Blogs from Bay of Fires, Tasmania, Australia, Oceania - page 2

Up early again and headed out of Bicheno and up as far north on the coast as you can drive. St Helens is the main town in the area. I drove around the area checking out all the beautiful scenery. Binalong bay is the gateway to the bay of fires which was named that because of the explorer who discovered the bay and mistook the colouring on the rocks for fire. It's a very beautiful spot but I was unlucky to get a very cloudy day but it was still pretty. The beach here is stunning and once again I seemed to have it all to myself! On the drive back into St Helens I spotted a little echidna crossing the road. I stopped and let him waddle across while trying to capture a picture of ... read more

That's how Taswegians say thank you - "Ta!" And it fits quite well as a title for this entry, as Tasmania has been great to us so far. I simply adore it here. This past week a friend of Selina and Dan came from Vancouver to stay at our place, so I spent some time showing her around. We revisited Port Arthur, went back up to the top of Mt. Wellington, and back to the market at Salamanca square. But today we did something absolutely amazing; Dan and I drove her to the northeast corner of Tasmania to a place called the Bay of Fires. It is not one specific bay, but a collection of white sand beaches separated by headlands of perfectly smooth boulders covered in a rare red/orange lichen. The result is a photographers ... read more

Ninth Day One gets used to coming across familiar place names here. British people sail to the colonies and name their new homes after the same ones they just left. In Tasmania it's Richmond, Launceston, St Helens and... Swansea - pronounced Swan-sea and not the British Swan-zee. It is a land of strange and enigmatic place names too - it's the opportunity to use your imagination: Snug, Lake Echo, Penguin, Artillery Knob, Frenchmans Cap, as well as to remember what you were taught at school: Mount Achilles, Mount Hyperion, Mount Olympus, The Acropolis. And don't forget religion too: Paradise, King Davids Peak, Walls of Jerusalem, etcetera. My favourite place name has to be the Bay of Fires on Tasmania's east coast. Bay of Fires So another day, another beach - the bay got its name from ... read more

Day 294 - Mole Creek to Moulting Bay (St Helens) A word of warning to all travellers intending to visit Tasmania, give yourselves plenty of time! There’s so much to see and do, our 21 days is whistle stop to say the least. Moving day has crept up on us again but we have an early morning short walk to cram in before we up sticks from the caravan park. Mole Creek is proving to be exceptionally well placed for walks of good quality and stunning views, today’s is no exception. We were given a tip that Devils Gullet should be visited early morning to fully appreciate the view on offer. We didn’t need to be given that advice twice as the sky was filled with ominous looking clouds already but they held firm as we ... read more