St. Helens — RachiePie

Friday morning, we left Coles Bay for St. Helens. In Portugal, we started listening to podcasts since we spent so much time in the car and found it helps make the drive more interesting. Most of our podcasts centered around murder mysteries (“Someone Knows Something”, “Dirty John”, and “Up and Vanished") and we have been looking to branch out a bit. We recently finished the podcast “Missing Richard Simmons” that focused on the mystery in which Richard Simmons practically disappeared overnight in 2014 and there has been very little word from him since. It’s actually a pretty interesting story and provided some fascinating insight about the fitness mogul's life. Since that ended, we started “Slow Burn”, a podcast about Watergate (clearly our interests are varied!!). Although I know the cliff notes version of what happened with Watergate back in the 1970’s, this podcast provides a really good overview of the players, facts, and history. Definitely recommend it! They are only about 30 minutes each and we were able to listen to three episodes on our drive to St. Helens.

We have not had laundry since Port Arthur, so we started the morning in St. Helens by visiting a laundromat. It always feels so good to have clean clothes! We then headed to St. Helen’s Point where we walked the trail to Beerbarrel Beach. In the same conservation area are large sand dunes called the Peron Dunes. They were huge and reminded me of something I would see in the desert!

Saturday, we started the morning at Dora Point and hiked to Cash’s Beach. The sand here is so fine, almost like sugar. We spent some time scrambling around the rocks and looking for shells. I am accumulating quite the collection!

For lunch we drove to Oyster Buoy and split a fish taco and tuna poke bowl. We ate outside on their patio and enjoyed the warm weather - 75-degrees today!!

We also drove to the Pyengana Dairy Company where they make their own cheese and ice cream. Their slogan is “from paddock to plate” and you can see the cows graze from their outdoor café. I ordered a chocolate ice cream cone and Alex ordered a caramel milkshake. Yum.

Lastly, we headed to Priory Ridge winery. It is the only winery in the St. Helens area and they have a small tasting room housed in an old sheep shed. The owner who did our tasting was really sweet and even walked us around part of the vineyards showing us their ripening pinot noir grapes. We left with a bottle of their Sauvignon Blanc to enjoy later.

Sunday, we explored the Bay of Fires, one of Tasmania’s most popular conservation areas. It is known for its crystal-clear waters, white sandy beaches, and orange lichen-covered boulders. I originally thought the name Bay of Fires referred to the orange and red rocks, but learned the name actually originated in 1773 by explorer Capitan Tobias Furneaux who saw the fires of the Aboriginals living along the bay. We started at the Binalong Bay Lookout Point and then drove down Garden Road where there are multiple viewpoints and beaches along the way.

We ended our drive at Eddystone Lighthouse, the northern-most part of the Bay of Fires. The lighthouse has been around since 1889 and although it is not open to the public, we were able to wander around the lighthouse grounds. St. Helens is our last stop along the east-coast before we start making our way west.