After a coffee shop breakfast we decided to take a detour to Wineglass Bay on the way to Port Arthur, adding an hour to the travel time but view was supposed to be worth it, especially as the day was again cloudless. Wineglass Bay (named after its shape) is in the Freycinet National Park, requiring a stop at the Visitor Centre to buy a day pass. We were hoping that the Wineglass Bay lookout point would be close to the road but in fact it required a steep walk taking 90 minutes return. The view however was pretty good (see images) and as a bonus, a friendly wallaby was lurking near the car park.

We then decided to cross the peninsula for another (short) walk for a view of the cliffs on the other side. Again, a worthwhile deviation and another bonus wallaby in the car park! And a third deviation followed to Sleepy Bay with some dramatic orange rocks surrounding azure blue waters. Overall, a 3hr diversion to the national park and then a 3hr drive to a narrow isthmus near to Port Arthur called Eaglehawk Neck. Here there was a great example of a tessalated pavement - a relatively flat rock surface that is subdivided into polygons by fractures very similar to the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.

Australian humour on roads amused us. Under a road sign announcing ‘Wye River’, someone had put a similarly formal sign stating ‘Coz it’s bigger than a creek’.

After the last at Eaglehawk Neck, it was just 20 minutes more to our holiday chalet on the outskirts of Port Arthur. Having seen adverts in Hobart for Port Arthur, I had the impression that this would be a quaint little town, steeped in colonial history. Not a bit of it! There appeared to be just half a dozen shops in the centre of town, a very large amount of holiday accommodation and no port at all! In fact, Port Arthur is the site of a penal settlement which was in  operation from 1830 - 1877 and this site is now an extensive tourist attraction. We planned to investigate further the next morning.

Images from this can be found here.

With no need for an early start today (and it being a Sunday) we decided on a breakfast and leisurely look around the River Tamer area of Launceston, hoping to get a feel for Tasmania's second largest city.  It is one of Australia's oldest cities (founded in 1806) and is known for its well-preserved Victorian and Georgian architecture however, our impressions, at least from the Esplanade area were somewhat lacklustre.

Moving on from Launceston, we had to option to take a detour to Tasmania's Bay of Fires, which in good light boasts orange (algae covered) rocks against azure blue seas. However this would add some 130km to the main destination of Bicheno and as the weather was overcast and ideal timing for the orange coloured rocks was near sunrise or sunset, we decided to skip this detour and go straight to Bicheno (just over 2hrs away), just stopping to see its blowhole (a rock formation on the coast through which the sea forces a plume of water at high tide and big waves.)

Our accommodation at Bicheno was just across the road from the beaches and we managed to get some orange coloured rocks there. Penguins also regularly visit a couple of the beaches at dusk on return from their daily fishing and after an early dinner we made our way to their usual spot. Unfortunately it is now moulting season when sightings are fewer. Despite waiting for over an hour beyond sunset, we were out of luck and had to return over the beach in near darkness. Sighting a possum in a tree on the way a consolation prize.

Images can be seen here.

Following the failed visit to the Cradle Mountain yesterday, we bit the bullet and set out at 7:30am to catch the first shuttle bus of the morning to Dove Lake. Arriving just before 8am to cloudless skies again, a substantial queue had already built up but nevertheless we made the second shuttle, arriving at Dove Lake at 8:40am. The morning light was probably better for lighting the mountain than the afternoon light but the pictures speak for themselves.

After 3 short walks, we returned to the Visitor centre at 10:30am as the main crowds of the day were growing and set off for Launceston, about 2 hours away. A particular target was to see the national penny farthing championships which were taking place that day at Evandale, 20minutes from Launceston.

The first intermediate waypoint (after a couple of photo stops) was the town of Sheffield which prides itself on its mural park which boast some 160-200 murals across the town, with many in a dedicated park area. The murals tell the history of the area and the people that have lived there.

After Sheffield, we proceeded to Cataract Gorge close to Launceston and a famous suspension bridge. Expecting some grand vistas on the scale of Cradle Mountain, we were surprised to find that Cataract Gorge had in fact been made into a leisure park complete with large open air swimming pool and chairlift providing views of the area. Being a warm summer Saturday, it was popular so we didn't stay long and moved on to Evandale.

We arrived at Evandale at 2:15 to find the streets of the small town lined with parked cars and several of the central streets closed to form a race track for the penny farthing cycles. It was a carnival atmosphere with races taking place throughout the day. Some races were for different age groups, with 'over 70s' being the most senior and within this race, the eldest competitor was 90! The commentator kept us amused with great 'one liners' such as 'the winner's harder to pick than a broken nose' and 'they're going faster than last week's pay packet'. 

Leaving Evandale as the occasion was winding down, we returned to our accommodation in Launceston: an old colonial school dating back to the early 1900s which had been converted into a hotel.

Images from the visits to Sheffield, Launceston and Evandale can be seen here.