Saturday, February 8, 2025

Today, we planned to spend time in Tasmania’s Cole’s Bay, not far from where we camped overnight in Cranbrook. It was still Friday in the United States, so Andi had to work this morning. We decided to drive to Cole’s Bay early, and find a place for the kids and I to hang out so Andi could take his calls inside the RV.

The Cole’s Bay Triathlon happened to be taking place this morning so traffic was slow as we drove to the entrance of Freycinet National Park. I felt sorry for the people biking along with traffic; a lot of them were wearing their swimming suits and it was cold this morning.

I picked a place called Geographie for breakfast. Andi parked the RV and worked in the camper while Tory, Aden, and I went inside the restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant was all patio seating. On a warmer day, views of Cole’s Bay with The Hazards mountain range behind it would probably be idyllic, but today was not that day.

Tory and Aden ordered eggs and sourdough toast for breakfast, and I had avocado toast with poached eggs, beetroot, and chickpeas. Our food was very good.

While we ate, the three of us worked on school work. “It’s Saturday, Mom,” the kids protested. Yes, but it was the perfect time to do a lesson while Andi we waited for Andi to finish his calls.

At 11:30am, Andi text to say he finished. Tory, Aden, and I raced back to the RV to get out of the wind. Brrr!

After Tasmania, we don’t have any travel plans booked. Andi and I have been discussing possible options, and decided it was time to loop in Tory and Aden on the decision making. Andi found a deal on a cruise that departs from Auckland, New Zealand, travels to several places in northern Australia, and ends in Bali, Indonesia. We thought this might be a good way to see more of Australia and save us the 7-hour flight to Indonesia. Tory and Aden were over-the-moon excited about the idea, so Andi spent the next hour on the phone with a cruise agent to secure our spots on the ship. There were only a handful of spaces remaining, so we needed to book today if we were interested.

By now it was 1:00pm and we had yet to see Cole’s Bay. The most popular thing to do here is to hike down to Wineglass Bay — considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world — but it requires descending 1,000 stairs to the beach & back. Andi and I knew our kids wouldn’t be up for the challenge, so we opted for a short walk to Honeymoon Bay lookout instead.

Honeymoon Bay was a beautiful little beach with flat rocks surrounding it. The wind was whipping from every direction, but the kids enjoyed racing after each other on the rocks. There were a few fisherman on the shore, but otherwise we had the place to ourselves. Orange lichen covered the rocks giving them a pretty hue.

Andi suggested we stop for lunch at a restaurant nearby called Richardson’s. Our meals were average, but the view from the restaurant windows was worth the visit. Taped to the door of the restaurant was a sign warning customers of a highly venomous snake sighting in the area.

Next, I suggested we drive to Cape Tourville Lighthouse, but Andi said he preferred to avoid it if the race was still going on. It’s not easy navigating a RV through people and traffic. Since the road was still congested, I navigated us to the town of Bicheno instead. There was more to see & do in Cole’s Bay, but we left it for another time.

Our first stop in Bicheno was to the Bicheno Blowhole. “Haven’t we seen enough blowholes?” Tory asked, but this one was different; more powerful. Fortunately, we had the spot all to ourselves except for a handful of other people. The wind whipped around us wildly and the roar of the sea violently crashed over the edge of the rocks.

The big granite boulders were covered in orange lichen, contrasting with the deep blue-colored water. Andi flew his drone and got some really great shots of the water from above.

We stopped at the grocery store in Bicheno to buy a vegetable for dinner before making our way north to the Scamander Sanctuary Holiday Park. All four of us desperately needed showers tonight, so staying at a campground was necessary.

The holiday park had clean, private shower rooms which is the reason Andi picked this location, he said. The quality of a campground shower matters — hot water? clean bathroom? water that stays on longer than 2 minutes? This place checked all the right boxes.

Tory and I showered first while Andi prepared dinner. He thought he’d purchased chicken breasts to grill, but it was actually a full spatchcock chicken. Luckily, the community kitchen had an oven so Andi baked the whole chicken instead. “This is one of those meals that turned into a two-hour process,” Andi said when it was finally time for dinner.

After dinner, Andi and Aden showered while I cleaned up dinner and made the table into Aden’s bed. Then, Andi and I went for a campground walk. We found a trail that led to the beach, so we followed it. The sun had already set, but the scenery was breathtaking.

On our walk back to the RV, we spotted what we think was a Tasmanian devil. The animal was small and dark, like a black cat, and darted so quickly in the bushes we hardly blinked and it was gone. Andi and I debated what it could be, but after doing some Google researching, I think it was in fact a Tasmanian devil. Cool, huh? Let’s just say I walked back to camp at a fast pace.

Tomorrow, we’re continuing our drive north along Tasmania’s east coast toward Bay of Fires.