So we had a long weekend last week because of the 8h day (aka labour day). Don't ask me why is it not on 1 May. Maybe Australia is just a bit weird. Plus I'm in Tasmania so instead of calling it Labour Day, it is the 8h Day. Hmm. Oh well.
We decided the week before while we had a half day public holiday (due to horse racing) that we were going to Bay of Fires! It's one of the places I've always wanted to go to because it always looks so pretty in pictures! I had this weird impression that it would look like Wineglass Bay but with red rocks all over the beaches so if you looked down it will be red around it!
So we were meant to head off at 8am (ie DEPART) but sab only got to our place at 8.15am. By the time we picked up Intan it was 8.20+. Could be worse I guess. :D Headed off towards St Mary's which was along the way for pancakes! Mount Elephant Pancakes! They used to have a branch in Launceston but it closed down. Sigh. So we had to make this 1.5h drive to St Mary's for it instead. Plus I missed a turn because of the dodgy signboard which misled me. Should have just followed my GPS instead!
Anyway, we had interesting conversations along the way about Islam and their traditions and taboos! It was enlightening! :) That kept me awake on the winding road there but hey the worst was yet to come.
Finally got to the pancake place despite my wrong turn. That mistake led me down the road to St Helens (which is where Bay of Fires is) but it was super winding! So to go down that road around a mountain and have to U-turn back halfway to go back up was not fun. HAHA. Thank god no one puked!
Mt Elephant Pancakes! :) Hungry and 尿急！
Quaint little cafe. Decorated with many many elephant themed items!
Our 4 pancakes! From foreground, clockwise. Cheese, asparagus and chicken - Maple Banana Walnut - Black Forest - Cheese, chicken and blueberries! :) They were more crepe-like than hotcake pancakes! But still yummy! Need to go down to Hobart and to Margate for similar pancakes but hotcake pancake style!
Hot chocolate. Yummy!
HMM. the surcharge was $2.70. please feed the elephants.
So as 4 travelers had their fill of pancakes, we headed down that winding road once more towards St Helens. I was driving at like 20-25km/h because it was just bending left and right at every turn! But luckily it was a beautiful day! Perfect for the beach! Worth my drive there! :D We were worried initially because the weather that week leading up to Sat was terrible. Rainy and cold!
Stopped by this lookout. Shelly Point! Sabrina took so many photos here and was reluctant to leave and by then it was already 12pm. It was about another 30-40min drive to Bay of Fires! So we quickly abandoned her and walked to the car but she quickly caught up.
Bay of Fires is a long stretch of coastline and is separated into Nothern, Middle and Southern areas. We headed down to the Southern area because that's the most accessible. The Northern area requires me to drive through even more winding roads apparently. Wanted to drive back that way but Intan advised against it because she took that route on her previous trip to BoF.
So BoF is famous for their red rocks but it's not because of them that it's named BoF. The guy who discovered this area back then noticed loads of bonfires along the shore lit by the Aboriginals and thus named it BoF. And I thought it was because of the rocks! :(
At 'The Gardens'. No idea why that name because we did not see many plants at all. :\ BUT WE SAW THE RED ROCKS!! MUAHAHAHA!!
Walked along the red rocks and found this! Isn't it gorgeous!? Those are the 3 monkeys with me! :D Jkjk not monkeys. The sand was soo fine and water so clear, I would jump in right now if I could but erm I was in track shoes then.
We decided to head to Binalong Bay after that for a swim! Sab and Alicia
didn't bring their swimming gear because they thought it was going to
be too cold to swim. Intan and I brought them along so we quickly
changed into them and swam in the sea! There were a few big waves no
thanks to the speedboats racing by. We were jumping when the giant waves
came! Some crashed on us! Hahah! Loads of good fun!
We found this secret place where you had to walk down between the bushes to get to the beach! But it meant that we had the beach ourselves! The beach in the background after the rocks was easily accessible so there were heaps of people there! The only people who came by our beach were those who had conquered those treacherous rocks to get here!
We bobbed around and swam for about 1h. Intan and I walked across to the other beach via the sea which was fun! We felt like aliens visiting the neighbouring planet or something!
That's my feet! Super clear right! :)
Had a picnic while on the beach. Crackers, dips, sweets etc. And then we
headed to the nearby cafe for a snack before driving home again.
That's my car - 3rd from right! My baby! :))
Went home and had tomyum steamboat! We actually had it the day before too so this was more to finish up the ingredients! But everything was prepared already so we just needed to set things up and away we ate!
All in all, it was a good day trip! Driving almost 400km wasn't that tiring when you've got friends to keep you awake! :D The trip back definitely felt faster than the trip there. Guess because we backtracked and I knew the landmarks etc already! Now to plan the next trip.. ;)
Going down to Hobart end March for GD's visit to Hobart. Just for the weekend. And then it's Easter!! Maybe Cradle Mountain! HEHE!!
