Tasman Peninsula - Eaglehawk Neck

11 – 12 January 2025

One of  the things that Mick likes to do when we are in Tasmania is to get out to sea on a Pelagic birding trip. Organised by a dedicated group of locals, he was fortunate to get  a spot on one in December but it was cancelled due to rough weather. The trip was then rescheduled to January – and then cancelled again due to the weather. This time we decided to go and have the night at Eaglehawk Neck anyway. The accommodation was booked and we probably wouldn’t get a refund with the very late notice anyway.

We left Hobart after lunch and, because it was a hot day (by Hobart standards) we felt it was important to go and sample the ice cream at the Tasmanian Chocolate Foundry at Taranna. As always, the ice cream was delicious. We checked into the hotel and had a quiet afternoon, which included a short walk on the beach, before having dinner in the Bistro.

On Sunday morning we went for a walk down to the Tessellated Pavement which is accessed from just across the road from the hotel, but we had neglected to check the tides – this popular tourist attraction is best observed at low tide, and was almost completely covered with water when we were there. We didn’t mind as we’d been there a number of times before and we were really just looking to have a nice walk.

We checked out of the hotel and headed off to the local Pirate’s Bay market. We parked near the Officers’ Quarters Museum and walked to the community hall via the beach. We were a bit surprised to see some penguin tracks on the beach and up into the dunes. We found Tom at the markets – on the job as Discovery Ranger – and wandered around looking at the stalls. The only thing we bought was a coffee.

Our next stop was out to the Coal Mines Historic Site where we ate our picnic lunch in the car while it drizzled with rain outside. After lunch we went birding near the Main Shaft as we watched an approaching storm. On the way to the site we had seen where the famous “Neil the Seal” must have been recently – as evidenced by the “Slow Down – Animal on the Road”, but he wasn’t basking on the road, as is his habit.

Even though there was rain about we decided to head down to Roaring Beach – another spot we thought we might have been to before, but realised we hadn’t. It turns out this is one of a number of Roaring Beaches in Tasmania and we had been to the one at Southport. Perhaps we should start a collection!

Mick did a spot of birding on the way
through the dunes at Roaring Beach

This Roaring Beach is popular with surfers and the carpark was almost full when we arrived. We walked through and over the dunes to the beach and walked along for a short distance. Light rain made it less pleasant than it might have been but it didn’t deter the board riders. 

We made that our last stop for the day and set off to return to Hobart. Even though Mick was disappointed he had missed out on the Pelagic, we still had a great weekend.

Port Arthur

 7 – 9 March 2022

We spent the weekend in Hobart with our daughters and made our final preparations to leave Tasmania. After a long, leisurely and delicious cooked breakfast with the girls we headed off to Port Arthur. We chose to stay at the caravan park and arrived in time for a late lunch. The park is well set out and each site has a fire pit. We were surprised to see an echidna foraging for ants on the top of a large tree stump. It seemed totally oblivious to all the people around it taking photos. It did eventually climb down through the inside of the trunk and continued to wander the grounds for some time. Later we went for a walk in the afternoon along the track towards Garden Point then down to Stewart’s Bay for a walk on the beach.

The caravan park is a great place to see the, endemic, Green Rosella

A cold night was predicted so we took the opportunity to use some of the firewood left over from our stay in the Huon Valley. A campfire is always a bit of a treat, especially on a powered site in a caravan park.

We didn’t visit the Port Arthur Historic Site this visit, instead taking the time to explore the Tasman Peninsula. Our morning excursion took us to the Tessellated Pavement, Devil’s Kitchen, Tasman’s Arch and the Blowhole. Each is accessed via a short walk and are within close proximity to each other. We constantly marvel at the amazing work of nature, especially in this part of the state.

We returned to the caravan park for lunch and headed out again mid-afternoon. This time we travelled on the scenic drive along the coast, turning off to visit a number of points of interest. We discovered another beautiful beach at Safety Cove. We also visited White Beach before driving on through Nubeena, then turning off to visit the Coal Mines Historic Site. This site is an Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property – one of eleven. A National Parks pass is required to visit, but there is no entry fee.

Coal Mines Historic Site

There are a number of walks throughout the site, of varying lengths and grades. We chose the easy half hour walk as our introduction on this visit. Interpretative signage tells the story of the discovery and mining of the coal, as well as personal stories of the convicts who were incarcerated there.

From there we continued towards Port Arthur, taking one last detour to visit Fortescue Bay. There as a campground and day use area which is accessed from a 12km forestry road. This is the departure point for those undertaking the Cape Hauy walk. We returned to camp late in the afternoon and enjoyed another chilly night by the fire.

We checked the weather and were a little undecided about our next destination but figured we would drive north along the East Coast and hope that we could find a sheltered spot somewhere in the Bay of Fires.