Bays and Birds

Another travel day. I definitely prefer staying three nights rather than two in each place. I don’t know which places I would have left out though to accommodate that.
I had no real plan for the day except to drive to St Helens around the coast. The coastline is absolutely beautiful. First stop was Georgetown lookout. This overlooks Georgetown and Low Head. Thanks to some locals at the lookout I was able to see Burnie. The lookout used to be part of a semaphore relay system that announced ship arrivals to Hobart. The signals from Georgetown were passed onto Mt Direction.

On the way to Bridestowe Lavender Farm I came across a sign pointing to Fork To Farm. I saw them at the Farmgate Markets in Hobart and purchased products from them so called in and bought some smallgoods and a serve of wallaby pie filling. I had this for tea and it was delicious.
It’s not lavender flower season but the lavender farm was still pretty. It would be gorgeous during flowering season.

Bridport is on the coast and the start of the amazing coastline. The sea is turquoise and the rocks extraordinary. I had lunch at a little cafe there. The Facebook group I’m in for travelling in Tasmania and where I’ve sourced a lot of information has mentioned scallop pies frequently, often comparing different pies. So I finally tried one. This was a curried scallop pie and it was good. Would I have another? Probably not but I’m glad I tried one.

I followed the coast around to Tomahawk and that is another beautiful bay. If I’d brought my bathers with me and it was 10 degrees warmer I would have been tempted to go for a swim. From there I wanted to head to Mount William National Park which is on the north east tip of Tasmania. The road was a bit rough though so I turned around. This happened to me several times today with the road starting out sealed and smooth and deteriorating to what I assume is a gravel road in Tasmania although it’s nothing like a gravel road from WA. The road from Bridestowe Lavendar Farm to Bridport was particularly rough.
One of the sealed roads brought me past Little Blue Lake, a vivid lake whose colouring is caused by the minerals (from mining) in the lake.

Eventually I found my way onto the Tasman Highway and onto St Helens. I’m staying at a bird sanctuary. The property has previously been a farm and a golf course. After unpacking I went for a walk to see how many birds I could identify. The accommodation provides binoculars and a guide to the birds. The ones I saw that were easy to identify include black swans, pelicans, magpies, green parrots and ducks. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to see more tomorrow.Read more