Launceston to Swansea. 23rd March

We left at 8.15am leaving Launceston to Swansea on the East Coast. Started off very overcast and by the time we hit the mountains the rain came down. We crossed two mountain ranges one very high and twisty. There was two options to get to this place over the mountains further north on the A3 highway through Scottsdale and St Helens and down the East Coast To Swansea which is the way we came. Or we could have gone further south and crossed  inland over to Swansea but that way we would have missed the coast. When we reached St Helens the sun tried to come out for a bit and the temperature was warmer.

We had about an hour here going up to Binalong Bay which is part of the Bay Of Fires. Where the boulders on the beach are vibrant orange.

Had some lunch and then headed down the East Coast and slowly the sun came out, arriving at Swansea about 3.00pm another big driving day. PT finds the big driving days quite hard as the roads here are rather narrow and twisty crossing over the mountains and the surface of the roads are so wavey and bumpy which knocks you around a lot. We are staying at a B&B tonight but the house has a separate one bedroom apartment which is what we have. Very comfortable. It's called Freycinet Waters, Swansea and we are here for two nights. We came here to do the Freycinet National Park which the main attraction is Wineglass Bay. You have to climb very high and on a nice day get amazing views but after we were told how steep it is with very deep steps we now realise we can't do this re the knees which have got worst since I have been over here. Also the bad weather is coming in tomorrow heavy rain so wouldn't be worth even going to the National Park. Plan two,  would be to go over to Ross and Campbell town about an hour inland. I was hoping to get down there from Launceston but ran out of time. I am having trouble downloading my photos again tonight. My iPad keeps telling me I have no space on my importing page (from my IPhone) and I just can't work out how to delete on that page.  All it says is how to import but nothing for deleting .I have been beaten. 😖. It has let me do a few photos below but that's it so I guess there will be no more photos tomorrow.

Technology!!!!!!!!!!🤔

Guess what I have somehow got the rest of today's photos imported to my iPad (it is now the next Day 24th)

Waterfront at St Helens.

Binalong Bay, Bay of Fires.  Just about 10km north of St Helens on the East Coast where we arrived after crossing over from Launceston.
The orange colours in the rocks are quite vibrant.

Walkway down to the bay.

Binalong Bay.

Still no sun . But just imagine how white this sand would be and  how turquoise the the water would be with the sun shining on it. When the sun did come out a little further down the coast the water really changed colour.

Looking back the other end of the beach.



More of the boulders.

Just along near some more boulders we found this little boat harbour. Binalong beach in the background.



As we were driving down the East Coast. Couldn't really see much of the coast as there were so many trees between the road and beach.

There were just a few accesses to the beaches. And a lot of the coast has these lovely sandy beaches. Today was an easterly wind so they were pretty wild.

 We have now arrived at Bicheno to see the blowhole which was performing well in these rough windy easterlies.

We still got these boulders down at Bicheno. These were just next to the blow hole.

Still beside the blow hole. Who needs to go to St Helens to see them.......

Now approaching Swansea a lookout looking over to the Freycinet National Park way in the distance.

PT has just walked into the kitchen and said where is the dishwasher? This is the first place without one........ although we have been lucky and having a washing machine in all the places which is a big help when you don't have to do all your washing by hand like when you travel in Hotels. Well this is unfortunately my lot for tonight. Looks like I will have to down load the rest of the photos for the blog when I get home. Although I will still post tomorrow's blog as to what we decide to do. We have two nights here.

Good night!