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If you wish to book travel we recommend you contact the fully licensed, registered & insured International Travel Agent:
Australian Discount Travel & Tours

We also recommend the not for profit travel agency
Travel With A Cause Inc

 
 

Tasmanian Holidays And Holiday Packages

Australian Destinations  Bruny Island  Cradle Mountain  Devonport  East Coast  Freycinet Peninsula  Hobart  Huon Valley  Launceston  Port Arthur  Queenstown  Richmond  Salamanca Place  SCUBA Diving  Strahan  Tasmanian National Parks Guide  Trout & Offshore Fishing  West Coast  Wilderness Tours

Freycinet Peninsula

Wineglass Bay deservedly carries a global reputation as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  Still relatively untouched by human hands, you can walk the beach with native wallabies (small kangaroos) and luxuriate in its incredible beauty.
 

Wineglass Bay and the fabulous opal blue waters of Tasmania’s famous East Coast await you.  Mingle with native wildlife (kangaroos, wallabies, possums and Tasmanian Devils). The Freycinet Peninsula combines rural charm with breath-taking beaches and views of the magnificent Hazards mountains. Visit the many vineyards in the area and shop for some handy craft and souvenirs in nearby Swansea.

Contact a Travel Agent to book a trip to Tasmania

Freycinet National Park for those interested in a more “off the beaten track'' form of travel. The bay has fine beaches for swimming, good bushwalking and bird watching (an ornithological delight)

There is a wide variety of local flora (over 60 varieties of orchid), and the permanent inhabitants (possums –note these are completely different to the US O’Possums) wallabies (small kangaroos) are bold enough to take close-up looks at their human visitors. Northwest of Coles Bay is Moulting Lagoon, breeding ground of the black swan, and along the northern coast are the grand dunes of Friendly Beaches.

Areas near Coles Bay are well suited to scuba diving, water skiing, swimming, fishing and rock climbing. Boats such as the Kahala are available for charter, offering patrons the opportunity to see whales, dolphins, seals and sea eagles in their natural habitat.

Coles Bay is frequently used as a staging point for those wishing to visit the Freycinet National Park. Three pink granite mountains (the Amos, Dove and Mayson) form the Hazard Range, a signature of the 11,930 ha. park. But the best known attraction is Wineglass Bay (below). Its perfect formation and white sand make it one of the most photographed natural features in the state.

There are many walks in the National Park, ranging from short family walks to overnight expeditions for experienced bushwalkers, which reach the southern tip of the peninsula. The walk to Wineglass Bay is considered to be of moderate difficulty.

Coles Bay has three 4-star holiday units and four 3½-star facilities (RACT rated). There is an extensive backpackers lodge, and campsites are available within the National Park. Coles Bay is approximately a one hour drive south of Bicheno.  

A She-Oak needle landed softly on my face, bringing me back from a waking dream.  Looking around it seemed that my companions too were busy with pursuits, the likes of which are usually reserved for balmy Sunday afternoons.  One lay pinned down by the weight of a book, whilst the other I could see strolling at the waters edge looking slightly groggy with wonderment at the landscape.

We were halfway along the Freycinet Peninsula and getting a good dose of adventure. An unkind person might say we were just lying around in the sun. I prefer to think that, having nourished our bodies, we were now preparing our minds for the paddle home.

We had set out that morning from the car park at Coles Bay, a lazy fishing and tourist town at the entrance to Freycinet National Park, on Tasmania’s east coast.


The landscape of Freycinet is sublime. The water is blue, really blue, and crystal clear.  The peninsula’s position in a rain shadow means there is little or no rain, hence no rivers feeding sediment into the ocean to cloud its waters. The sky is even bluer still. The beaches are quartz white and curiously, due to an endemic lichen, the rocks are bright orange.

Through this scene cruised our flotilla of equally colourful sea kayaks. These craft are far more stable than their slender appearance suggests and are kept on course with a foot controlled rudder, leaving your hands free to do the real work.

After a few stiff strokes to get the kayak moving, they glide along, seemingly on their own. On the open ocean and in times of bad weather I’m sure there is a lot to learn about sea kayaking, but on a still summer’s day, sheltered behind the Freycinet Peninsula, it seemed a breeze.

There are a number of things about sea kayaking that suit my way of thinking - no walking, no hills and ample room in a kayak to stow a generous picnic.  Perhaps most wonderfully, in a sea kayak travel is faster than on foot, leaving plenty of time to digest a generous lunch before the return journey.

Out on the water, I am seeing a perspective of the land that simply isn’t possible from shore. The Hazards Range towers overhead and the feeling of being small in a grand landscape is acute.  As my boat slices through the water, I watch its shadow chasing me along the seabed, across the rippled sand and through the forests of vibrant green kelp into which fish, like jewels, dart to escape the menacing shadow.

It’s simple to lose yourself sea kayaking; for your mind to drift, set free by the constant motion of your paddle. And, if there were ever a place to lose your mind, I think it would be Freycinet.

We recommend only fully licensed and insured/registered International Travel Agents.
If you are considering booking we recommend the following travel agents:
Australian Discount Travel & Tours,
Travel With A Cause Inc (a not for profit travel agency assisting several projects in many developing countries).

 

We recommend Australian Discount Travel & Tours for both Australian and international travel bookings