bay of fires

There is a magical place in the far north east of Tasmania, literally at the roads end.

The Bay of Fires; crystal clear blue water, pristine white sand, orange coloured granite boulders, secret coves and spectacular beaches.

• so called because in 1773 Captain Tobias Furneaux saw the fires of the indigenous people lit along the beaches.
• The orange on the granite rocks is lichen
• The pristine white sand is due to quartz

This place took our breath away, we decided we could easily live here!

Binalong Bay is just the beginning, in oder to truly appreciate this place you have to keep going. The road winds its way to The Gardens and then stops. This is literally the end of the road. There is National Park further in and it is possible to hike. I do not know what lies beyond - an adventure for another day. We made our way to the end of the road, were duly stunned and on our way back turned off into nooks and crannies exploring this amazing place.

Words cannot describe the beauty of this place, perhaps some photos can..

At the end of the road this what you find...

to the right

looking back

a path leading on

a viewing platform overlooking the cove

blue, white and orange

the return path

I want to live in this house!!

As we began to explore on our way back...

We turned down honeymoon road, a total of five houses shared this cove, their own private piece of paradise...

We spied a long stretch of beach, followed a driveway and bush bashed our way to Taylors Beach

Big Lagoon

southern end of Taylors Beach

And finally Sloop Lagoon

birthday boy

Colin's birthday was a good excuse to continue our exploration of the East Coast, this time the far north. We took the longer route through Scottsdale and headed east from there, driving through a part of the state neither of us had seen before. We drove through towns we had never heard of (farming, mining and logging), through rich fertile farmland where the deep red/brown earth reminded us of the north west coast, through forests of ferns and moss, through scrubby bushland and over a few 'hills' finally arriving in St Helens in time for lunch.

We took a detour...

the path to Beer Barrel beach

scouting the coastline

heading for a swim

taking the plunge into the cold blue sea

Peron Dunes

the other side

And late afternoon we reached our destination, Binalong Bay, the southern end of the famous Bay of Fires...

getting the lay of the land

from the top

from the bottom

a spot of climbing

and jumping

pristine white sand

second part to come...

phillip island

We spent the weekend with Rachel at a Phillip Island caravan park, making the most of the opportunity to spend some time with her and of course reassuring ourselves that she will be ok. There were some minor alterations to the bike, a couple of purchases to ward off the cold, some practice in the art of single handedly putting up a tent and taking it down and some fine tuning of what goes where in the panniers. She has planned out the next couple of days, managing to avoid caravan parks in favour of couch surfing and a youth hostel as the forecast is for rain. Yep, she is pretty much good to go.

We also managed a bit of a walk and to take in the sights at both ends of the Island - Nobbies Point and Cape Woolamai. It was cold and blustery but beautiful none the less.

Walkway to The Nobbies

green, black and blue

a beauty of its own

coastal view

Woolamai beach, the start of the track

cliff top track

half way to the point

The Pinnacles

looking over Cape Woolamai

On Sunday Rachel rode and we drove. We were a bit like stalkers, catching up with her along the Bass Coast Rail Trail, waiting for her in Wonthaggi for lunch and seeing her arrive safely in Inverloch. With a final goodbye, reassured, immensely proud and a lump in my throat - Colin and I drove west, back to Melbourne. In the morning Rachel will continue to ride east...

packed up and ready to go

she's off

there's a bridge to cross to leave Phillip Island

the parents insisted on the fluro vest!

Bass Coast Rail Trail

the adventurer

Of our four children, number three was always guaranteed to be the first to volunteer, the first to try something new, the first to take a risk. As children, the older two would send Rachel down a suspect slippery slide first to make sure it was safe, send her to speak to strangers or ask a question, try a new food, play a new game. She disappeared at Wet and Wild, a moment later we heard her joyful screams as she cannoned down the biggest and scariest ride - first and fearless and sometimes careless! She would be the one to jump from a jetty, climb up a cliff or head straight for the biggest waves. Part of her gap year was spent as a volunteer in Fiji and she took a semester off Uni to backpack around Europe.

And today she begins another adventure, a solo bike tour up the East Coast of Australia. Colin and I will be the support crew for the first few days, mostly for our own benefit! Her type 1 diabetes makes everything that bit more complicated and challenging.

We are enormously proud of her and enormously worried for her; typical parents thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Her bike is now sporting some new safety equipment and her head a new helmet.

She has courage and determination, is curious and insightful, has the ability to live in and enjoy the moment, is attuned to all her senses, is adaptive and creative, loving and kind. She takes a chance, gives it a go and takes things as they come. She is deep and lives life fully.

And so it begins...

Rachel's blog https://adventuringfordummies.wordpress.com

Her bike, the day before departure. It won't look so bare and unladen for a very long time.

the day before departure