8-day Tasmania tour - Freycinet National Park & Port Arthur

Day 7

It was the last day of our trip with James and most of our tour members. Only 9 of us would still be together for the trip to Port Arthur the next day. I was totally fresh for the trip today as I really had a good sleep due to over exhaustion after a daylong trip which stretched until 10:30 pm the day before. I was warned that Tim was a heavy snorer and I might not have a good sleep by the younger Japanese. In fact the 69 year old Japanese, Yutaka also snored quite noisily. Their thunderous snores were only affecting me briefly because I was too tired and fell into deep sleep after a short while. 

Our trip for the day was visiting Freycinet National Park which is only 17 km to the south of Bicheno.  It has two prominent spots,  Cole Bay and Wineglass Bay which are seldom missed by tourists. We visited Cape Tourville Lighthouse at Cole Bay which is only accessible by a steep earthen road. It is an unmanned, automatic light house. There is a boardwalk built at the side of the cape as lookout for Cole Bay and the islands beyond.  

Cape Tourville Lighhouse at Cole Bay

Cole Bay

Wineglass Bay was only a short distance away from Cole Bay and it was voted by several travel authorities as one of the world's ten best beaches. After alighting from our bus at the car park to Wineglass Bay, we were given a choice either to climb up Wineglass Bay lookout or hike up to Mount Amos. Most of us opted to climb up to Wineglass Bay lookout as it was less strenuous. I dare not climb Mount Amos because my legs' pain inflicted while hiking up Marion Lookout at Cradle Mountain had still not totally recovered. James gave a brief instruction to those who would climb Mount Amos and left them to climb on their own. James would lead us to Wineglass Bay lookout which was really not necessary as there were enough road signs on the way. Before we made the climb we were advised to use the toilet and filled up our drinking bottle from the tap outside the toilet. The water from the tap was taken directly from mountain stream and is not only safe to drink but contains a lot of nutritious minerals. I have been drinking water from the tap since coming to Tasmania because water in Tasmania is not polluted. 

The hike up Wineglass Bay could be tough for those who are old and less fit as it consists of stairs made up of rocky slabs or earth. The older French lady in our group gave up half way and returned to the car park but her daughter continued on. We took almost 45 minutes to reach the lookout point for Wineglass Bay which provides the best location for panoramic view of Wineglass Bay below. We were not contented with looking at Wineglass Bay from afar and decided that we should set foot on its beach. Only eight of us went down to the beach which required another 45 minutes to reach. There were many visitors going down to the beach mostly in small groups. It was quite hot because the forest is not dense enough to shelter us from sunlight of the blazing sun. There were quite a number visitors in their swimming attires either sunbathing or swimming at the pristine sandy beach. We walked a short distance along the beach before we settled down at the middle of the beach to enjoy the rock melon we brought along. We did not have a knife so I used my finger nails to cut a circular groove round its skin before forcefully prized it open. Yes it worked and the rock melon served two purposes, quenched our thirst and provided us the energy for the hike back to the car park. 

The Bay which shapes like a wineglass 

Stairs leading down to Wineglass Bay

Wineglass Bay

We did not stay long at the beach to enjoy the stunning view because we were given 3 hours for the trip to Wineglass Bay or Mount Amos. We walked up the stairs to the junction near to Wineglass Bay lookout before scaled down the stairs to the car park. We spotted a wallaby among the rocks which was not scared of us. Wallaby is really a common sight in the wild but not Wombat. We had not seen a single wombat in the wild so far. By the time we reached the car park, the group who climbed Mount Amos had also returned. They seemed to enjoy their climb judging from their smile of achievement and  so were we who made it to the Wineglass Bay beach. It was a regret that those who came down after reaching Wineglass Bay lookout had to wait for us at the car park for almost one hour. 

From Freycinet National Park we headed to Swansea, a small coastal town on the shore of Oyster bay overlooking the granite peaks of Freycinet National Park. There are many seafood restaurants offering oysters but we only settled for the cheaper fish and chips. After our lunch, it was all the way to Hobart passing through sheep and dairy farms. We crossed the Sorell Causeway which stretches from the western side of Midway Point across Orielton Lagoon to Sorell. Together with Mcgees Bridge they connect Sorell with Hobart via the Tasman highway. The causeway and the bridge provide a stunning view of  Orielton lagoon with its wavy water scattered with small fishing boats. 

