I can’t believe we almost did not go to this island! Within a couple of days of arriving we were convinced it is the best kept secret of the world. Had the mountain rivers been full of giant trout like New Zealand then Dave would have continued to deem it so. It is without a doubt though an amazing place. From wines to deserted beaches to the freshest of produce and seafood to super friendly people—- I could go on and on. They had lots of free camp grounds too!
We arrived later than planned (long airport story), but we were upgraded to a big SUV so that was cool to have extra space. We had a bit of a rough start and got a parking ticket within the first hour of landing! Dave was not a happy camper. Then we couldn’t find any fuel so that delayed us some more, but as always it all worked out fine. We then headed south and went straight to a free campground since it was pretty late in the day. The next morning we began our exploring. We ended up being able to cook our entire breakfast, coffee included, on the BarB which was awesome. I love those things!
We quickly found out that not many people inhabit the island and aside from a couple of major cities, it is mostly made up of small towns. The weird thing is that most mainland Australians rarely decide to vacation there even though it is a very short flight away and so amazing. Turns out that many have assumptions about it being small without much to do, or that it is always cold- neither of which is true.
It seemed that we were the only ones on any beach we went to, and they were all breathtaking. One time we just stopped and Dave fished and caught a variety of fish! While he did that I collected fresh oysters and mussels. It was like a dream (except the oysters were spawning so that didn’t work out). When we headed back to the car we saw lots of blackberry bushes so we collected a small bag full. We had fresh berries for breakfast nearly every morning we were there! Berries grew everywhere! You have to be careful though not to pick ones near the road that they’ve sprayed.
Tasmania is apparently known for its incredible food and wine so we stopped at little places each day to check things out like cheese factories, wineries, chocolate factories, berry farms, etc. They have little roadside stands at the end of driveways with fruits and vegetables for sale. We bought a big bag of delicious apples for just $3! Tasmania used to be a huge apple producer, but then something happened with the export business and England so they nearly lost that trade. Thankfully they still grow the delicious apples and it’s starting to build back up.
We rode a ferry to Bruny Island the second night and camped on the beach. You could drive on the beach too so we drove along it the next morning. It had to be a couple miles or more long. There must have been a red algae bloom too because one section of the water looked blood red and the next morning the shore was covered in red.
We headed to Tasman peninsula next to check out the convict trail since Tasmania developed from penal colonies. The landscape was vastly different! Huge jagged mountains, blow holes, and rough seas on one side. We explored as much as we could before camping on an awesome mountain side with a gorgeous sunset. Unfortunately, I got a terrible migraine through the night and into the next morning and we had to find a chiropractor a couple hours away back in Hobart to get me straightened out. Very different experience than going to one at home, but that’s another story. Anyway, he got me fixed up, but instead of heading back out to the Tasman Peninsula we decided to head north on the Great East Coast Drive. It sure lived up to its name and we stopped to take lots of pictures and walk on the beaches.
We stayed just outside of Coles Bay in Freycinet National Park and hiked the next morning early to Wineglass Bay. Good thing we went early because when we got back to the car the crowds were piling in. We didn’t know it at first, but we happened to be there over their labor day weekend so all the locals were vacationing too! After our difficult hike we felt we earned some ice cream so we stopped at a place that sold fresh fruit ice cream dipped in chocolate! It was so very good!
Next we continued north and were about to turn inland so Dave could check out a river that was supposed to be popular for catching trout, but we didn’t make it very far. The road was very narrow, curvy and ran along the edge of a rock wall and the other side of the road was a steep drop off. I finally pulled over at the next gap in the rock wall to let Dave take over because my nerves couldn’t take it anymore.
That’s the exact moment we met our new friend who had just somehow survived busting both tires on his passenger side! He literally had pulled over moments before us and said he had no idea what he would have done had we not come along. We don’t know either since there is no cell service out there and it would have been too dangerous to walk on that road. We spent the next few hours helping to get him situated. We told him that we’d just been reading in our Bible study about helping those in need and he was blown away by this. So our route changed again, but it was fine and we enjoyed the opportunity to help. I could write an entire blog post on that day alone, but I won’t! Don’t worry. Haha.
We drove on up to the Bay of Fires where there are boulders on the beach covered in a bright orange lichen. The beach was beautiful with crystal clear water. If it wasn’t so chilly and windy that day we would have swam in a pool made by the rocks. Then we started to head west towards Launceston.
