Bay of Fires, St Columba Falls and Pyengana Cheese Factory

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If the view from the Bed in the Treetops was lovely yesterday afternoon it was spectacular this morning with blue sky and even bluer water! We went upstairs to Bruce and Marianne's dining room to enjoy a delicious cooked breakfast looking out over Georges Bay and the Tasman Sea and watching Tasmanian Green Parrots eating at the feeding stations on the balconies. Bruce and Marianne deserve all of the awards that they have earned for their delightful B&B in the trees with a sea view. Best of both worlds - sea and trees!

With the sun still shining we headed off to see Binalong Bay in the daylight - beautiful - and then headed north towards The Gardens along the southernmost section of the Bay of Fires. This is yet another gorgeous area of Tasmania to explore. Too cold for swimming in July, but the rocks are red and the water the most amazing turquoise and the sand so, so white. It would be a lovely place to visit in the summer ... but for the crowds of tourists that the warmer weather must bring! As we drove south again we popped into couple of the beaches just to admire the view again and again from (slightly) different view points.

Back at the Binalong Bay turnoff we headed over the back way towards St Helens to pick up the road out to St Columba Falls. Bruce and Marianne had suggested that the falls would be well worth the visit after yesterday's rain. There was a considerable amount of leaf litter, twigs and small branches on the road after the stormy weather but, fortunately, no fallen trees blocking the road.

When we reached the car park at the end of the road we had quite a good view of the upper part of the falls from there. With it only being a 10-15 minute walk into the falls we set off to find ourselves an even better view. Considering the rainfall of the last 48 hours the track was in pretty good condition ... until we almost reached the bottom! Oh no, we've come all of this way and we can hear the falls crashing down just around the corner and there is a fallen tree over the path. Not to be deterred, we crawled under the obstruction and found our way to the base of the falls.

OMG there was so much water crashing over the falls purported to be Tasmania's highest. There was so much water cascading over the falls today that the spray being created was like being in a shower of rain. It was far too wet to consider any long exposure shots; it seems we carried our tripods in to no avail!! We took a few shots, but probably none that really do justice to the sheer brute force of the falls gushing over the precipice today.

Back at the car park we encountered a young couple with a baby in a pusher about to head down to the falls. We warned them about the fallen tree down near the bottom of the track, but they headed off anyway vowing that they would abandon the pusher and carry the baby the last bit if necessary. That's the spirit!! As we drove back out from the falls we encountered quite a few cars heading in so it seemed lucky that we had decided to see the falls first and have lunch second as it meant that we had the falls to ourselves.

Lunch today at the Pyengana Cheese Factory cafe - Holy Cow - after we tasted their range of cheeses. Only four cheeses in their range - a mild cheddar, a Blue Tier cheddar (named after the Blue Tier Forest rather than being a blue cheese), a matured cheddar and a chilli cheddar. The chilli cheddar packed quite a punch!

Brian and Maryanne said that they had heard that the Tasman Highway is closed at Scottsdale today after yesterday's storm so they suggested returning to St Helens after the falls and the cheese factory to take the Esk Main Road and Midland Highway to Launceston rather than risk being delayed/diverted at Scottsdale. The weather continued to hold until we reached the coast, but after we had turned the car south to head back down the coast it deteriorated fairly rapidly.

According to the CX-5's external temperature sensor it plummeted from a reasonable 13° to a decidedly chilly 8° in just a couple of minutes and ... it started to rain again. Despite the change we made it to St Marys where we found the Caltex servo to top up with Diesel. Much to Bernie's amusement the Star Card transaction was actioned manually with an old fashioned slide device rather than on-line. Who knew that there was anywhere in Australia still using a slide device for anything rather than a card reading machine??!

With enough fuel to make it to Launceston we continued our journey in the rain. Once again though, the weather has treated us well - it was cold, but fine while we were sightseeing and it really only turned nasty mid-afternoon once we had decided to make our way to Launceston where we have accommodation booked for the night.

We arrived in Launceston just after five and had no trouble finding the Balmoral on York with the SatNav. It makes navigating around an unfamiliar city so easy! We walked down to the No. 3 rated Launceston restaurant on Trip Advisor, Larceny, just around the corner from York Street on Tamar Street. We have really pigged out today with eggs and bacon for breakfast, a big lunch and a big dinner!!

Steps for the day 7,724 (5.26 km)

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Comments

[Janet Morrison]

nearing the end?
I guess you must be nearing the end of your journey at this stage? You have covered a lot of ground so far and experienced some beautiful locations. The falls look much more spectacular at this time of the year so braving the cold makes for excellent photography. It is chilly here too and the weather was wild and wet yesterday. Not as bad today thankfully. Congrats on your official retirement Tracey. Seems you already have some great ideas for how to spend your time. I can imagine you as a museum guide! Would give you access to lots behind the scenes as well as the traveling exhibition! Enjoy the rest of your time... love Janet