Today we logged an impressive 11 km (~7 miles) hike with the girls!
Bags Packed & Ready to Go
We decided yesterday that we’d do this particular hike. It was recommended highly by several people, so we were in. After a yummy breakfast of Doug’s homemade oatmeal, we packed a few final things into our bags, as well as a picnic lunch.
10:35am Start
We set out on our hike just after 10:30am. The hike consistent of four main parts: Hazards Beach track (hugs the coast), a stretch of Hazards Beach itself, Isthmus Track (through Hazards Lagoon) and Wineglass Bay Track (including the Wineglass By Lookout).
Troopers
The girls were total troopers and "into" the hike. The first leg (Hazards Beach track) was sign-posted to take 2 hours. We told the girls that we’d eat lunch once we got to the beach, the end of the first leg. That carrot seemed to keep them motivated. No whining, no complaining . . . just general focus & enjoyment. Awesome. We weren’t necessarily surprised. The girls have built up their hiking muscles big time in our travels. But there’s always a wildcard (for anyone) of what side of the bed you wake up on :) Thankfully we were on a roll today. The Hazards are pink granite mountains; the trail wound around the base of the mountains, with the ocean on the opposite side.
Lunch with a View
It took us about 1.5 hours to get to Hazards Beach which was lined with some beautiful boulders. We found a spot and plopped down to scarf down some food and enjoy the lapping turquoise waters. Lunch was a smorgasbord . . . salami & cheese sandwiches (me & Sadie), peanut butter & strawberries (Doug) and turkey meat pan-seared with curry seasoning in a sandwich (Paige, made all by herself earlier in the morning). It hit the spot.
After lunch we meandered down Hazards Beach. We had to anyways walk a portion of the beach to pop back onto the trail. But the girls were loving the unique sand on the beach (sand filled with small pebbles, even well below the surface) so we lollygagged as we walked. Doug tried to skip huge, flat seashells across the water. That bombed, even with his skipping stone skills :)
Lagoon Walk
The third leg of our hike was through Hazards Lagoon, called Isthmus Track. One of the things we all really enjoyed about hike was how much the landscape varied throughout. There were parts where we were walking in sand; others we were walking amidst huge boulders; still others we were walking on wooden boardwalks. The walk through the lagoon was cool because it reminded us of one of our favorite hikes of the year, Plitvice National Park in Croatia.
Wineglass Bay
The lagoon walk spit us out at famous Wineglass Bay. It’s a beautiful sheltered waterway with white sand beaches and magical turquoise waters. Apparently it’s one of the top ten beaches in the world I heard (not sure if that’s true or when!). Ironically, we stuck around for a few minutes to check out Wineglass Bay, but we were relatively underwhelmed. Not because it wasn’t beautiful (it was!), but because it didn’t seem terribly different than all the other gorgeous beaches & coves we’ve seen so far in Tasmania! Tassie really does deliver dramatic, jaw-dropping natural beauty. From a coastal standpoint were were fortunate to see quite a bit of that in Bay of Fires the past few days. And here in Freycinet, we experienced several stunner beaches and coves, to the point where Wineglass Bay didn’t deliver any more “wow” factor than the others! We hung out for a bit, but then got back to work, hitting the trail. We were on a mission and ready to tackle our final leg of the hike.
Video credit goes to Doogie!
Back to the Car Park
The final leg from Wineglass Bay back to the car park - with a pit-stop at the lookout for sweeping views - took about 2 hours. A good majority of it was uphill, but we were in the zone of being in the “homestretch”, so it didn’t hold us back. At one point Doug asked the girls if they wanted to listen to an audio book (we brought our speaker). They both immediately cheered “no!”. They were perfectly content to carry on hiking and chatting. Awesome.
3:18pm
We had a little family bet going as to what time we’d step foot back in the car park. Doug guessed 3:21pm, Paige guessed 3:22pm and I slotted in at 3:23pm. Happy to report we rolled back in at 3:18pm. Funny enough, Paige pointed out on the walk back, that our park permit (valid for 24 hours) was expiring at either 3:30pm or 4:00pm. She was right! When we checked the permit in car windshield we saw that it expired at 3:28pm. Nothing gets past her! Love Paige’s penchant for detail.
Family Bonding
The vast majority of the time we hiked, we were each hand-in-hand/arm-in-arm with one girl. It wasn't intentional; it was just the rhythm we fell into. And anytime the girls put their little hand in ours, or hook their arm in ours, we don't easily let go :)
In terms of what we talked about as we hiked, it was largely a few things:
Recalling all the different, memorable hikes we've done across our travels. Some top hits (in no particular order) were Plitvice National Park in Croatia (Sadie especially), Tiger’s Nest in Bhutan, Faroe Islands in general, Vidova Gora in Croatia, Austria in general, jungle hike in Khao Sok National Park Thailand.
We talked a LOT about what might be in store for us over the course of the next year, in terms of additional travel and eventually settling down. Paige especially was really interested in talking through this.
When we mentioned that we’d be able to visit family & friends (including NYC) over the Summer, the girls started scheming about what they want to do with their friends in NYC, and how they’ll feel embarrassed (Paige) going back to school & having attention on them when they see tons of people. Totally normal!
We also talked about the various landscapes we walked through & experienced during the day’s hike (eucalyptus trees, mountain ranges, coastal walks, beaches, seashells, lagoons, etc).
It was a super family day. Equal parts challenging & rewarding. We popped into town for a kiddy ice cream cone to celebrate our hard work :) Doug had discipline and passed, but the girls & I indulged. Sadly it wasn’t that good. We’re on a bad streak of average (at best) boutique ice cream places! The girls don’t mind one bit though; even average ice cream is still ice cream :)
Goodnight Muirs Beach
Showered up and chillin’ back at our cabin, we put out a plate of nibbles (cheese, veggies, hummus) and all relaxed. The girls popped down to the playground for a bit (I love that they can go on their own; win, win) and I did a load of laundry.
Doug whipped up some tasty veggie & pork fried rice for dinner. We cleaned up and then took a family walk down to the beach across the street, Muirs Beach. It's a beautiful beach, even mores than Wineglass Bay, if you ask me! Just a simple, sheltered beach with hard, flat sand and an unobstructed view of the sunset. We shared the beach with maybe a dozen other people, some walking like us, others playing frisbee, others planted on the sand with nibbles & drinks to enjoy the setting light. There’s a small island directly off the beach that had a small structure on it. We were curious and googled it . . . It’s called Picnic Island, a private island within Freycinet National Park, that you can book for up to 10 people. Ridiculously pricey spot, but wow, would that be awesome! :)
We mosied on down the beach until the sun dropped down below the horizon. "Sunset Sadie" (fellow lover of sunsets) was particularly darling as she hung back and stopped to catch the last moments of the sun. We walked arm in arm, hand in hand, with the girls, just as we had for most all of the day's long hike. A perfect way to end a great RTW family day :) xo
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