Before reaching Hobart we stopped at Hobart Airport to drop off two members who would be flying back to Melbourne and Sydney. 
We would still be staying at YHA Backpackers which we had stayed before. Only 6 of us who would be going to Port Arthur and Tim stayed at YHA Backpackers. Tim would be flying back to Melbourne the next day before going back to New Zealand. The three Chinese girls who had upgraded their tour stayed at more reasonable hotel but would join us to Port Arthur. We had to bid goodbye to James who had done a superb job ensuring an enjoyable and memorable trip for us round Tasmania for five days. I also had to say goodbye to our new acquaintances , Adrian Foo and his wife who would still be staying in Hobart for few more days before flying back to Perth. 

We visited the food fair at Hobart's Franklin Square which was held every Friday. There were many food stalls mostly selling western cuisines. We were a bit late and most stalls had already sold out. In the end we went to the Chinese restaurant nearby to have our dinner. It was our second visit to the restaurant after our first visit during New Year Eve because the food there is good and quite reasonably prized.   


Day 8

As expected our tour guide cum driver for our trip to Port Arthur was the Swiss girl who took us to Mount Wellington in our first  day of travel with "under down under" tour. We had a few more new members but the tour was not fully booked. It was pity that Adrian Foo did not join us as he and his wife were still in Hobart and they had not been to Port Arthur.

Our tour started with Richmond, the historical town just 25 km east of Hobart. We visited Richmond Bridge, a heritage listed arch bridge which is also the oldest stone span bridge in Australia. It connects Hobart with Port Arthur before being replaced by Sorell Causeway. The Oldest Roman Catholic church in Australia is also situated nearby. The whole town seems not to change with time and most of the houses are  single storey traditional western style houses. 

Richmond Bridge

I knew that Port Arthur has a lavender farm though not as big as the one in Launceston but visiting lavender farm was not in our itinerary. Due to my interest in seeing the blooming lavender in summer I requested whether we could stop over at the lavender farm for a short while at least to snap some photographs. I was really excited when Adeline agreed promptly saying that the farm was just by the road side on the way to Port Arthur historic site. There are a few plots of lavender plants all blooming with purple colour. The farm which has a lake coupled with the hills in the distance was really very scenic. There is a shop selling lavender products like soap, perfume and so on. There is also a big restaurant serving lunch and dinner to visitors to and from Port Arthur Heritage site. We did not eat at the restaurant though the restaurant is quite popular according to review because we would be taking our lunch at Port Arthur historic site. 

Port Arthur Lavender Farm

Beautiful landscaping at Port Arthur Lavender Farm

Before reaching Port Arthur Historic site, we came to Eaglehawk Neck, a tiny bit of land which separates Tasman Peninsula from the rest of Tasmania. There used to be prison guards and dogs stationed there to guard against convicts from escaping from the Prison. Now there is a dog statue guarding the tiny strip in memory of the service rendered by the prison dogs in the past.  Adeline asked us whether we were interested to snap photo with the dog statue but no one was interested. The car park outside the historic site is very big in evidence of the great number of visitors to the site. In fact Port Arthur Historic Site which is a world  heritage site is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Tasmania. We were given two tickets each, one for entry to the historic site while the other one is for the boat ride. We visited the museum which contains a sizable number of exhibits mostly about life of convicts and history of the prison. From the museum we moved on to visit the garden not for  convicts but prison officers. The garden is very articulately designed with plenty of strange flower-plants which I have never seen before. Next we explored the ruins of the site such as the church, prisons , the army barrack and officers' quarters. 

Prison officers' Garden 

The left over of the convict's church

Remains of one of the prisons

The army barrack ruin

We joined the walking tour which was free and the guide explained in detail history of the buildings at the site to give us a better understanding of its past. We had our lunch at the cafe consisting of coffee and muffins right in the former prison premise. After our simple lunch, we rushed to take our boat ride which has fixed time schedule for departure. The boat took us to explore the coastline of the historic site  of Port Arthur and also the island nearby. The island was the burial ground for convicts and we had to buy another ticket to visit the island.  The guide was quite humorous and we really had a good time learning the history of Port Arthur convict's past in a jovial manner.  

