East Coast of Tasmania: April 6-7

Our next destination was Tasmania's East Coast, a region noted for its holiday towns with old historic buildings and churches,

sheltered ocean beaches, and magnificent national parks. In fact, this became Rick’s favourite part of Tasmania.

We allowed time for a major hike in the Freycinet National Park. We hiked up to the Wineglass Bay outlook,

then down to the bay itself (absolutely beautiful), then across the isthmus to Hazards Beach,

then along the coast

back to our starting position. It was somewhat of a 5-hour gruel tramping up and down rock outcroppings high up along the ocean. We also did another smaller Cape Tourville walk up to a lighthouse with a great panoramic view of the coastline.

One night along the East Coast we stayed at a fabulous lodging right on the ocean beach, with a million dollar view of the crashing ocean waves.

Of course, that is what our year is going to cost us, so it is fitting to have a view like that! All night long the waves lulled us to sleep. Another day we visited the tiny town of St. Helen's along the Bay of Fires. It is call the Bay of Fires along this northern part of the east coastline, because of the bright red colouration on the rocks - absolutely magnificent!

This is a holiday resort area, (although desolate when we were there) with lots of sandy beaches (alas too cold to swim),

dunes and pounding surf. Everywhere we looked or stopped, the scenery was absolutely spectacular.

In fact, Lonely Planet calls it the most beautiful place to visit in the world. The beaches have such fine white sand that they actually squeak when you walk on them! So we capitalized on the scenery and went to a classy restaurant jutting out over the ocean. There we splurged on rock lobster ($50 for half a lobster that is caught just minutes away from the restaurant by the waitress’ husband!) and delicious local white wine.

To get from one scenic spot to the next along the East Coast, we had to drive via roads that are very narrow and winding with lots of switchbacks. Of course exactly on one evening while traversing some such roads, it began to rain, making it a rather treacherous venture! Undaunted we drove onward to see a cheese factory in the little town of Pyengana, complete with lots of cow memorabilia. (“Have an udderly good day!” or “One good churn deserves an udder”). Then despite the weather we trekked into yet another rain forest to see the St. Columba Falls, the highest falls in Tasmania.

We spent that night in the town of Scamander along the coast, arriving there after dark. We awoke to see a beautiful sand dune before the ocean right outside our balcony. A lovely Norfolk pine tree was also visible. High up in its branches we spied an art installation there - a blue & yellow rubbish bin and a shopping cart. After inquiring about it, we discovered that some drunk individuals had scampered up the tree and left them there! No one knew quite how to get them down again!