Tasmania: East Coast - Day 17

Left camp to head into Freycinet. Stopped at Coles Bay (Iluka Shops) at trendy cafe for gourmet pies and real latte. Checked in at National Park visitor centre to enquire about camping - had read that Robinsons Beach camps were on a ballot system and booking was necessary! None avail.







This beach was the only place we could see where the water was calm as weather was foul. Tried to park at walking tracks carpark but full. Sign says to park 2km away during 10-2 to avoid congestion. Not interested in that level of tourism so didn't bother, although we'd been told by all locals to make sure we did do the walk to Wineglass Bay. Leah and Gran wouldn't really be able to make the walk but we thought we'd at least give it a go but it was not to be.

Instead we headed down to Honeymoon Bay and found all the families with very young kids were here - no wonder, it is a beauty! We enjoyed a day of calm water, perfect swimming and snorkelling (if you don't mind the chill) beneath amazing views of "the Hazards" 2 pink granite peaks of Freycinet.

Leah put on another first class tantrum and got a public smack. Given I was in a family location I didn't expect any rebuff from people watching, in fact I think they were secretly hoping this would be my response! Gran and Popo put on wetsuits and went snorkelling but David and I can't get to all our clothes easily and at this point in our Tasmania trip we hadn't even unpacked any summer gear. To find cosies meant David would need to unpack the roof rack, which he declared he wasn't going to do. He went in his underwear and I rolled my cuffs to make shorts.

After we'd had enough of the beach, we drove up to Cape Tourville lighthouse. The short walk is easy and the views back towards Wineglass Bay and the Hazards, and Friars are wonderful.









Our last option for camping was the Bluestone Bay area which is a decent 4wd track. We were quite surprised to see many 2wds camped here and couldn't work out how they got in. The location is popular with rock climbers who seemed to be young couples with a bit of basic camping gear thrown into the back of a station wagon. Before selecting a site, we drove on a little further to Little Bluestone Bay - an incredibly beautiful place but the area has such a steep slope and is heavily vegetated that there is no chance of camping down this end. Back at the main camp, which I think they refer to as Whitewater Wall, there is an eco toilet and good sites under trees but no grass. It was perfect for us and we had a great time here. It was an early day so we enjoyed hot showers off the car (we use a Twine system) and prepared a roast lamb with pumpkin, potato baked in the Cobb Cooker followed by Sticky Date Pudding (a packet cake mix made up in a glass Pyrex bowl and cooked for 25mins).