SOMULANT SWANSEA

From The Caravan Park - Stunning!

Now, I was thinking that this would be a very short little entry as we really didn’t do much during our 1 week stay in the very quiet little seaside town of Swansea – then I reviewed the photos – wow! We really did see a whole heap of wonderful things while we were staying there. So many in fact that I feel obliged to split them into several chapters, (so to speak) – the first one had better be Swansea itself I guess as that was our base after all.

Evening Falls - Ever So Softly

What can I tell you? We stayed at the Schouten Beach Caravan Park and I have to say it was a quiet affair. For the vast majority of the time we had the entire park to ourselves, not even the permanent residents were home! Towards the last couple of days tho’ we were joined by two couples and their vans – they were taking the big break from Devonport on the North West Coast of Tasmania to a getaway for four whole days – they had decided firstly to come to the seaside (despite living at the seaside themselves) – they were delightful folk but it really highlighted the difference between Tassie, Taswegians and the mainland (North Island) and its inhabitants.
Whilst Swansea was incredibly quiet during our stay we are lead to believe that in the summer months it is absolutely packed with sun-seekers from both the mainland and The Apple Isle. We can certainly believe this as the place is unbelievably beautiful and the beaches are definitely family safe. In addition to the beauty and safety of Swansea itself, it is the ‘jumping off place’ for Wineglass Bay and Coles Bay – major tourist spots.
We arrived on Sunday the 16th just in time for DD to take me out for my *#th birthday on Monday. There is not a great deal on offer during the winter months, but we decided on the Bark Mill Tavern (museum attached) and sat down to an incredibly good meal which included succulent oysters and juicy steaks. It was blowing a gale and pouring outside and we sat in warm and cosy comfort in front of a roaring fire – it was sublime and somewhat surreal.

Happy Birthday To Me

ROSS - WATCH OUT FOR THAT LEAKING ELEPHANT!!

The first couple of days we were in Swansea the weather was abysmal – although having said that, they desperately needed the rain so we were happy for the locals. The East coast of Tassie is notoriously dry and we were amazed to see that the paddocks there were still sere and brown – in June!! Our site at the CP was right on the ocean so rather than stay in the van and be buffeted by wind and rain we decided on the Tuesday to take the rather long drive inland to see both Campbell Town and Ross.

On the way to Campbell Town we spotted a sign indicating a turn off to Lake Leake – being inquisitive souls we decided to investigate.  Hmmm, have you ever had one of these spur of the moment ideas that you have pondered the wisdom of later?  Well, Lake Leake was a very different sort of place indeed.  To be fair, I dare say that on a sunny day, that is if they ever have them there, it would be a delightful little spot – on a dim day like this one however, it was something else indeed.  We passed the local drinking hole and spotted a picture of what must have been the publican – un-good indeed!  A scaly looking character to say the least!  We found the lake, it should have been called Lake Dismal; the dark gloomy waters smirked at us as we passed, the dead trees it had drowned trapped haplessly in its lambent currents.  Mists drifted eerily across the surface of the waters. The ‘fishing shacks’ all should have had bearded banjo playing characters sitting astride rockers on their front verandas.  We only spotted one sign of habitation – just one chimney stack smoking – what were they burning – the blood runs cold to imagine.   Even the water birds were strange – we passed a group of around 100 small water-hens all swimming in a close circle on the dark water surface – obviously some sort of dark magic was in play here.  Hastily we turned Zed around and headed back to the main road trying to ignore the haunting strains of banjo music and sinister laughter.



Eerie Mists Waft Across the Dark Waters



Yeah, sure they want us stay here........not on your Nelly!

These Birds Were Obviously Under Some Dark Spell

These two towns, particularly Ross are what you might call “Olde Worlde” – full of picturesque old buildings (beautifully maintained/restored) and English deciduous trees and gardens. It must have been exquisite in the autumn with all the coloured foliage – now it has a more severe beauty with the bare bones of the trees providing sculptured skeletons against leaden skies. We stopped in Ross to have a gander at a local Art Exhibition and to buy a couple of, you guessed it, Scallop Pies to eat for lunch – we will miss these things when we leave Tasmania! Eating as we travelled we drove back up the Midlands Highway thru’ Campbell Town once again finally turning back towards the coast. We traversed the Fingal Valley thru’ a couple of tiny towns and spectacular rural scenery, eventually thru’ the ranges and Elephant Pass back to the coast.

Skeletal Trees Frame This Beautiful Old Church

We were immensely pleased that we did not have the van behind us crossing Elephant Pass – we had been forewarned and glad of it too. We have travelled over some amazing mountains here, some with Jezzy attached, but this one, would have been the most challenging. It was not so much the steepness, but rather the narrow road combined with a multitude of hair-pin bends – frighteningly, this road is used by large log-trucks which hurtle along seemingly careless of other road users.

Dry Paddocks Along the Way

The scenery was stunning to say the least, but due to the extreme weather that day, sadly I didn’t get a great many photos. I have to confess that hanging out the window of Zed getting pelted by freezing rain drops in super cold air is not really my idea of fun – even my trusty mittens, scarf and jacket are not really proof against that sort of thing.

