Sunday, March 11

Today, we started bright and early and left our cottage for the Tasmanian Peninsula.  One of the places we missed due to our late arrival was Richmond, a village nearby with a lot of history.  It was too early to visit the winery, cheese shop, and chocolate shop there, but the historical bridge was open all hours.  This is a bridge built by convicts and is very picturesque.  The convict history is very rich in Tasmania.

Tasmania Peninsula is accessible via a very narrow isthmus.  It is the location of Tasmania’s most famous prison site of Port Arthur.  We weren’t interested in a prison tour, but were very interested in the great scenery the peninsula has to offer.  Very shortly after crossing the isthmus (which in its day, had a treacherous dog line to cross, should a convict attempt an escape), you head east to lookouts and short walks of Pirate’s Bay Lookout, Tessalated Pavement, The Blowhole, Tasman Arch, Devil’s Kitchen, and Waterfall Bay Lookout.

Being that these points of interest are all basically drive-ups and very short walks, all the tour buses stop there.  Fred and I found ourselves caught in the middle of two tourbus groups and couldn’t shake them.  Finally, at Tasman Arch, it was clear that the driver told his tour group to walk to Devil’s Kitchen and he’d pick them up there.  We drove to Devil’s Kitchen, beating the group, and decided to walk the much longer walk to Waterfall Bay.  Finally, we were free of the crowds and it was a nice walk at that!  It had many viewpoints from which to take photos, although the waterfall was just a dribble.  We would see the bay from a different point of view the following morning.

After that, we decided to head a different direction on the peninsula and explore the coal mines. The mines were convict dug 150 years ago and were well signboarded with remnants of the cells, tramways, and officers housing, as well as a filled-in mine.  This was kind of the worst of the worst kind of “punishment” for a convict and it was interesting in its own way, but really depressing.  So beautiful, but so sad.  It really made you appreciate your life and freedom.

The road out of there to the main road conveniently was close to Federation Chocolates!  I’m quite sure this is also a tourbus stop, but we managed to hit it when there were no crowds.  They provided tastings in case you couldn’t decide which kind of chocolates you should buy.  I preferred the honeycomb, while Fred preferred the ginger.  So we got both and a third one we both agreed on.

Then on to Kevin’s Cottage. This was the most homey cottage we stayed at.  It was full of books, DVDs and CDs and an assortment of kitchen wares.  It felt like the family cottage shared with all your cousins and their families and everyone added something to it.  There was certainly nothing wrong with that and it was charming in its own way – even had a wonderful view.  We had to drive to the local grocery store and pick up some milk for our cereal and when we returned, there was a colorful parrot in the shrubbery outside.

Monday, March 12

This morning we bundled up, not because clouds were coming in, but because we had booked a Tasman Peninsula cruise.  “Cruise” might not be the most appropriate word, as it was a fast boat – considered a “must-do”.  The gathering point was very close to Port Arthur and we were loaded on buses to the departure point at Pirate’s Bay.  This was a place we had visited the day before.

We loaded onto the boat and were given long spray jackets to put over our clothing.  I was glad we brought gloves and beanies, because the trip was cold.  I was rather surprised a group of women showed up (presumably from a cruise ship), wearing skirts and ballet flats.  They must have been freezing!

The cruise was fantastic! We traveled along the same coastline we had observed from above the day before, but the boat could see so much more and get closer to the features.  The guide stated that we would be heading to his favorite spot on the cruise, Waterfall Bay.  I was puzzled, because it was just a small bay and the waterfall really didn’t have any water in it.  What we didn’t know that under the viewpoint we stood on were a bunch of sea caves. The boat was able to navigate into them and it was really interesting.

We traveled further down the coast and saw Totem Pole and the Candlestick, two famous rock-climbing places and then went to the point furthest south to see the seal colony at Tasman Island.

Around the point was seriously rough waters.  As I mentioned above, it was getting cloudy and grey and the wind was picking up. Fortunately, our cruise path mostly stayed on the leeward side of the island in more sheltered waters, but we got a “taste” of how rough it was when crossing to Tasman Island.

Returning back up the coast, the captain saw something and headed away from the shoreline for all of us to experience it.  Apparently, the fish were running and there must have been 500 Albatross, 150 dolphins, and as many seals having a feeding frenzy.  It was really something to see!  Dolphins were on both sides of the boat and Albatross were everywhere!  The crew said this was rare and sometimes they feel lucky to see 2 Albatross in a day.  We were awestruck.  My camera doesn’t do well shooting birds on the wing, so I’m hoping Fred got some good photos.

We returned to Pirate’s Bay and back on the shuttle to Port Arthur.  In hindsight, I wish we could have met the shuttle in the morning at Pirates Bay, as it would have saved us an hour of travel.  We had a 3-hour drive to our next destination, Coles Bay, near Freycinet Peninsula.

We use Googlemaps on my iPad for navigation.  It does a pretty good job, but one flaw it has is choosing the shortest route.  Today, after finding a nice lunch spot at Marion Bay, it took us on a very rough gravel road.  Up until this point, we had always traveled on sealed roads to get from place to place. Fortunately, we were only on gravel for about 40 minutes.  About halfway to Coles Bay, we stopped to see Spiky Bridge.  It was an old stone bridge built over 100 years ago and even the signage said they had no idea why it was designed with spikes.

