Coles Bay — RachiePie

We woke early and hit the road towards Coles Bay on Monday. We made a pit stop in Swansea, a pretty seaside village which overlooks Great Oyster Bay and Freycinet National Park. On the way to Swansea we stopped at Spiky Bridge. Built by convicts in 1843, the bridge was made from stones without mortar or cement. It is unclear why the spikes were designed, but the belief is the spikes were added to prevent cattle from falling over the sides of the bridge.

Across the road is Spiky Beach where we walked around the short hiking path and enjoyed the view of the ocean.

We then made our way to Kates Berry Farm for some fresh scones with black current jam. There are so many fresh produce stands and shops in Tasmania and I always love buying local when possible. The farm overlooks mountains in the background and we ate our breakfast outside to enjoy the view. We even picked up some raspberry jam to enjoy later!

While in Swansea, we walked the Loontitetermairrelehoiner path (and yes, that really is the trailheads name!). The 60-minute walk is named after the local Aboriginal people and takes you from Waterloo Beach to Shouten Beach. We have had beautiful sunny weather the past couple of days and it was nice just being outside and enjoying this leisurely walk.

Our last stop before heading into Coles Bay was Melshells Oysters. We’ve hit pretty much all the oyster shacks on our road trip through Tasmania so far and there certainly is no shortage!! The woman at the counter was so sweet and explained how they grow and harvest their oysters. We ordered a dozen and enjoyed them outside on a bench.

Since it was such a beautiful day and we were making good time, we stopped at a few places in Coles Bay before checking into our Airbnb. This area is known for its beautiful white-sand beaches and we stopped at Friendly Beaches, one of the wildest ocean beaches in Tasmania and a popular surf beach. It was very quiet while we were there with just a few people sunbathing. We walked the beach for a little while before moving on.

One of the most popular spots in Tasmania is Wineglass Bay, named for its wineglass-shaped-curve. It takes about 1 1/2 hours roundtrip to walk to the lookout and it is a bit steep, but once you are there, it is such an amazing view! The water is a brilliant turquoise color and crystal clear. There were quite a few people at the lookout point and this was by the far the busiest of any of the places we have visited so far in Tasmania.

Our final stop before checking into our Airbnb was Honeymoon Bay, located five minutes from the Wineglass Bay carpark. This pretty little bay is nestled between two rocky headlands with views of the Hazards mountains in the background. Again, the water was so clear, and we sat on the rocks for a while enjoying the peace and quiet.

In the evening, we drove out to the Cape Tourville Lighthouse to watch the sunset. There is a short walk around the lighthouse and we enjoyed the view of the ocean from the top of the cliff.

Tuesday morning we woke up and Alex made us blueberry pancakes for breakfast - a perfect and delicious way to start the day! It was another sunny day here in Tasmania, so we took advantage of the weather and drove back to Wineglass Bay to complete the 4-hour Wineglass Bay to Hazards Beach circuit trail. We walked to both Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach before heading along the Hazards mountain range and back to the carpark. We enjoyed the hike and spent some time relaxing on Hazards beach where I picked up lots of shells!

On Wednesday, we headed 20 minutes north to the town of Bicheno. We stopped at Little Bay Patisserie to enjoy coffee and a croissant before heading towards the ocean to walk the Foreshore Footway. This 2-mile seaside walk goes from the Blowhole to Redbill Beach. We spent some time at the Blowhole watching the seawater spurt high into the air on unsuspecting tourists! It was quite entertaining!

We then stopped at Devil's Corner Winery where we enjoyed a wood-fired pizza and bottle of Saviougn Blanc. The winery overlooks the Freycinet Peninsula and it was a relaxing way to spend the sunny afternoon.

Thursday’s forecast called for rain in the morning and that is exactly what we got. We used this time to do some trip planning for New Zealand as we still needed to get some of our accommodations figured out as well as narrow down our itinerary. We made some good progress and by early afternoon the rain stopped and the sun started to peek out.

By this time, we were getting hungry and headed to Freycinet Marine Farm where we ordered a dozen fresh oysters and mussels with tomato-chili sauce. There were quite a few people dining at the restaurant and we sat outside at one of the picnic tables to enjoy our food.

We then drove to Sleepy Bay where we walked to the lookout point. Despite its name, Sleepy Bay is known for its rough seas! We continued along the path for another 15 minutes and arrived at Little Gravelly Beach where we climbed on the rocks and explored the area before returning back to our Airbnb.

We are back on the road tomorrow and will be heading to St. Helens, a 1 ½ hour drive from Coles Bay. We will be in St. Helens for three nights. I do not believe we will have internet for at least another week which means it will probably be quiet over here on the blog for a bit!