26^th April 2022 – Off to Coles Bay

I quickly look for our bird friends, but we are up a little later this morning and they clearly have a routine. Funny.

I am still feeling pretty average (gross understatement there – both gross and an understatement). So, it’s a slow day to have breakfast and pack up our car. We are driving to Coles Bay which is nearly four hours away.

We pack up the car, say goodbye to Cradle Mountain and hit the road for our long drive. I am sure there will be a bakery on the way, so hopefully we can find the man a scallop pie 😊

The day is overcast, we have been super lucky with the weather so far, the clearest day possible to head up to the peak yesterday, and nice overcast day for driving.

On the side of the road are very large signs for Best Bakery! Wahoo, we stop in there, they have pies! Jason is getting very excited. BUT, wouldn’t you know it, they have pies, they do NOT have scallop pies!

We have an average breakfast and continue on our journey.

The drive is pretty easy and not a lot happens, not a lot of critters, a few womrocks (that is what happens when you are fixated on wombats and start thinking that your garden variety rock is a small, furry, snuggable wombat).

To keep the economy going we did stop off at a vineyard, you know, because we could. This one is called Devils Corner. It is very cool, stunning views, a viewing platform fabricated from shipping containers, and nice tasking wines. Yes, again I selflessly invested in the local economy before we leave.

Just after 100pm in the afternoon we arrive in Coles Bay which borders the Freycinet National Park. To quote their website Jutting out into the sea on Tasmania’s mild east coast is the rugged and beautiful Freycinet Peninsula. Freycinet National Park, which consists of knuckles of granite mountains all but surrounded by azure bays and white sand beaches, protects a superb array of plants and animals (doubt they have wombats though).

Coles Bay is a little seaside town, the “main” road takes you straight down to Coles Bay and the beautiful beach there. You can also see Freycinet National Park looming above the water. It is stunning – I feel like I am overusing that word; but seriously it has to be used. Even though the day is overcast the view is beautiful. But I am exhausted, so after popping into the Visitors Centre to get maps and ideas for our hikes tomorrow, we check into the accommodation, and I settle in for a good afternoon nap. Those who know me well, know I do NOT nap during the day. I hate it, but today is an exception – I feel miserable. Jason heads off for a walk.

After my nanny nap I find Jason and we go for a little walk together. The rest of the day is quite uneventful, we eat at the local café – very yummy food, head back to our accommodation and sleep. Tomorrow I will feel better DAMN IT. Regardless of whether I do or not, we have a long hike planned. Snot be damned.

Take pills, grab a box of tissues, warm blanket, bed!

27^th April – Coles Bay, Freycinet National Park, Wineglass Bay

We woke up to a reasonably nice day, though the forecast is not great. We decide to get an early start on our hike. Scoff down breakfast, make our picnic lunch, and hit the road. The drive to the start of the hike is only 10 minutes so we are ready to rock and roll at 820am.

We are told it is 11km including the lookout, and will take us about 4 hours. Advice is to go clockwise as this will be 400 steps up as opposed to counter clockwise and 1000 steps! No convincing required there, 1000 steps, hell no!

So up we go! And up, and up, to be honest it is not as bad as Marions Lookout. Before we know it we are at the top overlooking Wineglass Bay, and what a beautiful sight it is. As we leave the peak there is a very poignant sign “Warning steep slippery track”! For the love of Pete, it might as well say “Jo will break her ankle here”. My stomach always drops when I read these, oh well, suck it up, and watch where you step! Time to walk down to Wineglass Bay, across the Isthmus track, to Hazards Beach. We saw a few wallabies in the forest area and one seal on the beach – but the seal had blown on this particular seal, it was a gonner, we could smell it a long time before we could see it ☹

About halfway along Wineglass Bay, and around 4km in out 11km walk it starts to rain, not too much, but we are pleased we bought our raincoat. As we continue the weather gets worse. We are so pleased we got an early start and were able to get to the lookout early, as it is now disappearing behind a bank of clouds. We pass a few young’uns hiking the other way. I would not be walking up 1000 steps to see clouds!

The scenery is rough and rugged but still beautiful. The rain is moving in and getting heavier, on the upside it is not hot 😊. We trek across Hazards Beach, the sand is so white you think it must be close relation to Whitehaven beach 😊 – dipping a toe in the water will soon make it obvious if they are related, they are VERY distant cousins. It is freezing. It is almost cruel, all the beautiful beaches and rivers around Tasmania and none you really want to swim in without a wetsuit!

By the time we are back at the carpark we have walked 12kms and we are wet. Even though we had our raincoats on we still got a little wet. But because we nailed this walk quickly we can head home, get changed, and eat our picnic in comfort.

12km 366m elevation in 2 hours 49 minutes. A pretty good walk, but Cradle Mountain is still my favourite. 

The rest of the day we go and see other parts of Coles Bay and the surrounds. Including a quick trip to Bicheno, pronunciation to be confirmed – but when I read it I see some bejewelled bogan waving her hand in another bejewelled bogans face saying “biiiitch Noooooooooo”.

There is a blowhole there that needs to be explored. So we go, we look, it does its thing, and we leave 😊 not overly impressive, but well advertised as there are a lot of people standing there looking at it.

We stock up at the IGA. It is a funny little place, as you walk in there is a sign that states No Wetsuits. Shows that this must be a recurring issue for a sign to be required.

There is also The Farm Shed East Coast Wine Centre! Well, hello my friend! In we go. Apparently, it is THE place to experience Tasmania’s East Coast wines, and combines wine bar, tastings and sales with art and design. Not only that but they sell beer. Now this place has its market covered! Jason enjoys a nice beer whilst I do some wine tasting.

This time we both invest in the economy before leave.

Now the weather has not improved and the rain continues. Tomorrow we are meant to be taking a ferry to Maria (pronounced Mariah) Island, where we have booked rental bikes to explore. IF it is pissing down, we are not keen on that idea.

So after a lot of struggling with reception I get hold of the company and we arrange for a credit, our itinerary is too tight for us to move it to another day. I also arrange for the tour we are doing on Friday to move to Saturday when the weather is meant to be better. So much shuffling.

Sorted. Back to accommodation for sleep before we leave Coles Bay for Port Arthur tomorrow.

Scallop pies – 0 (but he has beer, so life is ok)