We arrived at Studio 59, located on a knoll overlooking Swanwick Bay on one side and a pretty little valley on the other.  It was attached to the back of the main house, which I think was rented as well. Ginger the dog was very friendly. It was a real nice little studio and I was happy we were staying 2 nights there.

Tuesday, March 13

The Wineglass Bay Lookout track seems to appear on every itinerary I’ve come across.  Figuring it would be a busy place, we decided to visit it first.  They’ve made it a loop walk, but it was interesting that the walk up was very nicely groomed with stone tracks and retaining walls, while the return walk was rather rough and hodge-podge.   The view was nice, but I’ve seen so many pictures of it, I probably was spoiled.  We’ve heard 2 stories about why it’s called Wineglass Bay.  One is because it is shaped like a wineglass, a comparison I can’t see at all.   The other is that whaling boats slaughtered so many whales in the bay that the waters were red.  That’s a bit morbid, but probably a more likely explanation.

When we returned to the carpark, it was really filling up and I’m glad we arrived as early as we did!

We also went to Sleepy Bay and Cape Tourville.  Sleepy Bay has rocks with an orange lichen that many of the east coast beaches are famous for.

Cape Tourville has a lighthouse and beautiful coastline views.  I actually preferred it to the Wineglass Bay walk.  A very tame Wallaby was in the parking lot at Cape Tourville, but I don’t know if he was sleepy or sick.  He was right next to our parked car and didn’t move as we backed out. Something didn’t seem right with him. I wonder if people feed him stuff he shouldn’t be eating.  There are signs everywhere about not feeding wildlife, yet people seem to ignore them.

After this, we decided to have lunch at Friendly Beaches.  There was a bench with a fantastic view of the long stretch of white sands and after lunch we went down to explore.  There were very few people there.  I guess they all go to Wineglass Bay, lucky for us!  We got some great pictures of the birds, tidal rocks, and a lone surfer.

Then we went to Devil’s Corner and Freycinet Vineyards for wine tasting.  Devil’s Corner has a café, views, a lookout, gift shop, and was bustling with people.  The wines were just okay.  Across the road is Freycinet Vineyards that only had a small building for wine and olive oil tasting.  There were very few people there and I thought the wines were better.

While at Freycinet Vineyards, there arrived a group of about 8 people.  They went directly to the olive oil tasting area, chowed down, and left. I call them the Hit-and-Run tasters. I’ve seen itineraries on the forum where people seemingly plan the entire trip around tasting.  But I think it’s rude not to interact with the owners and at least feign an interest in how the food/drink is created.  –End rant.

The rest of the afternoon, we enjoyed some wine, cheese, and views from our deck.

Wednesday, March 14

I warned Fred that this would be a long day of driving. I did offer him 3 options, the longest had the most interesting places to check out and he was game – bless him.

We started with a quick stop at the end of Gordon St. in Bicheno.  Pictures on the internet showed it to be where a rocky shore meets white sand beach location with red rocks.  It was a rather gloomy morning, so the beach was not very scenic.  But a couple was there and they pointed out some dolphins swimming offshore, so that made up for it.  We watched them for a bit and moved on.

Our next stop was over an hour away, but still on the shore at Humbug Point.  This is the southern end of Bay of Fires.  We found a pullout for Skeleton Bay and it was a beautiful sort of lagoon with red rocks.  After we snapped a few photos and tried to find a geocache, we were on our way.

Next was Pyangena Cheese and a short drive from that, St. Columba Falls.  I thought because this was on a more remote routing, there wouldn’t be that many people at these two places – well I was wrong!  I think buses stop at the two because it’s a long stretch of windy road and any stops are far apart – so you better take advantage of them.  There also was a group of bicyclists at the Pyangena Cheese.  All was good though.  The visitors at the cheese place were really purchasing cheese and not just taking advantage of the free tastings.  The cheeses were really good and we bought some for ourselves.

When we got to St. Columba Falls, we had to park a distance away and there seemed to be a parade of people walking out.  Once at the lookout to the falls, we were the only ones there and Fred took a massive amount of photos.  Then back at the carpark, there were plenty of spaces.  Good timing, I guess.

As we headed out of this valley to the main road, we realized it would be close to another hour before our next stop and it was lunchtime.  So we pulled over to the side of the road and ate our sandwiches with a beautiful view of the green valley.

From there we drove another hour and took the short detour to Legerwood to view their carved memorial trees honoring the fallen heroes of WWI.  And we found a geocache there.

Then we drove on to Leaning Church Vineyard for a bit of wine tasting, Coles in Launceston to pick up some groceries, and to our place for the next 2 nights a bit north of Launceston.

Now this place, Armalong Winery Chalets, was awesome!  We had a view of Tamar River and vineyards and it was well equipped with a full kitchen, laundry and barbeque.  This was our third place in a row where we were only given instructions as to where the key was and it was either prepaid or the owners said they would charge the credit card on file.  Fred said it was like we were part of a secret club where we knew where the key was, stayed, and departed stealthily.  There was never a check-in or check-out procedure.  We just left the place tidy and moved on.

The Adventure Continues>>>