Day 3 - Coles Bay to Port Arthur

10 March 2023 - Hello again. Massive day today! Today was Wineglass Lookout Walk day, and it almost didn't happen...

I made a nice early start, had my National Park Pass displayed in my windscreen, and was ready to go. I quickly stopped at the Visitor's Centre to get some insect repellant and some postcards, and all was well.

But then I came out of the Visitor's Centre and it had all turned to custard. I pulled out onto the road and there was a Stop/Go guy telling me that they were resealing the road and no one could turn right (into the National Park). The road was closed. So I turned left because that was where everyone else was going (being the only option), and headed back towards the village where I had started.

But then I stopped a bit further down the road and had a think about it. The Visitor's Centre had known nothing about it and were still selling National Park Passes. The woman at the shop hadn't known about it. She was still wishing people a good climb! I figured that there had been a miscommunication somewhere and I decided to try again. They were now letting people through! Thank goodness I hadn't just driven away like I saw a few others do.

It turned out that the roadworkers were a bunch from out of town, brought here as contractors. They had authority to close the road to reseal it, but it had not been communicated to anyone locally. As it is the only entry point into the Freycinet National Park and huge amounts of people had been sold passes, there was no choice but to open the road and reseal it one lane at a time, keeping traffic flowing. Their only other option was send all their men and machinery home. What a complete cock-up!

So I made it into the Freycinet National Park! By then it was much later than I had hoped to be, but at least I was there. The information board at the start of the walk wasn't particularly heartening... 😂


But after coming all this way I wasn't turning back now! I just wished that I had kept climbing Mt Ninderry as training, even though I had stopped with the Cradle Mountain idea. But by then I was brewing an abscess in my leg and having fevers and feeling generally unwell (yes, I let this go on for almost 7 weeks before I got it checked out...). I'm very well now. Thanks for asking.

The track started by lulling us into a false sense of ease.


"This isn't too bad" I thought. "I could do this all day" I thought...

So the mountain said "Really? Try this!"





Yes... I was humbled. But I kept climbing. There were a few stops for oxygen replenishment and a couple of handy 'photo stops' that were also really about oxygen replenishment! 

But I got there.





Going down was a bit of a knee-shaker too! I didn't see much wildlife on the track, but I found this guy in the car park!

My next stop was Cape Tourville Lighthouse, a gentle walk. "Yeah right" I thought, but then I read that it was wheelchair friendly and decided that even my shaky legs could probably handle that. The views along the coast were spectacular.





On leaving the Freycinet National Park I continued heading south, knowing that I needed to shake a leg if I wanted to get to Port Arthur before nightfall. My next stop found me in a small provincial museum in Swansea (the East Coast Heritage Museum and War Memorial). It wasn't bad considering its size. But there was a volunteer there who followed me around and was telling me stories about all the different things I looked at. I just wanted him to leave me alone to look around by myself. I was right on the verge of saying so a couple of times, but he got in before me and started his next story. He seemed to get so much fun and satisfaction out of it. I didn't have the heart to tell him to stop!




My next stop was a beautiful little cafe and gift shop named Kate's Berry Farm, just out of Swansea. I stopped for afternoon tea. It was quite gorgeous but really, really expensive! Definitely not as amazing as the price suggests it should be.




And I had just a couple more stops before I headed on south and reached my destination. First up, the Spiky Bridge. This was somewhat underwhelming... a bridge that had been built by convicts sometime in the 1840s - that has spikes. It is now a Tasmanian Heritage Site.



Lastly, I went to the Lisdillon Salt Works (or what remains of them). It was a bit breezy! I didn't stay long. I was all touristed out by this point, and there wasn't much to see anyway. Apparently there was another (better preserved) building within walkable distance along the shore. But I was quite satisfied that I didn't need to go there!




Then I was on my way to Port Arthur. I was booked in at the White Beach Caravan Park, about 20 minutes past the Port Arthur Historical Site. And for the third day in a row, I had to ring the place I was booked into and get a gate code as I was going to be arriving late. One day soon I will get somewhere early and have a bit of down time!


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