Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Tassie Day 3 – The agony continues

I am afraid I am going to inflict more piccies of coastline on you than you can probably stand. Uncle Harry would approve.
After pausing for dinner at St Helen’s we stayed overnight at a little place on the east coast called Beaumaris which the locals translate from French as ‘Beautiful Beaches’.

Our target for our third day was the Bay of Fires. We spent most of the next day exploring there and I have to say I am hard pressed to name anywhere I’ve seen in the world that is more beautiful.

Anyway I’ll begin at the beginning. We were only able to see roughly the southern third of the bay. We had time to see more but alas the insurance on our hire car specifically excluded unsealed roads and the northern section is only accessible along dirt roads.

This piccie shows a little cove that was our first glimpse of the Bay of Fires. I’d heard before we went that it was beautiful and this first glimpse certainly didn’t disappoint.

As you can see it was a glorious sunny day and the light and the colours have to be seen to be believed.
Crystal clear air and water, Tassie is one of the least polluted environments in the world. It is just so far from most of the World’s population and manufacturing centres. The gorgeous white sand and granite boulders painted with orange lichen complete the picture.

I shot these boats at The Gardens which was the northernmost point of our day.Notice they are tied at both stem and stern to overhead cables to prevent them being driven into the rocks in windy weather.

These boulders were taken from a point just near the boats.We went in a meandering fashion toward the south. This little cove is also at The Gardens
And these boulders are taken from the same vantage.
South of the Gardens Deb walked along this sandy path to have a look at
Taylor’s Beach.Out at the point was this rock formation.
Deb thought it looked like a mother and children, I can see that but I can also see something else.Deb says that is because I 'am a boy'.

A little father south at Seaton Cove the beach was positively crowded.
I think this was the most people we saw on any beach at the Bay of Fires. Bear in mind this is high summer, Tasmania’s peak tourist season and summer holidays for schools.

Like I said agony.

Our last view of the Bay of Fires.Why the Bay of Fires? The first European Explorer to see this place was Tobias Furneaux, who was the commander of one of the ships during James Cook’s second voyage around the world. Furneaux saw the bay at night, all along the coast were the twinkling lights of Aboriginal camp-fires. There were so many that he decided the area must be densely populated and did not go ashore.

If you keep your eyes open as you walk you will see traces left by the original inhabitants. Usually in the form of an archaeologists delight, trash heaps called middens like this one eroding out of a bank behind the dunes.The remains of somebody’s seafood banquet hundreds of years ago.

Then finally as the day began to wane we stopped for a picnic meal. And as we ate I snapped this photo of a little local. He perched there for an unusually long time, these Superb Blue Wrens usually never stop. I would almost swear he was admiring the view.

7 comments:

Old Kitty said...

Aha!!! I love why it's called the Bay of Fires!!! It's a great name - I'd have expected something volcanic!!! The orange stripe on the stones are wonderful!!

I would say the rock formation is a middle finger but then that's because I'm a girl! LOL!!!!!

Beautiful pics of a beautiful pristine place!!! Oh that Superb Wren is just that - superb!!

Take care
x

Yvonne Osborne said...

Beautiful. Bay of Fires is such a cool name and thanks for the history behind it. The rock formation could be many things! The picture of Taylor's Beach reminds me of my sister's place up on Lake Superior, the path through the beach grass and the water going from green to blue. Beautiful.
Also....I like the way you have the cover of your book projected as your background. Very nice.

Kathleen Jones said...

Sun, sand, sea and archaeology - wouldn't I just like to be there now!

Writer said...

Hi Al,
I love these pics. I wish I were there. I am so HAPPY to hear this is far from major cities therefore, is not polluted. What a relief to learn there are still wonderful places like this one that have not been affected by human pollution/destruction. I love nature. I get upset when I see what humans do to our planet. Sorry, don't want this comment to be a rant. ;) Thank you for the explanation of each photo. Like Deb, I love the rock formation in the water. It's amazing. And yes, I could see a mother and children. ;)

Kristen M. said...

You got my hopes for twice this many coastal shots. ;) As I'm sure you can tell from my photo posts, I could take piccies of the ocean and rocks for days and days on end. I just finished looking at another photo gallery of New Zealand and I'm almost ready to board a plane for your part of the planet right now. I feel like I'm really missing out!

Ninon Nickerson said...

I am so obsessed with Australia and it is only getting worse. Thanks for sharing your lovely country. ~ Ninette

Al said...

Hi Jennifer,
It is a great name and a great place.

Hi Yvonne,
It is a great name, you are most welcome.
Thank you for the feedback on the blog!

Hi Kathleen,
I could handle being back their too!

Hi Claudia,
It is fabulous how unpolluted Tassie is
I think it is one of my favourite places.
I still see something else ;)

Hi Kristen,
Sorry to disappoint more coming up in a few posts!
Downunder of both stripes is pretty impressive.

Hi Ninette,
Ah well you’ll just have to get down this way sometime!