Nine Mile Beach near Swansea, Tasmania

We’d heard that the Nine Mile Beach near Swansea was a lovely beach so we stopped in for a look.  We drove to the end of the road where we were surprised to find some caravans.  There’s a sign that says camping is not encouraged, but I guess it isn’t prohibited.  The vans were all hitched to their tow vehicles, maybe so they could leave easily if told to move along.

What a spot!  It was a nice warm day and the water was a beautiful blue. 

To the left is a view up the Meredith River.

To the right is a view out to the open ocean.  That’s the Freycinet National Park in the distance.

We walked up to the end where the beach curves to the right.

This was the view.  Nine miles of beach stretching all the way back to Swansea.  The waves are going in all different directions because of the curves of the coast and the river flowing into the sea.

This little town a stone’s throw across the water is Swanwick (I believe).  How would it be to live there?  What a view!  But do you see the giant sandbags?  Not so sure about that.

It was quite windy in this spot where the river met the ocean.  I think it’s called Point Bagot.

We see these gelatinous blobs all over the place.  After some searching, I think they are these snail egg masses.  We’ll have to bring along a magnifying glass to the beach sometime and have a look to see if we can spot any eggs in one.

This seemed like such a special, secluded spot.  In reality I bet it’s pretty popular in the summer months.

The kids didn’t walk down the beach with us, they chose to stay behind and play in the shallow water.

I never know exactly what this map will look like when I upload the blog post.  On the left is Swansea.  The Nine Mile Beach stretches across the middle of the picture.  On the right where the river meets the sea, where the land nearly touches, that’s where we were.  To the right of that is Freycinet National Park where we’d been camping.  (You can zoom in or out to see it all better.) I feel blessed to have been there.  We didn’t spend long, but I am so happy we took the time out of our drive to have a look.

Cape Tourville Lighthouse at Freycinet

Since we were in the area for the Wineglass Bay walk, we decided to do another short walk to see the Cape Tourville lighthouse.  The kids each chose a ‘baby’ to bring along.  I guess I had one too!

This was the view from the lookout before you reached the lighthouse.  Quite pretty.  The rock on the left is called Lemon Rock.  The mountain just to the right of the middle of the picture is Mt Freycinet.  If you follow the slope of the mountain down to the right that’s where Wineglass Bay is.

I sound all knowledgeable don’t I?  It’s the sign.  I’m not the only one who takes pictures of the signs, right?

They’re even nice enough to tell you how to pronounce Freycinet!

The clouds were making nice shadows on the water.  We got rained on while we were here.

 

The water was such a beautiful blue that day.  We were up quite high on the cliff.

I thought the walkway was quite stunning against the vegetation.  They obviously considered the design carefully.  I know that’s a weird thing to mention but it’s the kind of thing I notice.

The unexpected part was the measurements for various sea creatures.  Seals, dolphins, whales, etc.  I stood at the beginning and the others stood at various spots along the way with SkeeterBug down at the end.  I guess someone was watching TurboBug since he’s not in the picture.  ;)

The biggest was the sperm whale at 18 metres.  I assume all the ones they included are found in the Tasman Sea.

I imagine many of the people who do this walk miss the turnoff for the lighthouse.  The walkway makes a circuit around the lighthouse but there is heavy vegetation preventing you from getting to it unless you head up the right path.  I would have missed it but thankfully Sean noticed it.  This was a busy place yet we were the only people at the lighthouse itself.

This lighthouse was built in 1971.  It’s an automatic light which means it’s unmanned.  Not the prettiest of lighthouses but I’m sure it does the job!

We went back to the walkway and took in more of the magnificent views.  Remember Lemon Rock?  That’s it in the distance.

When we came around the bend we could see these bright orange rocks in the distance.  It was such a striking colour against the blue of the ocean and the green of the vegetation. 

We kept hearing seals in the distance, at least we think it was seals.  We wondered if they were out on these rocks but couldn’t see anything moving.  When I zoom way in on this picture I think there might be some on the smaller, flat rock in between the two large ones.  It’s hard to tell.

