Tasmania cont.

February 4^th

Today after a few days in St Helens we packed up to head further south along the coast. We hadn’t any real plans but just wanted to find the right spot. We passed through Scamander, and then stopped at Chain of Lagoons, hoping to find a campsite, but there weren’t many available. We then stopped at Bicheno, which is a very pretty little town, but we were looking for a good free campsite and it doesn’t offer one. We headed further south to Swansea which is surrounded by vineyards and picturesque groves of olives and walnuts. The coastal areas on the East Coast are so very pretty; it is hard to make a decision about where to camp. 15 km’s past Swansea we came upon the most beautiful campsite at Mayfield Bay, which is in the Coastal Reserve on Great Oyster Bay.

To say we got a good position is an understatement. Our campsite must be the A1, King of the Hill Spot. We are about 10 short steps to the grassy picnic area which is right on the beach. We have a campfire right in front of us with a brilliant view over the bay. Included in that view is the Freycinet Peninsula and it looks spectacular. We can see across to the Freycinet National Park, Mt Freycinet, and to the Coles Bay and Wineglass Bay area.

This is a very popular camping area and we have some lovely neighbours. We met Rosemary and Londa who are also travelling around Australia, and Peter who is a local, but camps here to do some fishing. Peter took Greg up the road to a mate’s farm and gave us a good supply of firewood. And then we have Ernie and his 3 little dogs. Ernie is a widower, from NSW, who is halfway through his tour of Tassie and has given us some valuable information about what to see and what to avoid.

Feb 4^th to 8th

Our days at Mayfield Bay have been some of the most relaxing of our journey so far. This campsite is extremely popular and we have since been told that it is often very difficult to get a spot. Shaun and Martine from Hobart are camped here with their children, Nathan and Samantha. They have seen of lot of their beautiful state and have given us a lot of ideas on where to go. It is really great networking with the locals, because you can learn so much and avoid mistakes.

Ernie cooked us a beautiful lunch on the open fire, Paraguayan style, before he left. It was delicious. Londa and Rosemary shared their Lamb Curry with us one evening, again it was delicious. I am sure I will run out of descriptive words before I finish this journal.

As earlier mentioned, we are camped right on the beachfront at Mayfield Bay. It is easy to pop on the beach and go for a walk or do a spot of surf fishing. We haven’t had any luck with fishing so far, but the fun is in the trying I guess. The other night, when attempting to cast, I stepped in a gutter and fell AOT into the water. Thank God for our hot water service, I was freezing by the time we went back to camp.

The sun rises directly in front of us over the peaks of Freycinet and reflects on to the water. It is a delightful way to wake up every morning. The campfire is lit every night and is a great way to end the day, with a chat with the neighbours combined with a drink or two. We have been in Tasmania just over 2 weeks now and are really starting to wind down.

Greg and I took a drive to Freycinet National Park on Monday. This truly is a most beautiful area of Tasmania. We had a look around Coles Bay and Honeymoon Bay and took the drive up to the Cape Tourville lighthouse lookout. The views from there were spectacular. We then drove up to the Wineglass Bay car park and walked to the Wineglass Bay lookout. The walk is quite steep at times, but the track is very well made with lots of steps and rails and lookouts along the way. It is about a 1 ½ hour return walk, but the view when you get there is worth every step you took. It is breathtakingly beautiful. You can’t access Wineglass Bay from the road. It is only accessible by boat or via another walk down the mountain. The Wineglass Bay cruises are very popular. There are many different walks you can take in Freycinet National Park, but we chose only to do the Wineglass Bay Lookout walk. The others are much longer and although I’m sure they would be fascinating to attempt, it wasn’t for us this time. Freycinet National Park is certainly worth the trip.

We will stay in Mayfield Bay for another day or two and just chill. Then we intend to travel away from the coast for a bit, so we are going inland for awhile, before heading down to Bruny Island. Cheers until next time.

Our camping spot at Mayfield Bay

Our beach at Mayfield Bay

Mayfield Bay beach

Spiky Bridge near Mayfield

Spiky bridge

Spiky Bridge

Sunrise at Mayfield Bay

Sunset at Mayfield Bay

Sunset at Mayfield Bay

Three Arch Bridge on beach at Mayfield

View from Cape Tourville at Freycinet

Cape Tourville view

Honeymoon Bay at Freycinet

Wineglass Bay from the lookout

Us at the Wineglass bay lookout

Cape Tourville view

The beautiful Wineglass Bay