Bay of Fires in Tasmania is famous for its crystal-clear waters, white sandy beaches and orange lichen-covered granite boulders.  As a photographer, these bright red beach rocks in Binalong Bay on the east coast were a must-see item during our visit to Tasmania.

 

Bay of Fires in Tasmania

I had seen the unusually bright-colored red lichen rocks which dot the eastern coast of Tasmania and put this spot on our ‘must visit’ list during our short stay in Tasmania.  We rented a great apartment in our landlords’ modern home in Bicheno.  I had mistakenly thought this would give me easy access to the Bay of Fires and Binalong Bay.  Turns out we were 54 treacherous miles away from my desired sunset photo location.

While I have consciously refrained from chasing a photograph numerous times on this trip, I felt this 108 mile round trip was a necessary one, offering many red rock compositions.  A forecast for clear weather in the evening meant there may be a nice pink sky at sunset, so after a late lunch nearby we waited… and waited for sunset.  I experimented with different compositions of this lone tree on the beach.

Not even the locals willingly drive the winding stretch of road from Binalong Bay to Bicheno at night. Too many wallabies, large possums and other varmints waiting to jump out in front of you.  This was not a pleasant return trip at night in a rental car with a worry prone, hungry wife.  The daytime speed limit is 60kph, but 40kph at night due to the wandering rodents. That is 25 miles per hour.  We strictly adhered to the lower speed limit and counted many, many wallabies and possums in the headlights on the side of the road.

I’m glad we made the afternoon trip to Binalong Bay in the Bay of Fires, but also glad when it was over and the rental car and wallabies were undamaged.

 

 

Bicheno, Tasmania

Ever since I was a kid, Tasmania had some special meaning as an exotic far off place.  Much of this is due to the cartoons of the Tasmanian Devil.  We never saw one of these elusive animals in the wild, but Gayle did see a dusty stuffed one at a museum in Hobart.  That is as close as we got.

Bicheno was is a fine town with a good selection of restaurants for a town of its size.  We also very much liked the sleek modern design of many of the homes in the area.

 

 

 

Sunrise on our final morning in Bicheno, taken from our front porch as we were packing to leave for Tasmania’s capital city, Hobart.

 

Mount Field National Park, Tasmania

Our last few days in Tasmania were spent in Hobart, one of our favorite towns.  It had plenty of diverse ethnic restaurants, a clean harbor and nearby nature trails.  A 90 minute drive from Hobart will find you on nicely maintained trails taking you from one waterfall to another in Mount Field National Park.

 

 

I have lived around several harbors in Chicago and California.  I can tell you the harbor in Hobart is one of the cleanest you will find.  No trash is visible, not even in the corners of the docks.  As we found in all of Australia, it is clean, safe, free of graffiti and seems to be a great all around place to visit and for living.  We should have allocated more time to Tasmania, or Taz as the locals refer to it.  Don’t you make the same mistake.