Freycinet National Park and the sun’s out!

So after last week and our first experience free camping, we are now, of course, experts and thought we’d give it another go.

This time we had Mayfield Beach in our sights – a much smaller target, but still under the Parks Tasmania banner so we had an idea of what to expect. 

It was a two-hour drive and that meant we could start the next audio book, which is the third book in the Harry Potter series. Each one seems to be two hours longer than the one before but luckily, we’ve got plenty of driving time in our future. 

All the audio books are free, via the online bit of the Brisbane City Council Libraries (Libby), and I can download them to my phone so we’re not needing internet along the way. Then when we’re done I just return it and get the next one. The kids are loving listening to them and actually we’re enjoying them too. 

Anyway, we turn up at Mayfield Beach, and yes, it’s a bit smaller and a bit closer to the road, but it’s also a stone’s throw from a lovely calm beach and there’s a spot just for us. Lucky we weren’t any later though as this place is popular, and has been each night we’ve been here.

The main reason for this spot is to visit Freycinet National Park. Of course, with a dog, this isn’t straight-forward, so this time, we decided that I’d go one day and Jim the next, with the kids going twice, so we could both have a day each back at the tent, kid-free to catch up on work etc. 

Me first, so off we go. The kids are pretty experienced at bushwalking so we thought we’d tackle the walk to Wineglass Bay, which is a hike up to the lookout, then down 1000 steps to the bay itself (and back again). The kids did really well, with minimal fuss, so I tacked on an extra bit and we drove up to the lighthouse to walk around that too. 

The views are spectacular and we were really lucky with the weather so all in all we had a really good day. The bonus on the way back was finding a new seafood supplier. This time I picked up 1kg of mussels for Jim to cook up for dinner and they were some of the best mussels we’ve ever had.

So Jim’s turn today. The weather is equally spectacular so hopefully they have a nice time and the kids’ legs aren’t too sore from yesterday.