Tasmania to Tokyo – Freycinet National Park – Day 10 can be found here.
I know I say this every trip, but how on earth are we already on day 11? It seems as though we just landed in Australia, and yet it feels like we went snorkelling two or three days ago (as opposed to yesterday). Time is strange indeed.
We got in late last night, so we’re up close at 8:30 am this morning. Breakfast runs until 10 am, so no worries there – though we are concerned as to whether we’ll get parking out near Wineglass Bay.
No time to waste, I order the poached eggs – rather than fried – and they are as good as I hoped they would be:
We’ll need a national park pass, which I pick up from the front desk. Handy! It’s roughly AUD$50 for a single day or AUD$100 for two months – looks like they’re trying to encourage repeat visitors.
Back to the room to pack up our swim stuff, sunscreen, and to download the trail maps on both All Trails and Google Maps – better safe than sorry.
Then off to the Wineglass Bay parking lot. It’s less than a 5 minute drive away and we get there just after 10 am, though there are only a few parking spots left.
The Angels of Parking smile upon me today – I wedge Stay Puft into a minute parking space, barely missing the mirror of the vehicle next to me. I’ve apparently grown overly reliant on ultrasonic parking sensors – but no insurance claim needed this time around, thankfully.
I realize later that there’s plenty of room if you go to one of the overflow lots – and that would have made parking Stay Puft much smoother.
The hiking route to and from Wineglass Bay is 6.3 km and 390 metres of elevation gain, including a stop at the observation platform. At the equivalent to 114 stories, it’s just shy of climbing to the lowest level of the CN Tower – ambitious but doable.
The natural beauty helps:
As do the lovely views out toward Richardsons Beach:
I can almost see my cabin from here…
The climb toward the observation area isn’t too steep, and there are plenty of rest stops along the way:
Watch for splinters…
We make it to the observation area in around half an hour. And true to its name, it’s a great spot from which to observe Wineglass Bay:
We then begin the thousand-step descent to the bay itself. This is more intense, but manageable:
And we reach our intended destination roughly 70 minutes after we started.
Though we may want to reconsider our plan to go swimming:
It is – in a word – stunning:
I can hardly believe there are so few people down here. Maybe a dozen at any single point in time? And most of them lounging in the shade close to where the path ends…
Somewhere over here-ish
… And very helpfully staying out of my frame as I snap one photo after the next.
One last shot of an inquisitive visitor:
Then it’s time to drag the kids away from the waves and attempt the return trip.
Before we leave, we stop to use the ‘bush toilets’ – which are surprisingly plush for composting toilets. No real smell to speak of, though unfortunately some terrible humans have left their leftover food and garbage for others to pack out. Sigh.
As we leave, though, the wind picks up and blasts us with a spray of sand. It’s a good time to head out.
Surprisingly, the Big Climb isn’t terrible. The kids handle it well, and the adults manage too.
We are mildly concerned to see people heading down to the beach with more small children than adults. Three adults with five children, three of whom are already being carried – how on earth are they going to make it back up?
Back at the top! We’d found this sign ominious when we first set out:
But now I can see that the faint “1.5 hrs” is correct – it’s not a terribly long hike.
There’s a more direct path to return to the car park, but it too offers some pleasant views out toward Richardsons Beach:
And then we’re back – after roughly an two hours of hiking, and an hour’s stop at the bottom.
Off for lunch back at Freycinet Lodge. We manage to grab our favourite spot on the patio, a well-shaded section with two couches and an extra chair. Lucky us!
My wife has the beet and quinoa salad:
I have the salt and pepper squid:
And the kids have a reprise of hamburgers and chicken burgers.
It’s close to 2 pm by the time we sit down for lunch, so we scarcely have an hour for reading / writing / homework before we have to head back to our suite and pack up. Again.
Sometimes it feels like all we do is pack and unpack. We are all very much looking forward to being able to fully unpack once we are onboard the Moon.
Just as we prepare to leave the same family group and some other hikers we recognize climb up the steps from the resort’s jetty. They must have used one of the boats you can pre-book to pick you up from various beaches. A great idea although the poor family still looks done-in and all five children are screaming. Time for us to make our exit.
Dinnertime! In need of a change, we elect to head into the nearby town of Coles Bay for dinner at Geographe tonight:
Photo Credit: Geographe’s Facebook Page
It’s a casual place – you order at the counter, gathering your own glasses and condiments, and they bring the food to you.
The kids and I order a pair of pepperoni pizzas:
And my wife has the fish and chips:
All very, very good – honestly, one of the best meals we’ve had since we arrived in Freycinet National Park.
Then off for dessert at the Ice Creamery next door:
Photo Credit: The Ice Creamery’s Facebook Page
Tough decisions await:
I opt for the New York Chocolate Chunk, while my wife and kids each go for the Vanilla chocolate fudge.
We then head down to the waterfront to enjoy the view, and to shelter behind Stay Puft as the wind whips off the bay:
It’s been a lovely visit to Freycinet National Park. We’ll have to come back someday.
But more adventure awaits tomorrow – we’re headed to Cradle Mountain, with a stop enroute for horseback riding!