Advertisement
Published: March 1st 2014
With a cool but clear morning, we headed east from Derby towards St Helens with a view of camping at one of the free camps on The Bay Of Fires.
First stop was at St Columba Falls, tucked into the hills via a twisting sealed road to the car park. Well, car park might be an exaggeration, as there is not really much space for more than 3 cars. Still we tucked ourselves into a space in line with a fence that separates the road from the public toilets. From there it is an easy 600 mtr down hill walk through a beautiful valley of trees. There were fern trees, myrtles, red gum and many others shading the path. The sounds of rushing, tumbling water leave no doubt that there is a substantial waterfall close by, then through a gap in the trees you can see the height of the falls. This is one of Tasmania's higher waterfalls, and in the wet season the roar and spray would be mighty. This is the end of a relatively dry summer, yet there was still a steady flow over the falls. The combination of rain forest and falls gives the photographer lots
of subjects to shoot. This is another area where platypus have been seen, but not today.
If you walk down a 600 meter path into the forest, then that is the way out also at the falls. Huff & puff a little!
Soon we were back in the MH and heading down the hill, at the same time running the heater to warm us from the local chill. (14c and breezy.)
It was not long before we came to a little dairy factory with its shop, The Holy Cow Café. They serve coffee and meals, but we thought we should give their Triple Tier Cheeses a work out. The lady doing the demo was knowledgeable on the different cheese making techniques to produce a creamy mild cheese through to a strong vintage cheese. They make a number of specialty cheeses, one of which caught Marg's attention, and a different one for me. A smaller range than at Ashgrove the other day, but quality was their focus and seemed to be working out well. Their cheese is available around Australia, but not in supermarkets on the main land. They still use the cheese cloth wrapping as they make
Danger!!!
Seel last paragraph of blog for explanation.their rounds of cheese and that is how it is sent to specialty cheese distributors for sale to hotels and up-market restaurants.
We thanked Mrs Cheese and waved goodbye to the cows they milk as they grazed beside the fence in well irrigated pasture, and headed back to the main road to get to St Helens. This part of Tasmania is dominated by rugged hills and river valleys. We just got out of one little town and the speed limit said 80ks. Not a show! Within 50 meters we were in a tight hairpin bend with a speed recommended of 25ks. It was another 20 minutes of concentrated spiral spaghetti driving until we were confident of getting to 80. There the sign said 100ks! Not in your nelly. Fortunately there was little traffic, so the journey was pretty much stress free. As we arrived at St Helens a truck was heading west with a giant machine on the low loader. I would not like to have met him in the twisty section.
The Bay of Fires has an interesting history dating back to 1773 when observed by Cptn Furneaux who saw not the orange rocks, but the aboriginal
St Columba Falls 2
The path winds down the valley in eat land forest. camp fires scattered along the beach front. Hence the name we have today. This is interesting to us because we noticed amongst the sand away from the immediate beach front a lot of black in the sand. Initially we wondered if this was iron sand or similar. As it happens, it is the sooty residue of fires over many hundreds of years, both pre settlement and post settlement. Washing feet in the shower was a necessary chore as the soot residue seemed to stick to feet.
St Helens is a pretty little coastal town that is very RV friendly. We visited the local info centre, topped up our water tanks and headed north to the Bay of Fires. Marg had picked out a free camp that she thought would suit, but the parking areas were very lumpy. We headed further up the road to Cosy Corner Nth camping area, and soon found a level spot to camp. In these free camps there maybe a composting toilet, and that's it. You bring food and water, and take out all garbage back to bins provided in St Helens. It seems that 99% of camp users do the right thing, so the
St Columba Falls 1
View from high on the access track grounds are clean and tidy. Best of all, after 50 paces you are on the whitest of white sand beaches, clear sea water and those famous orange coloured rocks. We were talking to a local and apparently a wild storm last year had robbed the beach of a lot of sand, so , some of the orange rocks have a pale granite look up to the old sand line, then the orange colour starts. The colour is a salt tolerant lichen, making the rocks literally glow.
Some of the locals are very hardy and swim in the lagoon. I checked my feet after paddling at the edge and detected what looked like the early stages of frostbite.
We had decided to stay two nights in this peaceful spot so that we could plan our activities as we turn south for Hobart. This is very simple and relaxing living. Some people stay a month and then move to another camp for the next month. Unfortunately we don't have that luxury this time, so headed back to St Helens for one night in the caravan park, catch up with laundry, and prepare to head south over the next week towards
St Columba Falls 3
The path crosses several creeks in the forest Port Arthur.
We stopped in at Binalong Bay before continuing into St Helens. This is a very pretty and well protected bay. Just so peaceful today! Could change with a Northerly Gale, but well protected from the east and south. Once again the rocky shoreline invites shutterbugs from all around the world. Marg and I both commented that this is a spot where one could settle to very easily: just one caveat, The temperature needs to stay as it has been today for the whole year. Yes we are WARM to Qld standards today.
As one travels around Australia, it becomes evident that not all things are equal. We have not seen any kangaroos in Tasmania, though we have seen (and not hit) many wallabies and pademelons. What we were un aware of is a special strength and fitness training program down here. Apparently, if you approach one of these animals after dusk at 65 kph or less, they have been trained to lift the front end of your vehicle right off the road.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.057s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0279s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mum & Dad
non-member comment
Another masterpiece
Some great photos and whitty comments. Sure looks like our homeland in laces. White sand and blue sea inviting but too cool for us sissies.