One of the most lovely places in Tasmania is the Tasman Peninsula, although it's hard to single out a particularly perfect place as this island off the coast of Australia is a wonderland of wild forests, towering trees, and stunning coastlines. It's not a long drive from Hobart to get here, perhaps an an hour, but to drive to the end it'll be another hour, the road forking to various campgrounds, bays, harbours, beaches and farmland. I've written before about Cape Huay, famous for the many stairs that make up the walk and the towering cliffs and beautiful blue of Fortescue Bay.
The stunning cliffs and beautiful views at Cape Huay
It's also famous for Port Arthur and the ruins of a penal colony there that started small timber station in 1830. Thousands of convicts were employed building ships there - a useful skill to take with them when they left. It's a place that houses Australia's dark colonial convict history, and recieves thousands of visitors a year It's also a World Heritage Site. It also had pretty full on security, and was separated from the mainland by a thin strip of land heavily guarded. Like all penal colonies, the punishment for misdenemours or attempted escape was pretty harsh. There's hundreds of interesting convict stories that tell the history of the place and is well worth the visit should you choose to go. It was also the site of a modern day massacre in 1996 - the worst we've ever had - resulting in a gun amnesty and resulted in firearm restrictions that persist to this day.
Pademelons are everywhere in Tasmania - small marsupials similiar to a kangaroo.
However, today I'm returning in my memory to another part of the Peninsula, where we'd been told was a lovely, and less crowded, campground called Lime Bay. Fortescue Bay is a stepping off point for many walks, so it does tend to be very crowded. Lime Bay, however, was cheap to camp if you had National Parks pass - around $13 a night - and felt a little wilder and more remote. We arrived in the week before the busy Easter weekend and found a perfect spot close to the water, looking toward the 'mainland' of Tassie where I'd only just been, looking for surf at the beaches there. It was the kind of relaxing, peaceful spot that makes a holiday, and the weather was just divine.
In the evening, we sat on the beach and watched the sun go down or paddled the boards across the bay, looking for oysters. We cooked on the fire and enjoyed the stars, and generally relaxed. It felt like a perfect camp, which are quite rare.
From here, you could take a half hour walk toward a lagoon and a beautiful deserted beach - no vehicle access often means you won't find people either, which was pretty special. The walk takes you through bracken and trees alive with birds and wombats, with the sea glimpsed through the trees.
Suddenly, the track opens up to white sand dunes, vast and covered with tracks of tassie devils and pademelons, before offering up a sea view.
We walked right to the other end of the beach and didn't see a soul. Even though it was Easter in Tasmania, the colour of the water and the warm sun lied and made us feel as if we were in tropical Queensland. We even went for a swim, though it was freaking freezing. I spied a dolphin and a sting ray, which was pretty special. We walked around the headland and found tons of oysters on the rocks, although we'd both forgotten a knife. Tassie oysters are delicious and the clean water down there makes them the best in the world.
Back at camp the easter full moon rose over the bay and pademelons and wallabies thumped over the campground looking for left over eats. Bats ascended into the air and the fire crackled warmly. In the distance we could see the lights on the other side of the peninsula, and imagined what it would be like for a convict thinking of how they could escape, but knowing that it was nigh on impossible.
It really was the kind of place we didn't want to leave, but we knew the Easter weekend would be busy. We'll absolutely be back here one day, without a doubht.
The other really interesting thing about Lime Bay was another historical site, an old coal mine. Now that sounds a little dull and boring as I'm not really into mining, but I enjoyed it tremendously. I'll write about that another time though - this post is getting rather long!
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