Plan B

It turns out that the Thursday before a long weekend (and a sunny day at that) was a fairly popular day for the SOLE (woops) ferry crossing to Maria Island. After the initial shock of being denied one of our planned destinations for the trip, we quickly came up with Plan B.

A new day dawns over Prosser Bay
...and our back deck.

Our intention had been to visit Wineglass Bay and the Freycinet Peninsular on our way to Launceston tomorrow (expected to be seriously rainy). We were now left with the opportunity of hiking through a National Park without rain-jackets.

Taking the Tasman Highway north of Orford through some fairly picturesque coastal countryside, we called in to Coles Bay for some Hot-Crossed Buns (more room-temperature by that point). From here, it was only a few kilometres to the National Park - the starting point of the Wineglass Bay Lookout Walk. Almost immediately, we encountered some stone-carved steps - which continued for the next 40 minutes. Joshie spotted a wavy-looking timber bench and decided to claim it. As I was herding the other two kiddies onto it for a piccie, a small French boy planted himself in front of the Martin clan - awaiting a photo. When Jen looked questioningly at his mum, she indicated that she didn't mind if we took a photo of her son... mon dieu!

Imagine a random sulky 6 year old off to the right.

We finally crested the final climb and witnessed - about a dozen other folk all taking happy snaps of Wineglass Bay. 

Plonking ourselves down on a spare bit of pink granite, we had a munch on some oatmeal cookies and considered our options. The walk that continued onto the beach itself was another 1.5 hours further from where we were - and jumped a grade of difficulty. Considering the fatigue levels setting in amongst the youngest and older members of the Martin clan, we decided to head back down and take a peek at Honeymoon Bay. Lily only pouted for the first 3 quarters of the trip down, while Hamish was just happy to clamber up any dangerous-looking boulder that was close enough to the path.

Reversing in the car park was made tricky by overly curious wallabies sniffing at back fenders. We made it to Honeymoon Bay (a lengthy 100m or so), and unpacked our picnic lunch - changing tables once we realised an agile marsupial managed to relieve itself entirely on our first table. Snacking on stinky cheese, soda bread and various meats - we watched in morbid fascination as a Canadian family sat their hamper down on top of the soiled table. Hoping to avoid overhearing them talk about the peculiar flavour of their sandwiches, we made our way down to the water. 

The views were amazing - the rust-coloured granite off-set the blue of the waters brilliantly. Lily and Hamish were most pleased to have the opportunity to get at least their feet wet - until they noticed a small flotilla of blue-bottles.

Jen offered to drive on the way back to Orford, allowing me the opportunity of both tinkering with the car stereo and also taking in the fantastic coastal views. We arrived back at our residence early enough to allow the older two kiddies the chance to run down to the beach and up to the rock pools at one end. Inevitably, Lily leapt from a rock onto an up-turned shell - and demonstrated an award-winning limp on the arm of Jen. This limp evaporated soon after her return, and we expect a full recovery within minutes.

Noting the signage for Scorchers Pizza Cafe as we drove past the main drag of Orford, we picked up some local varieties of pizza for dinner. I found the Wallaby Salami with Roast Pepper relish and Brie to be particularly morish, while Jen found the Scallop and Chilli Jam pizza more to her style.

This will be our final night at Orford on the Beach, and we will be sorry to leave it behind. It has spectacular views, a huge yard for the kids, and is very roomy indeed. Aside from our final destination at Launceston, tomorrow's itinerary is looking somewhat open at this stage - not a bad thing at all really.