Bay of Fires and NorthEast

  St Helens, Tasmania, Australia
Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Our next stop was St Helens which is the largest town since we left Hobart; it actually had a choice of 2 supermarkets (one rather small). We stocked up on food and basics, planning to bush-camp out in the Bay of Fires area on the coast near Binalong Bay. The weather forecast gave us second thoughts; rain was forecast for several days so we thought that a stay in town with a cinema and cafes would be preferable. It turned out to be a good choice as the forecast was correct. We based ourselves in an excellent caravan park in St Helens with huge grassy site and did day trips as weather permitted.
 

Bay of Fires

The Bay of Fires is a beautiful area but best appreciated in warm, sunny beach weather and, if we return to this area in better weather we would definitely stay there. One day we drove up to the northern tip of the bay to Eddystone point and into Mt William National Park. It is a very remote area and quite wild and windy but beautiful. 

Picnic lunch at Eddystone Lighthouse

On one of the rainy days we went to the local cinema. It was a real treat; a very small building housing a delightful cafe and single screening room. The film showing was 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and, as it was over 3 hours long, we wondered how comfortable the seats  would be.  We need not have worried as it was almost like someone's sitting room with a mis-matched collection of sofas, armchairs and other chairs. We settled in on a big comfy sofa and even though neither of us thought the film much good we were very comfortable. Pity there were no other films showing that we wanted to see.

St Helens is a fishing port and we had excellent fish and chips from a harbouside boat. Fresh-off-the-boats seafood to buy also. A very pleasant town to spend some time and a good gateway to the beautiful surrounding areas.

From here we drove west and set up in Scottsdale; a one supermarket town and with great little shops and friendly locals. There was a market in a church hall at the weekend and we popped in to see if there was any local produce. There certainly had been but was almost sold out. One stall had a huge bunch of rhubarb left and, on asking the price, was told $1; no wonder there was nothing else left. It was young, fresh and tender; delicious.

The countryside between St Helens and Scottsdale is very beautiful and we had many days out in the hills walking to picturesque waterfalls and lakes and visiting local attractions.

Gladstone- Blue Lake

This area had been a tin-mining centre and one lake was turquoise blue from one of the by-products of the tin-mining(kaolin, I think we were told).

Since arriving in Tasmania David had only had one game of golf but a highlight was to come. We had been told by every golfer we had met that a game at Barnbougle Links was a must so a booking was made. The sun shone and it was the warmest day we had had for a while and the course was at its brilliant best.

Barnbougle- pretty but hard to stop the ball

David reckons that it is  the best course he has ever played and, from a spectator's viewpoint, I agree. Not sure I would have enjoyed it as much in my playing days as it is very challenging but it was a wonderful seaside walk and seeing David approach  the challenges of each hole was a pleasure. I even did a bit of scouting and caddying work by walking ahead to see what was around the many dog-legs and give advice. We both had a great day and finished with a well-deserved rest and snack in the clubhouse with its wonderful views. It is a long and hilly course so quite tiring.

Barnbougle- typical windswept links course

An interesting village that we heard about locally is Legerwood; The story is that, in 1918, a tree dedication ceremony was held in which 9 trees were planted to honour local soldiers killed in World War 1. In 2001 a report stated that the trees were no longer safe and the community was devastated at the thought of losing the memorial. In 2004 it was suggested that carving the stumps into a likeness of each soldier and also including aspects of their lives would enable the memorials to be retained.

Legerwood- war memorials

A chainsaw carver from Ross, Tasmania was employed by the Legerwood  community to sculpt the masterpieces that remain today. What a great idea.

Legerwood- lifesize carvings

 
 
As usual, we visited some of the local food producers and ,as it is excellent dairy country, the Pyengana cheese factory produces award-winning cheddar cheese.

Pyengana dairy

Very tasty.

This north-east area has so much to see and we only scratched the surface but we feel it is good to leave things to look forward to on our next trip. So we will continue to head west and set off for Launceston.