Bay of Fires to Coles Bay
We went from one bay (Bay of Fires) to Freycinet National Park. The national park contained beautiful places like Coles Bay, Wineglass Bay, Cape Tourville, Harzard beach etc. We only had time to visit the more famous ones.
On the way to the national park we stopped at Bicheno and had lunch at its famous Bicheno Lobster Shack after lunched visited Bicencho Blow hole.
Denison Beach
Denison Beach was just before Bicheno and it was not a planned stop to visit the beach. As we drove on the road we caught a glimpse of a beautiful beach just after Douglas River. We could not resist the urge to see more for this lovely beach so we stopped and parked our car and came down to explore. The beach was beautifully white, the blue water, the bay and the far away mountains formed a lovely sight.
Bicheno Lobster shack
Lobster Shack was just by the coast/beach. It was easy to find and there was parking just outside the restaurant. We were there just before noon, the place was busy but not fully packed so we were able to find a table for two. Twenty minutes later the place was fully packed, all tables indoor and outdoor were taken.
We ordered a Garlic Butter Lobster meal and it costed about AUD$50. We did not have to wait long for the meal to be ready. We noted that the lobster did not have the big claws, this place served Rock Lobsters which were spiny lobsters without claws. Claws or no claws the garlic butter Rock Lobster tasted good.
Bicheno Blowhole
The blowhole was only 800 m south of Lobster Shack along the coast. It was less than a 5 minutes drive. Beside the blow hole was a huge boulder. We wondered if the boulder was intentionally place there to make it easy to locate the blowhole.
Cape Tourville
Cape Tourville was one of the attraction on Freycinet National Park. We visited the cape near to sunset hour on our first day/night in Coles Bay where we stayed for two nights.
It was a 15 minutes drive over 8 km to get to Cape Tourville from our Coles Bay. At the cape was a white lighthouse. Just before the lighthouse was a carpark and that was where a loop trail around the light house began.
The trail was on a well maintained boardwalk that brought us near to the cliff side of the cape. The sunset view was lovely.
Wine Glass Bay
We started our visit to Wine Glass Bay early in the morning. We were told that there were several walking tracks ranging from 1 hour to 5 hours starting from the carpark. A 1 hour tracks would be at least 1.5 hour for us and a 5 hours track would be at least 7-8 hour as we like to do it slow and stop often along the way.
We picked the shortest track which would be a 30 minutes trek from the carpark to Wine Glass Bay Lookout. Our walk took about 45 minutes as we did a couple of stops along the way, to take photo and to rest.
The view at the lookout was spectacular. There were a upper and lower decks which were linked in a loop. From the upper deck one could actually see two bays.
After the lookout we made a last minute decision to trek down to the beach of Wineglass Bay. It was a very difficult decision. We were hesistant, the idea of going down 1000 steps to the beach and later climbing up 1000 steps on the return trip worried us. We saw many visitors coming back from the beach drenched in perspiration and out of breath as they finished the last few steps.
When we asked the “returnees” if the view was worth the effort everyone one them said “YES”. O It was a long way down, at one section we were attacked by “monster size” mosquitoes. But finally after 45 minutes we were down to the beach. We stayed on the beach for about an hour.
The beach was lovely, the colors were beautifully balance. There was green, blue, turquoise, white, orange. The thought of climbing back a 1000 steps made us wanted to stay on the beach “forever”. But finally we had to make the return trip. We climbed up the steps slowly and just before we felt out of breath we would make a stop and rest. So the 45 min going up took about an hour.
Reward Ice Cream
After our tiring trek at Wineglass Bay we were back at Coles Bay harbour looking for Ice Cream. Unfortunately the only Ice Cream shop (The Ice Creamery) was closed on for two days in a row. Undeterred we bought a tub of Vahalla ice cream from a General Store across the street and went into “Geographe Restaurant and Espresso Bar” where we bought our drinks and enjoyed them with icecream!! The cafe owner was very kind, he was the one that recommended us to get our icecream at the general store and eat at his cafe!
Our stay at Coles Bay
We booked two nights at BIG4 Iluka on Freycinet Holiday Park, the cost was AUD$300 for the two nights. The self contained cabin turned out better than our expectations. The cabin was clean and bright. There was two televisions, one at the living area and the other near the queen bed.
The couch in the sitting area could be expanded into a bed two. The toilet and shower were great too, hot water was plentiful. We especially like the “white theme” design of the cabin it made the room looked spacious and clean.
The kitchen was a full size kitchen and we were able to cook our meals easily. While cooking we found that we needed a can opener, but it was not found in the kitchen cabinets. We made a call to the front office reception and was given one almost immediately.
