Advertisement
Published: September 27th 2014
Edit Blog Post
WILD TASMANIA...The Bay of Fires. She was conceived in China...carried through Russia...born in UK...married a Frenchman...lives in Australia.
When you visit a place with an exotic name you kinda expect heaps of company. When it's free camping in a place with an exotic name you kinda expect crowds. Not much idea what we'd find at our next destination...Tasmania's famous Bay of Fires.
So imagine our delight when we met around a campfire...a couple with the most exotic names...amazing stories to boot...the ethereal Anoushka...and her husband Pasqual...with talents that caught us totally by surprise.
******
Leaving Mt William N.P...the North-East point of Tassie to head down the East Coast.
First stop Policeman's Point...down a narrow windy road for no other reason than to find a nice stop for lunch...then along a river estuary...narrow grey hard sand track past campers until a clearing with stunning views and access to the beach...water many colours.
It's when everything is so ideal that you should not lose focus...or maybe bad luck just happens.
Reversed Denise out of the spot...puts front wheels at entrance to another track to do final reverse to then drive out of there.
The
hard track started crumbling under one of the front wheels...spinning wheel starts digging in...other wheels doing likewise.
Suddenly we are bogged in grey sand...sinking further the harder we tried to get out of there.
A young German couple offerring help...me getting the strongest other campers to do likewise.
A crew of the strongest young...trying all sorts of things to dig us out...rocks, wood under the wheels...brawn against machine.
A couple in their 70s wander over...travelling around Oz...Grey Nomads we call them...out comes the spade...rubber mats...wisdom of experience.
Showing these young pups how it's done...in minutes.
Lucky they came along!
******
St Helens for provisions and plastic glue to fix the plastic housing so we can use our van awning.
Info how to get to Binalong Bay and score free camping along The Gardens Road on the Bay of Fires.
Binalong Bay with its popular beach for families...headland swarming with giant kelp...rounded rocks with the iconic orange algae and splashes of yellow that gives the Bay of Fires its name.
It's getting late...time to find a spot to camp.
Lesson 1...get to a popular spot after 4-5 p.m...maybe difficult
to get a good spot.
When you have no idea what you are looking for...remember Lesson 1.
******
Down the Gardens Road...turn-offs to various beaches...picked the RHT after the Jeanette's Beach turn-off...turning circle at the end...RHT along the edge of the beach on a hard sand track...big tents, 4WDs, mobile homes, small cars, small tents...each gap between bushes taken...turning circle after about 200 metres...squeeze into a spot just below the track...anywhere else we'd be on top of others.
A little gap too small for a car...room for our table and chairs...magic views of the headland and beach...cheeze & bikkies, wine & beer...what a view...if only we'd got here earlier.
A young couple with tent and fire...Anoushka & Pasqual...little bush alcove like an ensuite...inviting us to join them around their fire as dark settles in...no wind...clear night sky...feeling like we are the only ones around.
Gotta admire someone who makes corn pancakes in the dark...on an open fire...next to a beach...that crunch of sand between the teeth...sharing my beers to wash it down.
Then Anoushka brings out the marshmallows...like kids again...flames engulfing the white and pink...burnt sugar popping our taste buds...stories of their heritages...like
a map of the World.
Pasqual enquires if we'd mind if he played a bit of harmonica...blues is our middle name we reply...I'm not very good he says.
The only light was the flickering of the flames...and heaps of candles in plastic cups...Anoushka's touch...the large clearing with us four around the fire...the area otherwise quiet as other campers all inside.
Pasqual puts the harp to his lips...a sweet sweet sound cutting the darkness...the melodies of a master harp player...wafting lilts caressing our souls...filling the night sky...ministering to our souls...no surprise he'd played in a few bands.
******
Anoushka left me with something that was a frequent reminder of our time together.
She had been troubled by my sunburn...insisting I use her potion of aloa vera that she bottles...left one with me...use it daily she insisted...and I did...thank you Anoushka each time I used it!
By 10 a.m. the next day a large portion of the vans and vehicles packed up and moved out leaving many gaps between bushes overlooking the beach...one nearby big enough for about four campsites.
So we move in.
Uninterrupted views of the beach and light blue ocean...
the north headland just there...so good we don't want to leave...best spot.
Walks along the beach...the headland...the beach the other side...rock pools with trilobytes and blood red anenome flowers...a dog showing us how surfing is done in these parts ...the tunes of Hindi Zahra from Morocco fast becoming Den's favourite.
At the end of The Gardens Road is...The Gardens...a magic spot of rock platforms splashed with orange...beachballs of tufted grass...and the whitest sand there'll ever be...washed by cerulean seas as far as the eye can see.
From 4pm each day new neighbors would move in to join our idyllic view...John & MaryKath from Tassie in front...Paul & Laura from UK behind and Ben & Tessa from Sydney further back braving the wind in a tent so small...Tony & Glenda we met at Mt William N.P. contacting they'll drop by...further evidence Tasmania is the friendliest place to visit.
But life is not all euphoria...has to be events that brings down the balance.
And on our Tassie trip there was just one such event...other than being bogged at Policeman's Point...yep...a disaster.
I lost my sunglasses in the surf.
But not just any sunglasses.
They
were the only expensive sunnies I have ever owned...came in a really hard case...been everywhere...South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania...slipped out the neck of my shirt...now worn by Neptune...looking good in my Italian shades.
Pretty lucky if that's the worst that happened to us...yep...pretty lucky.
But I dally.
This view is so good...time for more fat juicy cherries...more raspberries...more brie.
Ah...wonder what the poor people are doing.
Relax & Enjoy,
Dancing Dave
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 20; qc: 39; dbt: 0.0529s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Kuan Yin
Karen Johnson
Kelp!
I had to look closely at the kelp photo. At first I thought it might be the skeletons of some huge, strange fish or sea mammal. We get a lot of kelp in southern California where I live, but nothing like this!