We spent almost four hours at Port Arthur Historic Site and our last stop was the cliff formations at Tasman Peninsula. We passed by a very interesting town called Dootown where most of the houses have house-label starting with doo such as "Doo nothing", "Dr doo little" , "Doo I" and so on. Adeline was very excited pointing to each house we passed by telling us its title and the title she likes most. According to Adeline it all started with one owner who labelled his house or fishing shack with  " doo I'' which prompted his neighbours to label theirs as "doo me", " doo us " and that spread until all the shacks have titles including some vulgar ones. 
 Not far from Dootown is the lookout point for Tasman Arch which is a big cliff structure with its central part eroded by  sea water and wind to form a tall granite arch standing few hundred metres tall. From Tasman Arch we moved on to Devil's Kitchen, a granite coastline with tall cliffs and caves. Adeline wanted us to observe carefully the cliff formations before telling her why it was called Devil's Kitchen. I tried to scrutinize the rock formations hoping to see some rocks resembling Tasmanian devils but to no avail. In fact it has nothing to do with devil but kitchen. Devil's kitchen got its name from the cauldron of foaming fury normally seen at water level from the viewing platform several hundred feet above where the swells of the great Southern Ocean crash into the base of the tall cliffs.

Tasman Arch

The highest cliffs at South Hemisphere at 300 m tall

One of cliffs with its cave at Devil's Kitchen

We also visited the blowhole near a mobile cafe and the toilet. During our visit, the wave was not strong enough to cause any big spurt of water upwards when sea waves moved into the blowhole. 

Blowhole of Tasmania

We were a bit sad coming out from Tasman Peninsular because it  signified the end of our tour in Tasmania and also time to leave Tasmania which we had stayed for eight days. We were dropped off at Hobart Airport to take our flight back to Sydney at 8 :00 pm the same day. 

The 8-day Tasmania tour was really a good experience as we got to explore and see almost every part of Tasmania with its wonderful natural landscapes. It was also the first time I celebrated New Year overseas and it was at the very south of the globe, Tasmania. I also got the chance to know friends from many countries. The tour conducted by our tour operator, " under down under" created many first for me too like staying in a shared dorm either same gender or mixed gender and  cooked our own meals while travelling. I surely would suggest to those who like adventure to join such tour either in Tasmania or anyway in the world. It is a regret I did not manage to visit Bruny Island to see the whale or seal and Huon Valley to visit the Tasmanian Cherry farm. Our trip to Tasmania was like a physical  building and trimming trip and it is enjoyable from the beginning till the end. Au Revoir Tasmania.      
  







































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































         

8-day Tasmania tour - Cradle Mountain & Bicheno

Day 5

We bid goodbye to our kind host Bumpy for his hospitality and I could notice his sadness on our departure. While we were on our way out of the hostel, the Chinese girl who danced with Bumpy the night before shouted that she had left something in the hostel. We had to return to the hostel and that allowed the girl to see Bumpy again to bid farewell to him the second time. The somber mood of departure did not last long because we would be visiting the most visited national park in Tasmania, Cradle Mountain National Park. 


The drive from Strahan to Cradle Mountain was a long one along Murchison highway before turning east for another 26 km to the information centre cum shop and cafe. The journey was almost 2 hours and required park pass to enter which was settled by James. From the information centre to the car park at Lake Dove, our starting point for the hike up Marion lookup point for Cradle Mountain was about 5 km. It is a narrow tar road which only allows  one car to pass through. All the bus drivers were given a walkie-talkie to communicate with the driver coming in the opposite direction to give way in advance. Passengers on private car can go to Lake Dove by boarding the free shuttle bus plying between the information centre and Lake Dove.     

