Tasmania: Bay of Fires

We woke up to a refreshingly cool morning, preceding a nice brisk fall day.  For some reason I felt compelled to get up an go for a run.  I was a bit under dressed in my shorts and t-shirt, so I never really warmed up, so it turned into a slog.  The highlight was jogging down the beach of the bay for the final 1km.  We had breakfast and tea in the camper and then headed out to see the lighthouse in the park.  We took a little stroll along the cliffs before continuing our drive up the coast. The next planned stop was St. Helens and the Bay of Fires.  This bay was named for the Aboriginal campfires burning along the shore as an explorer sailed past in 1773.  We thought it could have been due to the color the rocks get at sunrise and sunset when the light hits the orange colored lichen growing on many of the rocks there.

As we continued up the coast we hit the turnoff for Binalong Bay, the southern point of the Bay of Fires.  It was mid afternoon when we arrived, so we checked out the town beach, found a spot for dinner and then headed out to find a spot to sleep for the night.  Once we had that figured out we drove to the Gardens for a walk along the beach.  We checked out the tide pools and some of the local wildlife until it was close to sunset and the mozzies came out and chased us inside.

Our dinner that night was at Angasi (named after a local oyster).  Situated across the street from the Bay, the view was spectacular, or would have been if it weren't already dark!  Laura started with a glass of Pinot Gris from the Bay of Fires Winery which was delicious.  Our entrees were rock lobster salad and trout chowder.  Both were unlike anything we had tasted.  For mains, I ordered a seafood pasta and Laura, the catch of the day.  Again we cleaned our plates.  We left the restaurant happy and warm and ready to head back to camp for the night.  We hit the sack early because we had big plans to get up and watch the sunrise in the morning.

Tasmania

This was our first day in the southern Australia island state of Tasmania. After picking up our rental car (we opted for a camper-van for this trip) we headed out from Hobart towards the beaches of the east coast. Our goal was to reach Freycinet National Park. Along the way we went through a few small towns nestled up along the bay. In one we stocked our fridge with food and a 4 pack of Tazzie’s Moo Brew dark ale. At Swansea we stopped at Kate's Berry Farm to taste-test the local jams. We sampled several different jams made from rasberries, strawberries, and a few local berries as well. We left with a jar of strawberry jam and a berry milk shake. Prior to arriving in Coles Bay, the entry to the national park, we stopped for a disappointing lunch at the Freycinet Marine Farm. This was billed as an excellent fresh seafood shack. Needless to say we were disappointed with our cold tasting plate of rock lobster, mussels, oysters, and scallops. The only good about this stop was the discovery of rock lobster, which was delicious.

Once in the NP we headed for the hike to Wineglass Bay. The beach at the bay has been ranked as one of the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world, and it lived up to the hype. It took us about 45 min of hiking up and over a ridge to reach the beach. As you can see in the pictures the bay is an arc of white sand and crystal clear aqua waters. Too bad it was not really warm enough for a swim.

Tazzie is known for its seafood and tonight’s dinner was the start of many wonderful fish dinners. We went to Madge Malloys in Coles Bay. This is a small restaurant run by a local couple. During the day they catch dinner on their boat and at night the husband cooks the day's catch while his wife acts as waitress and hostess. Our meal may go down as the best we have had in Australia. I had a grilled trumpeter fillet and Laura had perch stuffed with crab. One bite of my fish and I was feeling sorry for Laura, I was thinking there is no way her meal can be as good as mine. Then I took a bite of hers, it was as good or better than mine. Wow! we were hooked on the fresh seafood of Tasmania. After dinner we drove our home back to the NP and hunkered down with a few mozzies for the night.

Finding Nemo

We did it, we are now certified divers.  Laura's course was much harder than mine, but we will get to that in a bit.  The seas were much calmer today, although there was still a bit of a swell, so we headed out on an hour boat ride to Egg Rock.  This small island (rock) is in the green zone on the great barrier reef, which means no fishing or collecting of any sort.  It is quite a gem in these parts and we were fortunate to get out there.  Our first anchorage was in a current between a few smaller rocks. We were rocking and rolling pretty good on the boat Laura and I were both feeling the effects when we went into the water.

We started with a surface compass navigation, then descended to the reef, where the effects of the waves disappeared.  After practicing a few more skills we were able to look around a bit.  There was a cave in the wall of the rock, and just inside we found a Wobbegong shark.  It was quite docile and we were able to scratch its back. Back on the surface things were not getting any smoother.  Laura was turning green. Fortunately the skipper moved the boat to the other side of the island, where it was a bit calmer.  We spent two hours between dives; the only thing that lifted Laura's head was the sighting of two turtles off the starboard side.  Although she thought about jumping ship and swimming to the island, she decided to go down for the last dive, just to get off the bloody ship.  When we were all ready to go Laura scooted down from the bow, into her wetsuit and scuba gear and off the boat into the water.

This was to be our best dive of the weekend.  The water was much clearer, up to 10 meters visibility, and after finally getting the feel of SCUBA diving we were able to relax and enjoy the dive.  We finished a few skills to complete the course and then spent 20 min cruising around the reef.  The coral was beautiful with vibrant colors and large patches of anemones with clown fish darting about.  We saw a variety of larger fish including coral trout and a large wrasse (without its normal shark accompaniment.)

Once we were all out of the water we quickly stowed the gear and the boat headed back to shore.  We were near slack tide and the water had really smoothed out, so it was a smooth quick ride home.  Needless to say Laura was very happy to be back on the mainland.

Sea Snakes

Finally after months of waiting out the weather we made it out on to the Great Barrier Reef to finish our SCUBA diving course.  We started the book work back in December and dove in the pool in early January, but the combination of a heavy rainy season, a cyclone, and strong winds had made the open water portion of our dive impossible until this weekend.  We woke up early Saturday morning and went down to the dive shop to pick up our equipment and load the ute (pickup) with air cylinders.  Everyone meet at Rosslyn Bay marina and we packed the equipment on the boat.  Today we were headed to Outer Rock, which is part of the Keppel group of islands. 

The ride out was a bit rough, but we anchored on the leeward side of the island, in a calm cove, where the waves were small.  The first dive of the day was to get us used to being under the water again.  Our dive instructor (Robert) along with another instructor and seven of us students jumped into the water and went for a tour.  The area was primarily stag horn coral and there were numerous small fish darting about.  The highlight of the dive was an Olive sea snake which Robert grabbed and held by its mid-section.  We all took a feel of its skin, which felt just like any other snakes.  Once back on the boat we were informed that it is one of the top 5 most venomous snakes in the world.  Lucky for us they are very docile and will not bite unless aggravated.  

The second dive consisted of mostly skills, we practiced clearing our masks, controlling buoyancy, sharing air and ascending.  By the time we returned to the marina, unloaded the boat, washed the equipment, and went through a dive debrief we were exhausted and ready to head home to bed.