Traveling Van with a Man

Our first stop in Tasmania was on the east coast. We stayed in a cute little spot called Bicheno on the Bay.

We lucked out with the weather and had a nice (windy!) stroll along the beach. We even saw whale spouts and slapping tails off in the distance! We also went to the top of the whaler’s lookout and got a nice view of the town of Bicheno and tiny Diamond Island off in the distance. The beach across from Diamond Island is where the little penguins live.

That evening we went on a guided tour to see the little penguins! There has been a huge effort over the last 30 years to protect the little penguins in Bicheno and reestablish the population that was down to just 40 penguins. The biggest threats are from cats and dogs and the lack of native plants that penguins use for burrows. The cats and dogs are under control now and native plants are being reestablished, but in the meantime some small accommodations have also been provided. Which gave us a great opportunity to seem some chicks up close!

The next day we headed to Freycinet National Park. Unfortunately the weather didn’t quite hold out for us but we still did a very cool (and a little scary) hike/climb up Mt Amos. Not much to see at the top, but lower down at the Wineglass Bay lookout we had some nice views of the beach.

We ended our east coast visit with a stop at Devils Corner winery. I didn’t love the wine but there were amazing views of Coles Bay and Mt Amos and the hazards off in the distance.

Next stop on the trip – Hobart!