Freycinet is beautiful

The rays of setting sun playing over The Hazards from the Coles Bay campground was a stunning start to our explorations on the Freycinet peninsula. We camped here one night before our four day trek around the Frecyinet peninsula. It was the perfect place to acclimatise to the beauty we were about to experience.

On our first morning we prepared our bags, checking we had all our gear, food and importantly snacks for the next four days on the peninsula circuit. This was to be Tanja and my longest multiday hike (the previous being just overnight hikes) so we were a little nervous about forgetting something crucial. We took our time laying everything out in the sun before carefully stuffing it all into our packs. Then we struck camp, parked Fran in the day visitor carpark and headed around The Hazards towards our first campsite.

We had opted to spend four nights, taking advantage of every campground on the circuit, instead of the usual three nights on the circuit. This meant day one and two were quite easy hikes of just a few hours. We had lots of time for breaks, swims, and enjoying the views and changing forests as we headed first to Hazards Beach for the first night, and then onwards to Cooks Beach for the second. We made the short side-track to Bryans Beach on day two as well. During both days we barely saw another person apart from the Pennicott tour group dropped of at Cooks Beach, and a handful of other hikers at Cooks Beach. I loved being just a duo on the trails. Tanja and I fall into a rhythm, sometimes talking, often hiking in silence and stopping just to catch the bum of animal scurrying into the bush, or pausing to listen to the birds.

On day three we tackled the long climb up Mount Graham and equally long descent to Wineglass Bay. The trail is a steep and eroded crevice up the mountain. In many places we scrambled up wet slab or pushed through dense scrub. My thighs burned long before we reached the top, and the extra snacks and second lunch we planned for this day were needed. The views though from Mount Graham both south towards Schouten Island and north to Wineglass Bay were exceptional and made every step worth it. This day we spotted much evidence of the fungal disease plaguing mature trees across Tasmania, and found a few spots to pitch a tent outside the designated campsites which would make this route more balanced each day if we were to return in the future.

At our final campsite at the south end of Wineglass Bay we were rewarded with another perspective of sunset on The Hazards. It was an idealic view with boats moored just off shore, white sand and after fending off a curious wallaby and an even more inquisitive mouse (who pooped in Tanja’s cap in revenge) we fell asleep to the sound of wind and waves.

For the final day, we woke early in order to walk the length of Wineglass Bay before the day-trippers arrived. It’s a relatively short hike but lots of stairs to reach the pass through The Hazards. Feeling filthy and low on drinking water at this stage, we made straight for our car with the knowledge we had already experienced the best of the peninsula. We took a very quick swim at Honeymoon Bay to freshen up, and made a beeline for a nearby vinyard for a well deserved lunch.

Freycinet, you were incredible and although there are dozens of new hikes I would like to tackle in Tasmania, I can easily see us returning to see you again.