It was a two and a half hour drive up the east coast to Freycinet (named after a French explorer I think). We booked into a decent Youth Hostel in Coles Bay and headed down to the beach to try and catch the sunset whilst I called Nana to wish her a happy birthday.
In the winter it's fairly quiet in Coles Bay (population:not much) so the Hostel wasn't too busy. Saturday morning we headed over to the car park that marks the start of the walk that all the visitors do - over the 'saddle' to Wineglass Bay. At the top of the saddle there was a nice seat:
There's also a lookout so you can see the splendour of Wineglass Bay before you get there:
Then it's downhill to the beach, which is quite stunning. We were very lucky with the weather as you can see... especially as parts of Tassie were flooding the day before!
We were enjoying the walk and it had been easy going so we extended things a bit and started some of the Freycinet Circuit, walking on and up to Mount Graham ... the most tastefully named summit ever :-)
From here we had great views back to Wineglass Bay:
And also, Schouten Island at the end of the peninsula:
After a little lunch we turned back the way we came to head back across Wineglass Bay and up over the saddle. By this point we were getting a bit more weary, so you can't blame Ella for having a rest:
After a second relaxing night in the YHA we took a short trip up the coast to Cape Tourville to the lighthouse which had a nice view south to the peninsula:
Freycinet rated highly in my opinion, although I'm glad we went in the off-season because it was fairly busy and it looks like the paths suffer from over-use. Here's a map of the area so you can see where we went.
So next up is my trip home to England. This time I'm coming without Ella, as she's staying for work and a trip to the Northern Territory with her folks. It will be strange being apart for nearly four weeks, but we have the rest of our lives to spend together so it's not the end of the world.