Cradle Mountain and Lake Dove

We were given the option to hike up to Marion Lookout point to have a panoramic view of Cradle Mountain or to walk the 6 km round Lake Dover  circuit. Hiking up Marion Lookout required more demanding physical fitness and the proper jacket and shoes as it was very cold and windy up the hill. All of us go for the tough one except Tim, Adrian Foo , Foo's wife, and the French mum and daughter. They had to do the walk round Lake Dove which also required certain level of physical fitness. The track is boardwalked for much of the way and  it will take you beneath the towering spires of cradle mountain. 

We started our climb from the car park on a track consisting of boardwalk followed by stony steps  uphill. We passed by a pool called Wombat Pool but we did not see any wombat in it. Maybe too many visitors scared them away. But we spot a big Tasmanian bird which flew away when I tried to get closer for a closed up photo. The final part of the climb was the toughest and we needed to grab on to the chain railing by the side of the track to move up. There were a lot of hikers, young and old but they were very well equipped with their walking sticks and cold weather clothes. I was the last in our group to reach the peak due to the pain at my heels. The stunning view of Cradle Mountain, Lake Dove and Lake Crater was just marvelous from the rocky peak. After some photo session with the most beautiful landscape in Tasmania and some light snack we started our descent. It was very much easier going downhill but I had to endure the slight pain at my heels. 

Lake Dove and Lake Crater

Almost reaching Marion Lookout

The most seek-after spot at Marion lookout

Before reaching the car park, we arrived at a spot where the view of Cradle Mountain was just too good to miss. A Chinese couple from Tianjin volunteered to snap a photo for us and it was definitely a perfect shot. They looked well to do judging from their attires and their branded handbag but they were very humble and friendly. In fact we were not the only one they became volunteer photographers. 

Sheffield or town of murals was our next stop. There are more than 60 murals depicting the area's rich history. Beautiful natural scenery have been painted on walls through out the town mostly buildings along the roadside. Besides the murals, the town is famous for its Fudge tasting. We visited the famous Fudge 'n' Good Coffee cafe on the main street after being told of its free Fudge tasting. The shop is housed in a 19th century building and besides fudge it is famous for  authentic Italian coffee. The owner who manned the counter was very friendly and allowed us to taste as many types of fudge as we like. Very convincing sale person because we ended up buying some fudges to be taken home. We also ordered its authentic Italian coffee since we were given discount after buying the fudges. We found ourselves a small table by the window with clear view of the road outside. We managed to post some beautiful pictures of the town on Whatsapps using the shop's free wifi while sipping the famous coffee of Sheffield. 

Sheffield, beautiful murals all over the town

We returned to the bus slightly late and luckily I did not hear any complaint. Upon our arrival, James immediately started the bus engine and steered toward Elizabeth Town, 35 km from Launceston. We visited Ashgrove Tasmania Farm which has been  producing award winning dairy products for many years. We visited the farm store to try out its many types of cheese. We did not buy any cheese as we seldom eat cheese but we tried its creamy cheese ice cream which is very sticky and nice. There were many visitors and the store was doing very brisk business.  

Our final stop for the day was Launceston where we would be staying for only one night.  The hostel we were staying was Launceston backpackers which  is a one hundred years Victorian building. It has a large TV room , a large kitchen and separate dining room. The setback is only one male bathroom in the upper floors and not enough sockets in the dormitory. We did not have time to explore the second largest city of Tasmania on our own because we had to be ready early for our dinner at a Pizza Hut which was offering us 10% discount under the arrangement of the tour operator. James took us to the restaurant.  Besides pizza we also tried the cheap draft beer which turned up to be water with alcohol flavour because it was too diluted. We chit-chatted with the topics mostly central around our tourist guide , James who told us a lot about himself and his job. Launceston marked the departure of 5 of our tour members who only did the three days tour. I was a bit regretful that I did not manage to bid farewell to Jennifer, the pretty British woman from Liverpool who is so sweet and easy going.    