WILD SEAS AT BICHENO

Giant Surf Pounding the Rocks

Heading south along the coast we passed through an incredibly beautiful Bicheno. This is one of, if not the only, town on the east coast where the sea is unprotected from either reefs or bays – the waves as a result crashed exultantly onto the rock strewn shore line. The town itself appealed to me immensely and we were able to get some amazing shots of the ocean and rocks as we were passing thru’. It is with great sadness however that I have to tell you that within days of our visit there, a young boy and his father were lost to those very same waves and rocks whilst fishing. A dreadful loss and the sort of thing that just rocks little country towns like this to their very core!

SPIKED!

Wednesday the weather was little better and we were glad that we had made plans that day to catch up with an old work mate of DD’s who has recently made the huge sea-change from Sydney town to Swansea. Pedro and his wife Lyn moved down here some four years ago and built themselves a lovely home with incredible views from the front of the house across the seascape and from the back across the bush and hills. As is the way in many country towns they have become part of the community being involved with both the community paper and the coast-guard. They had nothing but praise for Swansea and only regretted they had waited so long to make the move.

Bad Weather - Great Photo

As the day was yet young we headed south from Swansea after bidding farewell to Pedro and Lyn. We checked out some of the pretty little spots we had spotted when pulling the van to Swansea. We discovered some stunning little coves and camping spots along the way and proved I think that it doesn’t have to be a sunny day in order to get good photos – we managed between us to get some fairly decent storm and sun shots of ocean and shore. I hope you like them too!


Desolation On The Shore


I had been told of a particular landmark along this drive – it has to be one of the most peculiar things we have seen so far in Tassie – and we have seen some odd things! This one is called Spiky Bridge – it is located right next to Spiky Beach – the bridge itself was constructed by convict labour. Whilst there is a good sign bearing a description of the bridge and its history, nowhere can we find any real explanation for the construction style. The bridge is not a pretty thing, far from it in fact. The bulk of it is utilitarian and bleak looking, and the ‘rim’ of the bridge on each side has sharp rocks inset into the concrete making the whole thing appear as if from some sort of horror story – not a place I would wish to be in the middle of the night I have to say – the whole place gave me a decidedly creepy feeling.

What Can I Say?

PASS THE WINEGLASS – PLEASE!

The weather gradually improved over the week and finally on Thursday we ventured out to have a look at Coles Bay and the famous Wineglass Bay. We were still dogged by heavy clouds and the odd sprinkle of rain but by and large it was as good a day as we are likely to get in Tasmania at this time of the year. Driving out towards Coles bay we had our first close up look at the Hazards – the hills that dominate this peninsular – they are amazingly conical and comprised largely of giant orange coloured rocks which have been painted by mother nature over eons to present today as major works of art – stark against the sky.

The Hazards Behind This Rocky Bay

As we had been alone in the Caravan Park for most of our stay, we were amazed when we arrived at the car park for Wineglass Bay to discover it was packed!! People by the dozens swarmed all over the place, stalking determinedly towards the very testing walk up to view the famous bay. I am very sad and embarrassed to declare here that we didn’t do the walk – my knees simply will not go there anymore – I felt badly for DD and suggested he go without me but he gallantly declined – he did mumble something about me ‘letting him off the hook’ but I still feel bad. Mind you, as we concluded, Wineglass Bay is so very photographed we feel like we have seen it anyway – we have watched many a documentary dedicated to the place and so didn’t feel terribly deprived. If it had been our first destination here I dare say we would have felt differently and I would probably have made the effort – but sadly I feel we are now almost ‘over it’ as they say these days and only too happy to give a few things a miss. I think it is time we headed back to the mainland as we are both becoming a little blasé about the beauty here.

From The LightHouse Walk

Anyway, we found a good walk up to and around the lighthouse – this was much easier for me to manage and we found some wonderful photo shots looking back towards Wineglass Bay. We drove around Coles Bay enjoying the picturesque scenery and neat homes nestled between the Hazards and the ocean – lunching at one of the multitude of little bays along the way.

Amazing Colours

We took a drive out the following day to Dolphin Sands and Nine Mile Beach – this is an odd little piece of land nestled in along the small River/Inlet that separates the mainland from the Hazards. The real estate there was, as is so often the case here, cheap as chips, particularly if you wanted to have a couple of hectares between you and your neighbours.

This raises an interesting point about Tasmania; have you ever wondered where all the old caravans have gone? As you travel this great land of ours, have you noticed that there are very few old vans being towed around? We have! We have often wondered where all the old vans went – well, now we know! We couldn’t tell you how many blocks we have seen down here sporting a shed and a caravan – we did see the same sort of thing on the Eyre Peninsula in SA when we were there a couple of years ago, but here it is very popular indeed. If you go onto the Real Estate pages online you will find these little gems for sale – mobs of ‘em! Cheap too!

Tranquil Waters At Dolphin Sands

So..........I think I have told you everything you need to know about Swansea – quiet in the winter, a hub of activity in the summer – beautiful one moment and glorious the next. From Swansea we drove up to St Helens where you now find us – but you will be glad to know I’ll save all of that for our next chat. I cannot remember if I told you or not, but we have booked our return trip to the mainland (finally I hear you say) and we will be heading back to the North Island on the 27th July. From there we will explore the Gippsland and Lakes areas before slowly heading in a homewards direction.

Be happy and treat every day as if it is your last. Stephanie

Calm