St Helens to Freycinet National Park

April 18th
For those not familiar with Tasmania we are now travelling down the east coast.  This morning departing St Helens, we did leave the coast for a while and drove to the town of St Marys up the St Marys Pass.  Some more very winding roads with steep sides dropping away to nothing!  Must mention that while we were coming across on the boat, we were in the company of many of the Targa Rally cars and competitors.  We knew the rally was in our vicinity yesterday because we saw officials setting up roads.  We were congratulating ourselves on keeping well clear of it all, however, discovered ourselves right in the middle this morning.  The rally arrived in St Marys just as we did too.  Amazing cars (Porsche, Jags, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Vintage and more) and spectators watching from the sides of the road.  Anyway, I am going to say we joined the rally because we came down Elephant Pass behind them at 11.32 am, (no one stopped us even though the signs said the road was still meant to be closed).  No one was interested in our time either!!  Had to giggle at their signs though, the time is very specific!!

Elephant Pass - Targa road closure

Going down Elephant Pass put us back out on the coast road again and we headed for Bicheno.  Stopped in to do the walk trail to Apsley Gorge only to discover that it was closed due to controlled burning in the National Park, so we visited the Bicheno Blowhole instead. 



Bicheno Blowhole

Coast at Bicheno Blowhole

At about this point our weather bubble finally burst.  Have had amazing weather so far with mostly sunny days and little to no wind. Today was the first really chilly day.  Camping at Freycinet National Park and it is a cold night tonight!!  Waves are crashing on the beach, the wind is howling through the trees and there are really heavy showers of rain.  Unbelievably we have managed to find ourselves a little sheltered spot and the canvas is hardly moving.  Have met some lovely people at this camp spot.  Our neighbour's from Adelaide have a Kimberley Expanda and we have compared stories and some other travelers from Victoria introduced themselves also.

Must share this with you!  I am loving coin operated showers and think we shall install them at home (watch out kids)!  However I did get "play of the day" today.  While camping, collecting gold coins has become very important for operating laundries and showers and we managed to collect 3 coins today, one each for a shower and a spare (Woo hoo)!!  In the showers here at Freycinet, the coin slot is actually on the wall outside and your 4 minutes starts the moment you drop your coin in, so it is a little tricky! Getting naked, depositing your coin without over exposure and not wasting a drop of your water!  Well, I was obviously overwhelmed with all I had to consider and even though we had discussed the preciousness of our coins I dropped my coin in the wrong slot.  (It was the coin box for the occupied disabled shower next door).  Realising straight away what I had done, I held my breath expecting the water to start up and that poor person to get one hell of a shock.  Fortunately and thank goodness, they must have had their taps turned off!!  The sad thing was I had to 'fess up' to Mike who was in the shower next door and beg, because he had the spare coin!!!!

April 19th

 

Woke this morning to discover our neighbour's (who I must add are mostly in huge motor homes) had been checking on us during the night as they were worried about us.  It was a pretty rough and wild night, but as I said previously we had a nice sheltered spot and the space heater kept us cosy!  Some more walking today, about 10 km all up with a climb to the lookout overlooking Wine Glass Bay and back and then a trail walk to Hazards Beach.  Thought this walk was reasonably tough and when we got back read that it was rated as difficult, which was the same thing my knees and ankle were telling me!  Managed to dodge most of the showers and kept relatively dry.

Coles Bay as we climbed to the lookout

 

Wine Glass Bay from the lookout

Hazards Beach track

Dropped back into camp to discover that Karen and Alan from Victoria, (who were on their way home today) had dropped lots of goodies off to us from their fridge and pantry.  Thank you very much, it was a nice surprise!!  By this stage we decided we deserved some indoor activities as the drizzling rain was becoming annoying, so headed for two wineries "Freycinet Vineyards" and "Gala Wines" and then on to have a look at the town of Swansea.  Drove around having a 'sticky beak' at some of the resorts and homes on the edge of the National Park and saw some of the areas devastated by the recent bush fires.

Coles Bay and Mount Freycinet