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Home > Travelogues > 2006 Travelogues Index > Tasmania  the East Coast
Short version only - full version with pictures yet to come
We reach Tasmania and follow a plan to see a good cross section of the island in our short seven week visit, starting in the North.  We then explored the West, the South, the East, travelled through the historic Midlands and finally toured through the Central Highlands.  See where we camped.

The East Coast

 

Maria Island from the beach-side camp at Orford.

 

Ruins of the Lisdillon Salt Works, which operated for only a short period.  Water was pumped from the sea by a windmill, and boilers fuelled with wood evaporated the water, during the convict labour era.

 

The Spikey Bridge was build and ‘decorated by convict labour, and although now the main highway passes by, it is used to access farms.

 

Friendly wallabies at the Friendly Beaches.  Here camping bays were secluded and scattered amongst the scrub, with a short walk down the sand hill to the beach.

 

After a long climb up the rocky Hazards, the first glimpse ofWineglass Bay.  We walked down a similar steep rocky track to the famous bay, which is not accessible by road.

 

Crossing an isthmus, we reached Hazards Beach on ‘the other side’

 

The return path took us up towards the peaks of the Hazards, and down through valleys.

 

Coles Bay on the long walk back

 

Looking back into Wineglass Bay from the Cape Tourville Lighthouse, with afternoon clouds coming down on the peaks where the ‘two-day trek’ walkers we had seen starting out were to camp for the night. It was cool and refreshing at the lighthouse after the long hot walk.

 

We asked a local what all the black square things were in Moulting Lagoon (bird sanctuary).  They are ‘duck hides’ as the duck shooting season is due to open soon. 

 

The Blowhole at Bicheno.  We did not spend a lot of time around Bicheno due to overcast weather, rain and mists.  We did visit the ‘shark and seahorse hatchery’, small but interesting, and you can take photos.

 

Later we came back to the hinterland in this region, and despite the dust on the forestry tracks, mists still obscured the mountains, and light rain fell.  ‘Ghosts’ of cloud came out of the forest along the roadside and danced in front of us.

 

We drove to Storey’s Creek, a former mining settlement in the southern foothills of the Ben Lomond range, and when driving towards Fingal, passed this clean white church with an Austrian appearance.

 

Near Fingal where the clouds still clung to the mountain tops. 

 

Travellers wanting to holiday on, or tour the north east coast are welcomed at St Helens where designated free camp sites are in prime beachside locations.  At the marina in town there are hot showers and water is available at a water fill point in Quail Street.  A dump point is provided next to recreation area on the corner of Young and Tully Streets. 

 

We camped beside the beach at a popular Bay of Fires free campsite, Cosy Corner North.

 

Further north along the coast is The Gardens, where a tiny settlement looks onto orange covered rocks.

 

The lighthouse at Eddystone Point

 

At the shanty town at Musselroe Bay, fishing boats lay stranded by the low tide.

 

Returning to St Helens, we then headed west into the mountains.  As you leave St. Helens, six or so kilometres on the road towards Scottsdale, don’t miss the “Bric-a-Brac Shop”.  It is the cheapest place to buy souvenirs such as Tasmanian wood crafts as well as a variety of other goods. 

 

Pretty Halls Falls were not so easy to find from the main road, but after a short forest walk we were rewarded.

 

The steps to Halls Falls cut from the soft fibrous wood of the trees ferns

 

As small dam nearby built in the days when the area was actively mined for tin trickled over.

 

St Columba Falls and the cool rainforest walk along the creek line to the falls which would be mighty after rain.  They are the second highest Tasmanian falls at 94 metres, and in winter 220,000 litres per day flows over.

 

This huge tree fern has a semi parasitic tree growing on it

 

It was quite a climb to the Weldborough Pass.  Here, with views to the coast, the town of St Helens is now obscured by a blue gum plantation towards the left side of the photo.

 

At Legerwood, a row of trees was planted in 1918 in memory of those who fought and died in World War I.  In 2001 the aging trees were carved into images of each soldier, depicting their trade.  These were crafted by Tasmanian chainsaw sculptor Eddie Freeman.

 

We saw our first platypus in the wild diving and frolicking in the pond at the free camp site at Scottsdale. 

 

Heavy rain and a thunder storm greeted us at Bridport on the north east coast; however with only a few clouds remaining next morning, sunrise across the water was so beautiful. 

 

From Bridport, we headed back to the Tamar Valley, past Launceston, and joined the Midlands Highway to continue our journey along the heritage way.

Following the east coast, and touring the north east corner of Tasmania
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