Day 6

We had completed our exploration of the wild wild west of Tasmania with consists mostly of jungles, mountains, waterfalls  and lakes and from now we would visit the east coast which is renowned for its beautiful seasides, beaches and islands. Before we left Launceston for the east coast we visited Cataract Gorge which is  only 1.5 km from the town centre. It is more like a recreation park with jogging tracks, suspension bridge, lake, and river gorge. The  most attractive part of course is the river gorge which has lookout points on small hills and it also boasts of its world longest single span chairlift. There are also many wallabies, peacocks and colourful flower plants. We walked up to the lookout point to have a glimpse of the river gorge below before we walked the many trails to look for wallabies and peacocks which were easily spotted. Some locals were seen jogging or doing yoga in the park but the whole park is very peaceful and quiet. We only spent about half an hour as we had to embark on a long journey to Bay of Fire which is situated in the north east of Tasmania. 

The deep river gorge  between the hills

On the bridge over the river gorge

Cataract Gorge of Launceston

We stopped at St Helen after travelling for almost three hours through rainforests and farmlands. St Helen is the largest town on the north-east coast of Tasmania which is also the second largest fishing port in Tasmania renowned for its catches of deep sea fish and lobsters. We visited the supermarket which has plenty of seafood and other Tasmanian farm produces for our lunch at Bay of Fire. We ended up buy our second AUD 8 roasted chicken and some big Tasmanian Cherries. 

Bay of Fire is only 2 km from St Helen and it has one of the world's most beautiful beach which attracts a lot of caravan campers. James had a hard time finding a place to park as the whole place was full of caravans with their self-proclaimed campsites. The beach here is pristine white and the azure blue water was calm making it an ideal place for a swim. What is more peculiar about the beach is the big granite rocks which are turned into orange colour by the lichens which cover its surface.

 We found ourselves a shaded place on the rock to have our lunch before Xin Yi changed into her swimming gear to experience her first ever swim in the  South Sea. The water was chilly and she could not stay in the water for too long. Only a few of our fellow tour members went for the swim maybe because most of the us did not want the trouble of changing into swimming gear. After Xin Yi's brief swim or dip we climbed onto the coastal granite rocks to have a lookout of the sea in the north, maybe Bass Strait which separates Australia mainland from Tasmania. 

At Bay of Fire, preparing for a swim

Orange lichen covered Granite Rocks at Bay of Fire

From Bay of Fire we proceeded to Wildlife Sanctuary of Bicheno along the most scenic coastal drive. We had to make it to the sanctuary in time for animals feeding show and James was like speeding all the way to the sanctuary. We reached the sanctuary on time for the quoll and Tasmanian devil feeding show. Even though we had seen Quoll and Tasmania devil before in Australian Zoo , we were still very excited especially the fierce-looking Tasmanian devil pulling kangaroo meat from the hand of the keeper.

The sanctuary occupies a big area with lagoons and forests. We also bought some animal feeds to feed the kangaroos and Tasmanian geese ourselves. It is quite entertaining to see the green Tasmanian geese coming forward yearning for more after they had finished the food I showered to them. We spent more than one hour at the sanctuary in the hot summer sun visiting wombats, parrots,  snakes , emu and others but still did not manage to cover the whole area. 

Lagoon in Bicheno Animals Sanctuary

Tasmanian devil 

Quoll which can only be found in Tasmania

After visiting the animals sanctuary, we headed south to Bicheno for our night's accomodation. We stayed at Bicheno Backpackers which consists of two double storeys wooden buildings which is easily recognisable from a distant . We were assigned a six-bed dormitory which were reasonably clean and comfortable. Bicheno is a very small seaside town with just a few shops. We joined the Bicheno Penguin Tour which started at 8:00pm. We had to gather at the ticketing centre in a shop not far away from our hostel. After buying our tickets which costs AUD35 per ticket, we were taken to the penguin site few kilometres away. Each bus will have a tour guide who will lead us and explain everything about little penguin. We had seen penguin parade in Phillip Island few years ago but the Bicheno penguin site is more primitive without any modern building. Our guide is quite knowledgeable and talked non-stop while taking us around the site to see the penguins either returning from the sea, resting in their cocoons or readying for matching. It was quite noisy all over the place as it was the matching season. The tour is very educational and it is a pity that some of our tour members did not follow the tour due to reasons only known to them. 

Bicheno Penguin Tour

A penguin tour is the best way to see penguins up close and safely without disturbing them, or hurting yourself! The penguins are accustomed to our tour and lights, but loud noises and camera flashes will scare them away.