Day 50: Freycinet National Park

Today we drove from Launceston to Freycinet National Park.  We made several stops along the way:

1. Yondover Goat Farm - the farm is run by a couple who decided to change careers 10 years ago (they lived on Mainland Australia and were accountants or something).  They have around 400 goats.  They started off just selling goat milk -- but then moved into make cheese.  After giving us a tour of their goat milking facility -- we had a cheese tasting -- excellent cheese -- especially their fresh chevre (I can see why they have won so many awards).  The chevre was especially nice with their quince paste.
2. Boring Wood Carvings (aka Legerwood Memorial Trees) - there is some odd fascination with wood carving in Tasmania.  We spent 30 minutes at this spot -- I was ready to leave after 5.  I found a nearby garden more interesting.  It is nice though what they've done -- the trees were planted in 1918 as a WWI memorial -- and when they were starting to fall down -- chainsaw carver Eddie Freeman turned the trees into these carvings.  There was a nice little shop there selling wood stuff -- I picked up a cheese knife with a sassafras handle at a very good price.
3. Bicheno -  small town on the eastern coast of Tasmania.  Only 850+ people live there -- popular in the summer as a vacation spot (I think that you either live there for fishing or tourism).  The area is famous for abalone.  We stopped for lunch (good scallops) and had some time to walk along the beach.  Very pretty. 

And then we arrived at Freycinet National Park.  The park occupies a large part of the Freycinet Peninsula (named after French navigator Louis de Freycinet).  It is essentially 2 eroded blocks of pink granite -- the Hazards (named after a person) and the Mt. Graham / Mt. Freyicnet sections of the peninsula -- joined by a sand isthmus.  Lots of beautiful bays throughout.  After we dropped off our luggage, we drove up Cape Tourville and did a loop walk around the lighthouse.  We saw a couple of white-bellied sea eagles -- but I wasn't fast enough with my camera.  Nice easy walk -- with gorgeous views.  

We are staying at Freycinet Lodge for 2 nights -- in cabins sprinkled throughout the woods, some of them with water views (I was lucky enough to get one of those).  The lodge looks out over Great Oyster Bay -- with the Hazards as a backdrop.  The cabins are very nice -- very big -- nicely decorated/furnished and with private decks (there are 2 cabins per building -- but the way that they've done it, makes it feel like there is no one else around for miles).

Weather:  mostly cloudy with bits of sun, 53 - 72F
Miles Walked:  4
kms driven on the Bus:  282

Book/s Read:  A Fountain Filled with Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming.  2nd book in the Rev. Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne series.  I've decided to read the series straight through (well I started a little off by reading the last one (#8) first).

Pic Notes:

• 10 - 19:  Bicheno
• 17:  jellyfish?  glad I didn't encounter this
• 20 - 27:  Cape Tourville
• 28 - 32:  Freycinet Lodge
• 29 - 31:  Bennetts Wallaby
• 33:  Purchased cheese from Yondover (some of the fresh chevre -- delicious!)

useless fact for the day:  a group of wallabies is known as a 'mob'.