Day 70 - In love with Fire

Restless after sleeping in a strange bed, it was up early to let the pups out on to the back lawn. The unit we were staying in was really like an old house split in two. There was an old man on the back landing of the other unit having a bit of a chuckle watching the pups in their onsies happily sniffing around the lawn.

Once the Bandycoot was up and about we took the pups on a long walk along the sandy shores of Beauty Bay, near St Helens. The pups had a lovely time sniffing in the grassy dunes and considering if they could swim out to the seabirds gently gliding along in the smooth seas.

Then we were off to St Helens, driving along the sparkling coastline for a bakery brekkie and on to Binalong Bay. A tiny township of about three streets right on the water with an incredible diversity of homes from beach shacks to mansions worthy of the best Tasmanian celebrity.

Next stop was the famed Bay of Fires reserve and I must say that it totally stole my heart. With massive rock formations in various shades of ochre and crystal clear blue water, I declared to the Banycoot that this is where I wanted to live! We all had an amazing time scaling the rocks and taking in the spectacular view.

The Bandycoot enjoying the rock formations

Clear blue (freezing) waters and soft sandy beach

"I want to live here!!!"

This has been my favourite place in Tassie (so far) and I didn't want to go, especially since we had it all to ourselves. So much of the region is natural conservation area which is wonderful to know, as when I'm a hugely successful writer I know I can come back here and snap up a holiday home to continue my Tassie inspiration (well, I can dream!).

After much exploring, we took the track up to Anson's Bay and on to the Eddystone Point Lighthouse, which had wonderful views back down to the Bay and over nesting bird islets.

Eddystone Lighthouse

The Bandycoot taking in the view from the old signal house

What a view!

Today I've seen such natural beauty that it is difficult to absorb it all. If you come to Tassie and only visit one place, I recommend the Bay of Fires area. It's spectacular!!


 

 

 

Day 69 - It's a long way to the top

We’ve got the Tassie travel bug now and it doesn’t take much convincing to have us packed and off again with our sights set on the East Coast. We’ve left Brutus behind though this time and are travelling in a bit more comfort in my car aka The SEXI Beast.  The pups are happy to have the back seat to themselves, and with the cold weather we’ve got the seat heaters cranking.

There’s been reports of snowfall in the highlands and the Bandycoot (my boyfriend) is keen to go to Ben Lomond to see the snow. At over 1500m it’s one of the highest peaks and Tassie’s hotspot for snow activities. The Bandycoot is a bit of a snow bunny (or should I say, snow bandy) and wants to see if it’s any good for snowboarding. Myself, while learning to ski years ago, I managed to take out an entire group having a ski lesson (not my group) including their instructor before I even went up the ski slope. So it’s not really for me.

There’s a beautiful alpine nature reserve at the bottom of the mountain and so different to the landscape at the Old Dairy. On the drive we spot a wombat that had been hit by a car and the Bandycoot stops to check if there are any joeys (baby wombats) that might have survived. We don’t find any and so hope for the best.

There are heaps of cars parked at the bottom of the mountain waiting for the shuttle bus to the top and we think it’s going to be crowded up there. It’s a very steep, very narrow zig-zag up the sheer side of the mountain and quite a scary, yet spectacular experience. There are specials spot where cars can pass and we squeeze past the shuttle bus on its way down (eeek!!).

Alpine scenery on Ben Lomond

Incredible zig-zag road up the mount

We make it to the top (phew!) and I’m nervous as the roads are icy and we don’t have chains. We manage take a walk around the edge of the snow without falling over and the Bandycoot is disappointed that it’s not very deep and that snowboarding here would also involve the added challenge of rock dodging.

Snow on Ben Lomond

Going down the side of the mountain is not quite so scary and affords an incredible view. We make it to the bottom and work out a route of back roads to our day’s destination of St Mary’s.

In our enthusiasm this morning, we forgot to check the fuel gauge before setting off and now the fuel light has come on and there’s no towns showing on the map with a population of more than about 20 people. We’re in the wilderness now and there’s no phone or internet reception, so we just have to push on and hope for the best. We reach a junction where the road splits but ends up at the same destination. Not knowing which to take we choose the shorter, hoping to get further on our fuel. We’ve worked out that we have just enough to get us to the next major centre (50+ people) but it’s touch and go. We’re not too far down the road when we realise it’s actually a forestry track and must not get used very often. We’re about half way when we come to a tree down across the road. It’s not too big and the Bandycoot manages to move it enough for me to drive around, though I do get the top few branches. We push for another few k’s only to find a huge log barring any progress further. On this narrow road, with a sheer drop, the Bandycoot manages to turn the car around and we backtrack to the junction. Luckily we spot a couple of forestry workers just about to knock off for the weekend and we stop and ask where the closest fuel is. They direct us to take a short diversion off the main road to the only place with fuel for miles. Relieved, we stop at this tiny town where the local pub and grocery store is also the servo and the lady there fills up the tank from a pump that looks like it was installed in the 1930s.

We pass through a number of small townships along the way with beautiful churches and old buildings that have been converted into the local bakery or trendy café and stores. We get a truly golden sunset over us before we finish our long drive at our pet-friendly apartment in St Mary’s where the Bandycoot cooks up a seafood treat for some very tired travellers.