Binalong Bay - 12 September 2013

What a windy day it was today. A bitterly cold wind. The highest temperature today was 11 degrees. But at least it was sunny.

We set off about 9 am for a walk up the beach to the other end. Bruce took his backpack with thermos, mugs and morning tea. As we reached the other end, in amongst the red lichen rocks just out of reach of the water, a fish was flapping feebly. Bruce picked it up and threw it back in the water. Hopefully it survived.

We climbed over the rocks/boulders out to the headland to see if we could find a sheltered spot to have morning tea. What a beautiful spot for morning tea, looking out towards the ocean and no one else around.

If we had walked back along the beach, we would have had to walk into the wind. We decided to head inland hoping that would be better. It was in parts. The road took us up high above Binalong Bay overlooking the Bay and Grants Lagoon which is just behind the beach. We walked about 8 kms all told.

We had lunch on the front deck and it was beautiful, the sun glistening on the water. Bruce saw a bird do a kamikaze dive into the water after a fish.

I did hear bits and pieces of another book on the radio today that sounded pretty good but didn't hear the title or the author. All I knew was that it was set on Thursday Island. I ended up googling it and found it. It is called My Island Homicide and is by Catherine Titasey.

After lunch we drove out to The Gardens, about 13km along the coast from Binalong Bay. The road is a dead end, ending at a couple of houses. When we got there, there were some people in a hire car who had couldn't get their car going. It would start, but they couldn't get it out of park. It had happened to them three times today and they had only hired it this morning in Launceston and were on their way to Bicheno. There was very little phone reception there but he found a spot where he got a bar or so and with great difficulty, after a few attempts where we could hear Peter but he couldn't hear us, Peter suggested looking for a lock on the stick. Sure enough, there it was, and the people left happy people.

After they left, I walked along the track that cut around the headland. I always have to see what's around the next corner. It was very pretty countryside and coastline. Green pastureland meeting the beach with its red rocks. What a place to live.

On the way back to Binalong Bay, we stopped at Cosy Corner North to check it out. It is quite a large area on the beachfront with sheltered spots in amongst bushes and trees where you are allowed to free camp for up to 4 weeks. There are toilets provided, but no water or power. We also checked out Cosy Corner South, Swimcart Beach and Jeanneret's Beach, which all have free camping for up to 4 weeks. After the 4 weeks you have to move out of the area for 4 weeks. You can't move to the one just down the road. After the 4 weeks, you could move back again if you wanted. Pretty good. Cosy Corner North and South were my favourites. At Swimcart Beach you can actually park your van right on the edge overlooking the beach, but on a windy day like today, it wouldn't have been very pleasant.

We arrived back at the cottage in time for afternoon tea and spent the rest of the afternoon reading. What a hard life holidays are!