Tag: Binalong bay

The Retirees in Tasmania – St Helens and the Bay of Fires

After our long day yesterday we got an early night keen to explore the Bay of Fires #Bay of Fires. The Bay of Fires is located on the northeastern coast of Tasmania. It includes a gorgeous coastline that stretches over 50 kilometres from Binalong Bay #Binalong Bay in the south to Eddystone Point #Eddystone Point in the north. The northern section of the bay is part of Mount William National Park # Mount William National Park; the southern end is a conservation area. The conservation area is divided into three sections, with Ansons Bay #Ansons Bay dividing the southern and northern ends. This popular conservation reserve is actually a string of breathtakingly beautiful beaches, interspersed by lagoons and rocky bluffs. Famous for the orange lichen-covered granite boulders, combined with the powder-white sand and turquoise waters, we wanted to see for ourselves and St Helens being the gateway to the Bay of Fires and Binalong Bay made an ideal starting point.

We drove out to the Tourist Information Centre at Akaroa #Akaroa where we were looking at booking a boat trip (Eco Tour) which is not really part of Binalong Bay but it gave us a taste of what was to come. We drove south across Medeas Cove following Treloggens Track to St Hellens Point past this timber and tin shed which we later found out was the Tourist Info Centre where you booked the Eco Tour. Out here we are in Burns Bay but the orange lichen-covered rocks were there to see. There were a few houses enjoying the serenity.

View from the road, some of the little coves, Kerry trekking to the next cove.

Driving back to St Hellens we pulled over at the tin and timber shed. Hello heres the Tourist Info Centre. Great little centre – here we could book boat tours (weekends only at the present so missed out there) and get maps and buy trinkets from local businesses. There was a coffee bar – hot water and instant coffee, and a range of sugary snacks and chips. No sale this time. But the view from the shack was a great panorama of the typical coast we would find. Did I mention that you could book a boat tour?

The tin and timber shed and the view over the bay

We then proceeded north back the way we came to the track along Binalong Bay. And this is what we saw –

Rocky outcrops covered in lichen, a rock that looks like a seal a live oyster in a crevise a gull looking for the oyster and lots of blue and turquoise water.

These few photos don’t do it justice. It was difficult for an over weight 65+ old to scramble over the rocks and through the bush but we were rewarded with some great scenes. The road was suitable for a passenger car and it is probably good that 4 wheel drives aren’t permitted to drive where ever they can. there was a caravan park somewhere in all that (outside the conservation area) and it looked popular but pretty raw.