Tasman National Park – Day 2

April 2nd, 2004 at 12:00am

Fortescue Bay campsite. 4:30pm. Only me and the seagulls are enjoying this pristine white sand beach this afternoon. I had a good walk today. Survived a night of possum calls and a creaking tree right over my tent that thankfully did not decide to break, woke up at 6:30am and was hiking by 7:30am. It was supposed to have been an 8-hour walk from the waterfall to here, but I did it in 6. I didn’t see another soul today, and the last person who signed in for this walk was over a week ago. I can’t figure out why really because it is an absolutely beautiful trail, along the tops of the coastal cliffs looking 1000 feet down to the Tasman Sea. Got some good photos.

Arrived here at the end of the walk at 1:30pm, and was not too happy to discover that I have to pay $5.50 to camp here in a place with pit toilets and showers that don’t work. Oh well. My tiny one-person tent is the only sign of life in a huge 40-odd-campsite parking lot. This is the lull before the big Easter holiday. I remember it well from last year.

I spent the afternoon laying in the sun on the beach and thoroughly enjoyed that after the last few days of wind and rain and cloud. Tonight the mission will be to find penguins along the rocky cove. Tomorrow I will either have to walk the 16-km out to the main road or (hopefully) catch a lift out. Then it will be off to the next destination – Mt. Field National Park, unless of course I change my mind like I did the other day which is how I ended up here. Spontaneous traveling is definitely the way to go.

PS. No penguins found.

Morning walk along the cliffs

Its a long way down to the Tasman Sea

The beach at Fortescue Bay

Entry Filed under: Australia,Hiking/Trekking,Tasmania