June 24th (Wednesday) - Day 115 - Bicheno (Wine Glass Bay)
After a slightly slow start (for me) we drove down to the area known as Wine Glass bay. This is meant to be one the nicest spots in Tazzy and I agree. You can only reach it on foot. The steep hill mixed with Sarah's cold made it quite hard work. However this was only the way there and we had a lot worse to look forward to on the way back. Once at the top of the hill we could see the bay right below us. Despite it being over cast the sea was so blue and the sand was really white. Surrounding the beach there were endless hills and endless forest. We then made our way down to the beach. It was really steep but fine as we were on our way down. As soon as we reached the beach there was a rock Wallaby bouncing around. I called him Rocky. We had our lunch and went for a walk along the beach. The waves were really powerful but despite this it was so peaceful. Then came the dreaded part. We had to get back to the car park. The hill as I already noted was so steep. It took a while to climb. Once at the top we kept bumping into others just starting the first part of the walk and we could not help but rubbing in how hard they were going to find it coming back hehe. But also telling them how nice the views were. Once back in the car we drove around to discover the rest of the area. There were so many cool little bays including a great one with a stream running through it. I could not help but play and try and dam it hehe. Also really light rains were coming in - I have never seen so many rainbows in one day! Once back in Bicheno we had a few hours to kill before we saw what Bicheno is famous for; fairy penguins. They come out the water once it is dark to find there nests for the night. We scouted the area before hand as it can be hit and miss seeing them in the winter. We needed to know were to go if we could not see any. Lucky we did this as we spent an hour on a beach while it got dark and did not see any. We knew none were coming so quickly drove across town. It was pitch black by this point so with torch in hand we went off looking around some rocks. We were about to give up and then I spotted a little group of them. They were so tiny. Only about 10cm high! Once I got my eye in I managed to pick out loads of them! They were everywhere once you started looking! That night in our hostel was a lot more peaceful. There were only 4 of us in the whole place.