Tassie Trip Day 3
Launceston - Ledgerwood - St Columba Falls - St Helens - Bay of Fires - Bicheno
We awoke to grey overcast skies today and were lucky to only get some drizzle after we had packed up and hit the road. We headed East towards the coast and it would take us over some windy slalom like roads for most of the day.
Our first stop was in a little town called Ledgerwood where the locals played trees to commemorate those locals who sacrificed their lives in the Great War. The trees were planted in October 1918 and unfortunately died. Rather than dig them out, they decided to employ a chainsaw sculpture expert to shape them into locals in order to remember their stories. We enjoyed reading and marvelling at the work.
From there we got some heavy rain as we headed towards rich dairy country through windy hairpin cornered roads. We arrived at St Columba falls which are one of Tassies highest waterfalls at 90 m high. The rainforest walk that the falls were surrounded by was cool and very green with lots of monstrous green ferns covering as canopy. We even saw a rather nasty looking reddish coloured spider that would probably bite a small child's face off - so of course we took some pics and moved on.
The rain had subsided by this time as we headed back through the Pyengana Dairy region and stopped at the Pyengana Dairy Company for some cheese tasting. This was some spectacular cheese as well. They are highly rated by both Gourmet Traveller and Masterchef and are frequently used by both. Whilst it was a bit pricey, we still had to buy some which will keep us going for the next few days at least.
We headed further East and hit the East Coast for the first time. We quickly picked up a loaf of bread in St Helens and headed out to Binalong Bay on the Bay of Fires. Wow- spectacular white fine sanded beaches and crystal clear water with granite boulders dotting the shorline covered in firery orange algae.
Our lunch spot overlooked the bay and after lunch it was time for a swim for some and exploring for everyone else . Mid swim and walk, we got a heavy short downpour of rain but it didn't worry us too much - the scenery was too good to worry about anything else.
From the Bay of Fires we tracked South to our stop tonight and for the next 3 nights at Bicheno.
The late afternoon (which extends way up until 8.30pm) turned sensational. We decided to have Pizza by the beach and wandered down having placed our order. We came across an elephant seal who had arrived earlier in the day to start it moulting process lying on the rocks. He might be there for a month in the process so the Rangers had put up some signage advising to keep clear. He obliged for some pics though.
We ate our Pizza watching one of the most magnificent sunset colours I have ever seen. The colours changed constantly from bright oranges to firery reds and everything in between. We were mesmerised till last light after 9pm when we wandered back to our campsite.
Tomorrow we are heading for Freycinet National Park and a hike around Wineglass Bay. Hope that beautiful
Sunset turns into a beautiful day !