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Published: March 7th 2012
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The long white Friendly Beaches
The Freycinet National Park has long white sandy beaches on it's northern coastline. Annamaria and Michael were going to catch up with us later in the day at Coles Bay in their campervan so we headed off with a list of places to visit along the way. Heading east past the airport we stopped at Sorell to get groceries and wine for the next two days. From there we passed where we should have stopped at the Tasman Bush Gardens, but, never mind, we could do that on the way back in a couple of days. Next we stopped at St John The Baptist church (built 1820’s) at Buckland to look at the stained glass window dating back to the 14
thCentury from Hastings Abbey in England. The building is made of the local cream sandstone and the glass work on the other windows is superb especially the flowers.
The countryside going east was landscape of dry tussocky looking grassland and the usual gum and acacia tree varieties that are seen everywhere. It lacks the greenness, variety and sharpness of landscapes that we are used to in NZ because the colours blend into each other more. The farming seemed to be mostly merino sheep farms with the odd area of walnuts, vineyards, cherries and
The Spikey Bridge
Named for the spikes of rock implanted on the top of the walls of the bridge acquaculture. The sheep have to move themselves to differentiate them from rocks. Once we reached the coastline it opened up to a view across to Maria Island, named after Abel Tasman’s Patron’s wife. This coastline is known as the Tasmania Sunshine Coast and is acclaimed for the excellent climate and beauty. (We’re still waiting for this acclaimed weather). We had lunch at the holiday town of Orford on the beach and then continued on up the lovely coastline which always had an island, a golden beach, a lagoon or a granite headland to look out to.
This part of Tasmania is well known for the use of prisoners as slave labour during the 17
th century. We came across Spikey Bridge and stopped to take a look at the rock construction built by prisoners who were accommodated nearby at a prison barracks. A road was required from Hobart up the coast and there was an ample supply of labourers from the gaol to do road construction and bridge building. Spikey bridge has been given the name because of the finishing touches put on the top of the bridge. There are thin rocks standing on end and cemented into the bridge with shell and sand cement.
We stopped in at Kate’s Berry Gardens for fruit icecreams thinking that they might be like our fresh fruit icecreams that we have in Nelson. They were nothing like ours which are made on the spot with fresh berries mixed with icecream or yoghurt – far superior. Continuing up the coast to Swansea, we stopped and did the walk around the headland where the mutton birds (short tailed shearwater) nest before migrating north to the Arctic. There was plenty of evidence of nesting but only two birds were to be seen today. Perhaps they were out feeding since they are supposed to return in the evenings. Swansea also had a large number of historic buildings which had been restored very well.
We left the coast for a while until we reached the turnoff to Freycinet National Park. From here we headed south to the Friendly Beaches where we stopped and walked to the beach. The views and the beach along this area are magnificent with a long coast of white sand, granite headlands and an azure sea with gentle waves. The sand is especially white as it is made up mainly of white feldspar and quartz.
A little further on we came across a marine farm selling oysters and other seafood. What a treat! How could we resist it? Karilyn, Neal and I shared a small feast of 15 oysters which were delicious. Lindsay looked on. He doesn’t like them.
Finally we reached Coles Bay where we have a 3 bedroom cabin with perfectly acceptable facilities. A&M had arrived mid afternoon so after a catch up with wine and nibbles, we had dinner then settled down to some serious card playing, finishing the game from the day before. Michael won.
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