in another couple of hours driving north we retired for the night at Lagoons Beach free camp site. As Jay was keen for a campfire, and there was little wood around, we went and introduced ourselves to some grey nomads already relaxing by a campfire. It proved the place to be as traveller after traveller joined us around the warm blaze. Being a typical Cub, Jay wanted to cook something, preferably marshmallows, over the fire. Lacking marshmallows I whipped up a batch of dough and Jayden amazed the other campers by cooking damper twists over the open fire and then filling it up with creamed honey. It's been interesting seeing the response of many of the grey nomads to Jayden. Some are wonderfully friendly and delight in helping him out and including him in conversations. These invariably are the ones with grand children at home whom they are missing. The others, possibly travelling to escape their grand-parenting duties, treat him with disdain or simply ignore him. Many are traveling with their dogs (I don't know that I'd like that in the close quarters of a caravan or motorhome) and Jay has enjoyed meeting new people, often through their dogs.

17th March2011
It was only a short drive into St Helen's where we stocked up on groceries and enjoyed fish and chips at the mariner. Moving on a bit we headed for Binalong Bay which is part of the Bay of Fires Conservation area.



Another stunningly beautiful and enticing white sandy beach surrounded by large dolomite boulders with a distinctive orange lichen growing on them which gives the area it's name. It's easy to imagine how boats passing this bit of the coastline may have mistaken the lichen on the rocks for fires or even lava. Rock hopping, swimming in the bay, fishing and reading whiled away the afternoon. Moving into our campsite at Cosy Corner 2 free camp around 5pm we had a bit of time before dinner to join in with a game of cricket the kids had going. Wandering down to the beach after dinner we couldn't resist a bit more adventurous rock hopping over and around these blazing boulders.



As the sun set and the long Tasmanian twilight lingered we returned to the safety of the beach and chatted to a local fisherman dipping his line into the moonshine encrusted waves. Bearing marshmallows this time we were invited to join two couples around their fire. Peeping shyly out of the coastal heath we spied some New Holland mice and on a trip to the toilets a very large brush tailed possum.

18th March 2011
Today was again mostly driving. Distances are deceiving in Tassie and regulary take me much longer to cover than I would expect. We went into Tree-top Adventures outside Launceston only to find that we'd just missed the last group for the day which had been full nevertheless. At $175 for the two of us I was quietly pleased that we couldn't be accommodated. Instead we continued on through Launceston and up the Tamar River towards Exeter where we detoured off to the Bush Maze. Following our failsafe method we easily navigated the maze and the tackled some of the other puzzles and challenges around the grounds. The night was spent in a pleasant council carpark on the banks of the Tamar called Rose Bay Park.

19th March 2011
Sadly today is our last on the Tasmanian Isle. Starting the day with Colin Buchanan singing about the Beaconsfield mining disaster we set off for Beaconsfield Heritage Centre. This proved quite interesting and we spent a few hours touring the centre. This is still a working mine, however the only sign of such is the large shaft and elevator with the miners safety tag board in front, so familiar from the media coverage of Todd Russell and Brant Webb's ordeal of two weeks underground squashed like sardines into the tiny safety cage awaiting their mates on the surface to dig them out. Jay was kept occupied with many hands-on displays throughout the centre including panning for gold. A very worthwhile experience.



Onto LaTrobe we headed for our last night camping in another council run park behind the local IGA. A brief walk took us to a marvelous doll, bear and toy emporium located in the main street. I wish we'd had a bit more time to explore this old home packed to the rafters with every type of bear, doll, fairy, puzzle and science kit you can imagine. We were met at the door by a fudge bearing jester and given a map to help us negotiate the store's wonderful wares. Before we knew it we were being ushered out and back to Frankie where we had a simple dinner to use up some of the bits in the freezer which would go off the following day with no refrigeration on our journey back across Bass Strait.

20th March 2011
Another early morning to get us back onto the Spirit of Tasmania. Good-bye Tassie, hopefully it won't be so long between visits next time.



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