Day six of our Second Tasmanian adventure saw us heading for St Helens on the East Coast. We drove through some gorgeous countryside: fabulous farmland, dense forests and high hills. The weather was also better, with sunshine and higher temperatures.
A lavender farm enroute was a pleasant spot for a coffee break.
With a population of around 1,500 the pleasant seaside town of St Helens is the largest town on the Bay of Fires, so named because of the red lichens that grow on the rocks.
The beaches of the have stunning white sand which gives the water a beautiful azure blue colour.
After a visit to a local wildlife sanctuary, where we made friends with a few wallabies, we had lunch at a local bar.
After lunch we decided to go for a walk along the bay, but had gone no more than 50 steps when her indoors tripped and fell hard. She got up, in pain, and then promptly fainted. Thankfully two women driving by stopped and one happened to be a nurse. We quickly determined that there nothing was broken, but she had a really bad sprain. We went back across the road to the apartment for some rest.
While a number of the planned activities on day eight, Thursday, had to be abandoned after the previous day's injury, the drive along the coast to Bichenowas spectacular with more white sand beaches. This is another charming East Coast seaside town about 80 km south of St Helens.
Friday had us traveling to Hobart, with more gorgeous coastal and country views on a sunny and warm day. We paused for lunch in the pleasant town of Richmond, before continuing on to Hobart. After checkin to the exact same apartment we had last year, we headed out into familiar streets, winding up in a brew pub with the dubious name of Manky Sally's. Then after a little shopping at the supermarket we headed 'home'.
Saturday, our last full day in Tasmania, started with a stroll through hundreds of stalls that make up the Saturday Salamanca Markets. Then we worked our way up to the city centre - which proved demanding for my accompanying invalid. Here we had a bit of shopping planned, but didn't expect to run into tens of thousands of children and parents waiting to see the Hobart Santa Parade! We quickly bought what we were after then exited the area before Santa arrived and chaos ensued. Coffee and cake in a more subdued location followed before returning to the apartment to finish up the last of our lunch supplies.
An afternoon visit to Manky Sally's for a couple of pints and a slow walk around the docks preceded a home cooked dinner washed down with an excellent Tasmanian Pinot Noir.
Tomorrow we will pack up early and be at the airport mid-morning for a noon departure and an evening arrival into Auckland, the end of another enjoyable Tasmanian holiday.
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