THURSDAY 16 DECEMBER COLES BAY
My birthday today.
It was still blowy and rain was forecast. So, that made it a “drive and explore” day, rather than a long walk day – that is not fun in the rain.
Places we visited today
We drove to Sleepy Bay, to the east of Coles Bay, on the Cape Tourville road. It is in the National Park. The short walk from the cap park to the bay was a pretty one.
The orange lichens on the rocks around the bay really stood out, in colour contrast to the dull hues of the rocks and background forest.
Brilliant orange colour on rocks at Sleepy Bay
After that, continued on to the Cape Tourville Lighthouse. There were brilliant views up and down the coast, from here. We could see part of Wineglass Bay, with its distinctive curved beach. The Lighthouse was really just a concrete cylinder, with the light structure on top – clearly a fairly recent build.
Outlook north from Cape Tourville, with a weather front passing over
Freycinet Peninsula seen from Cape Tourville. Some of Wineglass Bay just visible distant right.
John was determined to drive the 4WD track from here to Bluestone Bay. This was only a couple of kms, a bit rutted in places, but not too bad.
Bluestone Bay was a little cove, with rounded blue-grey large pebbles and stones – like very large bird, or dinosaur, eggs. When the very strong waves broke on this pebble beach, the stones made a loud noise from being rolled together. It was an unusual place.
Bluestone Bay
We ate lunch at Bluestone Bay and John made a few fishing casts.
From there, went back the way we’d come and through Coles Bay, taking the main road to the north, then turning off for the Friendly Beaches. I love that name!
On the Friendly Beaches
From the car park, we did not have to walk far to reach a beautiful, white, long beach. We walked for a while on this, then sat on a rocky outcrop, watching the big waves break – until they started coming a bit close. So we walked back to Truck.
Sunny break at the Friendly Beaches
Drove a few kms further south, to the other end of the Friendly Beaches, and walked across the dunes to the beach, again. The outlooks to the north and south were extensive.
Friendly Beaches southern section
On the way back to Coles Bay, we detoured a little, to try to look for water birds at Moulting Lagoon, a large wetland area supposed to have lots of different wetland species. Unfortunately, it was too windy by now for any sensible bird to be out and about. So we headed back to camp. Managed to drive 78kms today.
Tea was crayfish legs, mixed salads raspberries and yoghurt.
K phoned – good to hear from him.
All in all, a very pleasant birthday!
Maybe Cyclone John will become a nickname in this establishment. There are times it would be appropriate!
This Adventurous Age 