FriendlyBrooks

Tasmania keeps getting better

Lance Brooks, loving life in Tassie, February 2026

We got through the night with no interruptions and Lance had a plan! First he would walk, yoga, swim etc, then we would wait for the park’s person to come by and ask us for our fees. The guy arrived just after 8.30am as we were expecting.  He was lovely and gave us lots of information about where we should go. He suggested that we shouldn’t take the trailer to White Water Wall camp where Cassie had suggested but we should definitely go look at it sans trailer.

Once we had paid up and were legal we could relax a bit so we had a proper breakfast, chatted to our campground neighbours and then walked on the first of 5 places to visit according to National Parks.  Richardson Beach was right on our doorstep. We walked along the beautiful beach to the end and back and ,,,, swum.

Our $16  fee included a shower accessed via a PIN code and a $2 coin. It was so worth it as I hadn’t washed my hair in over a week (some kind of record). We also got rid of our rubbish and cleaned out the composting toilet. Once abluted, we headed off to the aptly named Friendly Beaches, about 20km away. We managed to find an amazing camp spot in the free campground with an incredible view right down the long, long beach to the Hazatds and the lighthouse.

After we had set up and had lunch we went for a drive. We drove around Coles Bay and then up to the lighthouse. This is another of the National Parks 5 things to see and we can see why. We would almost rate it at number 1 as it has a short walk around the cliff lines with the most spectacular views you can imagine. From here you might see wales and dolphins, which we didn’t, seals and eagles which we did. And crazy dramatic cliffs plunging into the deep blue sea.  The photos only partly do it justice.

After the lighthouse visit, we drove down the dirt road to White Water Wall campground.  I was glad that we didn’t take the trailer but Lance reckons we could have done it easily. When we arrived at the campground it was nearly full (like everywhere in Freycinet) but we realised that it would not have been appropriate for our set up. It was beautiful though, with amazing sheer cliffs that are popular with the climbers. We then drove down to Bluestone Bay which was also beautiful.

We arrived back at Friendly Beaches campground to find considerably more people in our area than when we left. Most of them were either European or American and all very lovely.

The next morning we got up relatively early and left by after 9am to do the Wine Glass Bay hike. This is the premier attraction at Freycinet and was the 3rd of the five musts we were to visit. By the time we got going up the path it was close to 11am The path up to the lookout was steep and we marvelled at our 34 year old selves who took 3 children aged 7, 4 and 1 on this hike over 30 years ago. Jack was a baby and was carried in a backpack but Michelle and David walked the whole 11km themselves (with little complaints as far as we can remember). Our 2026 walk was just as enjoyable. After the lookout we walked down 1000 steps, stopped for a swim at Wineglass Bay and then walked across the isthmus to Hazards Beach for lunch and another swim. The final 6.5km back was through forest and along the cliffs of the peninsula. We returned to the carpark at about 5pm

The next step for me day was to number 4 on the National Parks list – Honeymoon Bay. Yet another spectacular view and swimming spot.

Lance did his online course and other than that we had a quiet night but were visited by a possums wallabies and a Tasmanian Devil!

After a long day previously, we decided to take it easy the next day and relax at our camp at Friendly Beaches. We had thought we might walk to the end of the beach but found out it would take 3 hours one way, so instead we hung around the beach near the camp. Then we drove off to the final National Parks site on the list – Sleepy Bay. Again a spectacular short walk into a beautiful protected cove surrounded by dramatic mountains plunging into the sea. Lance swam but I refrained.

We had loved the lighthouse walk so much we decided to do it again. On the way back to the campground we stopped for a delicious ice cream in Coles Bay and a drive past the golf course and its surrounding suburbs.

Our last night in this beautiful part of the world was spent as usual eating and drinking sharing with campground neighbours-(human and marsupial).