These ‘babies’ provide endless entertainment for the kids.  All kinds of pretend play happens with them.  I’m so glad they each had room to bring a few along on our trip.  JitterBug’s fox is named Vern.  Sometimes he goes by Veronica when they need another female in whatever game they’ve got going on. :)

A view of the lighthouse from the walkway.  See all the vegetation?

I’m guessing LadyBug took this picture since I’m holding her Elsa.  This princess has quite the dirty face but she’s been cleaned up since then.

More shadows from the clouds.  I could just sit and stare at the ocean all day.

Some information on the history of the area.  Tasmania was first charted by a Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman.  Later the French visisted and decided they didn’t want the land since it was already inhabited by Aborigines.  The name Freycinet and Cape Tourville come from the French.  But it was the British that claimed the land.  (Never mind that there were already people there.)  Tasmania was first used for its natural resources and as a place to send convicts.  Ah, the chequered past of this great land.

On a lighter note…

Here’s the location of the lighthouse.  We’re slowly making our way south.

 

Freycinet was named a national park in 1916, one of the first two in Tasmania.  I’m so glad we were able to visit, I’d heard much about the beauty of the area.  The coastal landscape did not disappoint.

Wineglass Bay at Freycinet National Park

Camping at Freycinet National Park is so popular that at certain times of the year there is a ballot system to secure a campsite.  There was a couple camped next to us our first night at Friendly Beaches that had tried to camp in the park but it was full.  They stayed one night next to us and the next night they were able to get into the other campground.  We ran into them on one of the walks we did.  We were happy with our site at the Friendly Beaches so we didn’t try moving.

The most popular walk in Freycinet is the walk to the Wineglass Bay lookout.  It’s supposed to be 1 to 1.5 hour return.  I think it took us three!  The trail was quite steep in places with lots of steps to climb.  It was a very popular walk with lots of touristy looking people like ourselves.  When we started out it was a bit cool but the sun came out as we walked.

As we made our way up the trail we got a good view of Coles Bay where we’d been that morning.  The official lookout was further up.

My cute hiker with her walking stick.  We really can’t go on a hike without them all looking for walking sticks.  Sometimes the sticks then become weapons and we have to ban them.

Lots of lovely scenery on the way up.

TurboBug was the first to spy this photo opportunity.  Up he hopped and smiled for the camera.  The rest followed suit.  Everyone just had to have their own picture.

We reached the official lookout for Coles Bay.  To the right is where we’d taken pictures earlier that day.

 

We stopped for a rest and to take in the view.  And a snack of course.  Some of us didn’t think we’d brought enough to eat so there was much complaining for the rest of the walk.  :)

Then we were off again.  This picture doesn’t do justice to this rock, it was curled over almost like an ocean wave.

Many steps and places to rest. Much complaining about the steepness of the hike and the number of steps.  To which we have no sympathy.  We’re evil parents, I know.

I wish I could remember the name of this chair.  I think the sign said it had been created by architecture students.  It was really cool, everyone climbed on together.  Then we had one of those weird moments where a foreign tourist wanted to take a picture of them, which is why they are all looking elsewhere.  We’ve had that happen a couple of times and it always feels a bit strange.

More steps.

We finally reached the top.

There’s that view, that lovely view of Wineglass Bay.  I remember reading that they don’t know how it got its name.  Either the shape of the bay or something else, the clarity of the water maybe?

I tried my best to get some good pictures.  Really.  I waited patiently while two different couples with selfie sticks took endless shots of themselves and each other.  Then came the group shot.  The whole selfie stick thing is an interesting phenomenon to observe.  Watching everyone ready themselves for the photo.  But it’s all quite annoying for everyone else around.

After spending some time at the lookout we were ready to make our way back down. 

We were surprised how much walking this one did that day.  He walked most of the way up and most of the way down.  It was the steps.  He loved the steps. 

SkeeterBug had the toughest job of the day, holding this rock up while we all scrambled past.

We made it!  It was funny to hear the kids exclaim that we made it to the end.  Were they worried we wouldn’t?  We had to split up in the end, some of us making a mad dash down the trail for the toilets.  That’s the way it goes when you are hiking with kids!

I found this on my camera when I took the pictures off.  At least he didn’t use a selfie stick.  :)

We did another, shorter walk to a lighthouse.  I’ll save that for another post.