Freycinet Circuit, Cooks Corner-Hazard Beach
Trip Start
Jan 19, 2006
1
14
20
Trip End
Feb 23, 2006
Freycinet National Park, Tasmania,
Australia
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
We woke up to the glorious sounds of the crashing waves on the beach. Wallabies
were wandering around our tent. No flies really to worry about on the peninsula, yay! We had a leisurely breakfast on the sand right in front of our tent, sitting on
a log we had rolled into position and propped into place with rocks, as we looked into Oyster Bay. We had an easy day today; yesterday was the hard day for us!
Today we had minimal elevation gain or loss, pretty much just a flat but hopefully scenic 12km. Our hiking day would be all along the inside of the Freycinet bay, along beaches at times, all the way back to the carpark (a word Nadine hates now as there were signs to the "carpark" all along the trail!).
After packing up the tent we started walking down Cooks Beach, then through a 1 hour stretch of gum and peppermint woods, and then over the long straight Hazards beach. We saw many birds that live on the beach. We saw the swallows that dive-bomb the debris line (we assume they are catching flies that are checking for tasty bits in the debris).
In the west distance, we could see an Refuge Island that apparently contains little penguins, and we saw a few of their heads popping up in the bay. A few lazy fishing boats came to do the morning catch off Hazard beach. Then we went back into the trees, with some great views over the bay at the mainland. We could see that a bit of storm was brewing on the mainland. Hills in the distance started disappearing. And slight bits of rain started spitting at us -- just enough to keep us cool!
We started passing more hikers coming the other way, and then voila -- we were in the carpark, just before 12am. We washed up a little bit (Nadine scared off some day hikers coming into the washroom as she was almost naked cleaning up in the sink), then got into the car just as it started to rain!
As we drove south along the coast, the sky had opened up and it was gorgeous to view Freycinet Peninsula to our east. We drove back to Hobart much quicker than we had on the way out, arriving just after rush hour had ended.
Back to the Astor Hotel where we had a room already booked, and then Theo started to come down with some gastroenteritis (doctor talk). After some Imodium and Gravol (from doctor bag) he perked up enough to do some laundry, interneting and catch a small meal in Salamanca Square. We were packing up that night to fly to New Zealand tomorrow, so our boots and tents had to be dirt-free to get through customs. Nadine was determined to bring in the Canadian smoked sausages that were still left over. Off to bed with Theo still looking a bit green!
