Road trip on the East Coast of Tasmania

This year’s Tassie trip took in the East Coast of Tasmania, Hobart and the Midlands. I am a native Taswegian and I try to get back there as much as possible. I might be biased, but Tasmania is an amazing holiday destination.

Ansons Bay

Ansons Bay which is a remote beachside paradise was where I started my journey. My partner and I own a property in this amazing part of the world. Ansons Bay is a place where people go to relax and mostly to fish. There are no shops or service stations in Ansons. The closest shop is 27km away in Gladstone or 40 km away in St Helens. Ansons Bay is only accessed by gravel roads and it has little to no mobile coverage apart from a phone tower that was placed a couple of kilometres short of the town.

The bay is idyllic and is set on an inlet. Access to the ocean and the Bay of Fires is via Policeman’s Point where there is a popular camping area. There are many walking tracks as well as coastal hikes in this area. A beautiful part of the world.

St Helens

St Helens is a fantastic little town that has just started to see the advantages of having a world class mountain bike track on it’s doorstep. With the opening of the latest Blue Tier to Binalong Bay track (a 40km ride) has come more bike shops and facilities for mountain bike riders. The town has bike washing stations and shower blocks. There is even a funky craft beer bar “The Social” and a new Wharf side restaurant that has just opened since my last visit.

While staying at Ansons Bay we popped into St Helens for Op shopping, coffee and groceries. We had lunch at the “Wharf Bar and Kitchen”. The food was so good, oysters and fish were fresh and local.

St Mary’s

After chilling out at Ansons Bay for two nights we set off and drove back through St Helens and made our way down the coast making a quick detour across the Elephant Pass to check out the quaint town of St Mary’s and the amazing views of the ocean from the top of the pass.

A coffee stop in Scamander at a cool coffee shop in a sea container overlooking the beach and the aqua blue water. “Swims East Coast Coffee” gave us great coffee and a delicious toasted cheese and tomato on sourdough for breakfast.

Bicheno

From Scamander we meandered down the coast stopping at Bicheno, a place I have faint childhood memories about as my family had a holiday house there when I was very small. Bicheno is a very pretty seaside town with an impressive coastline. Penguins are sighted here regularly at nightfall and the town is well-known to tourists for this fact. We shopped in the local craft market, “Makers Creators” and checked out a local artist in residence Anita Bacic’s Camera Obscura she had set up in a caravan by the sea.

Freycinet Peninsula

Next stop was Freycinet Peninsula and a 2.5 hour hike into Wine Glass Bay, just recently voted one of the worlds top ten beaches. This region never fails to impress. The hike up to the look out is manageable for most people and the view from the top is incredible. We continued down to the beach so we could put our toes in the blue ocean and experience the white sands. Just stunning! There were people swimming and a wallaby or two on the sand, yachts floating in the bay made for beautiful photos and viewing opportunities. The walk down onto the beach was fairly easy but of course once you go down you must then head back up at some point! Great cardio work out on the way back. I counted 840 steps!

When we had recovered and rehydrated from our amazing hike we set off on the final part of our journey for that day to Triabunna where we were staying the night before heading to Maria Island in the morning. Triabunna is a crayfishing town and it is also the place where the Maria Island ferry departs from. We stayed in a Deluxe cabin at the Triabunna Caravan Park. Very comfortable after roughing it at Ansons for a couple of nights. We had fish and chips from the “Fish Van” on the jetty. A bustling and busy business with delicious food!

Maria Island

The following morning We had the 9.00 am ferry to Maria Island on the Encounter Maria Ferry. A very comfortable boat with all the mod cons. The night before we had shopped for lunch items and snacks as there is nothing available on the island aside from some fresh water. The boat sold coffee and tea and snacks.

Maria Island is very well known for a couple of reasons:

• It was a penal colony and has still got some significant structures on it for viewing purposes.
• It is a wildlife sanctuary known for being a place where animals can live disease free. For example the healthy Tasmanian Devils have been raised here for a few years now following the terrible outbreak of facial tumours, and the wombats on the island are also free of the terrible mange that afflicts many of the Tasmanian wombats.

The following pictures are from Maria Island and the incredible wildlife we saw and had very close interactions with. We hired bikes and rode around the island. Most of the island is fairly flat with the exception of Mount Maria which would be more of a day hike. The roads are gravel and many of the tracks take you close to the coast line. Absolutely stunning beaches and landforms and views of the mainland Tasmania.

Before you leave for the island you are asked to take “the Maria Island pledge” and pledge not to touch or unnecessarily disturb the wildlife, in particular, the wombats. The wombats really did not give a hoot about us, they grazed very close to where we watched them and trusted us to be near their babies. We saw mothers with babies in their pouches, babies laying beside their mothers, lone wombats, wallabies, Cape Barren Geese, Tasmanian Native Hens, roos and echidnas. I feel very privileged to have experienced this and I hope it remains a sanctuary for ever.

You can camp on the island and also stay in dormitory style accomodation, however, there is no power on the island and you must bring everything with you. Showers, toilets and fresh water is available for campers.

The ferry does numerous trips to the island and back and costs around $45 for an adult return. The bike hire is extra and was about $50 for the day. We had originally booked to come back on the 5.00 pm (last) ferry but changed our mind and came back on the 3.30 boat. This was easy to change with a phone call to the ferry company.

Hobart

We reached Hobart in time for an evening drink and dinner in Salamanca. We stayed in Macquarie House in the centre of the city, an Airbnb with shared bathroom and comfortable amenities. Hobart would have to be one of my favourite cities in this world. It’s small but has that big city vibe. It’s arty and grown up and comfortable in its own skin. The following morning which was a Sunday we made our way to the Bathurst Street Farm Gate Market. A lovely bustling inner city market with fabulous food trucks, fresh produce, live music and great coffee. While being a fan of the huge Salamanca Market which is run on Saturday mornings on the docks I must say it was lovely to experience another type of market in this vibrant city! A lovely start to our morning before we got on the road again.

On our drive back up to Launceston we stopped in Richmond to look at the oldest bridge in Australia. Next stop was Oatlands for coffee and cakes at a tea house. We came across some lovely people spinning wool in the streets.

Richmond

We then took the Nile turnoff and went cross country to the beautiful historic town of Evandale. Unfortunately we missed the Sunday Markets at Evandale, they were just packing up so we went and had lunch at the Clarendon Arms Hotel in the beer garden. A very tasty lunch and a quick beer and then back on the road. Once again Tassie delivers in every way. See you next time!