Echidnas, Wallabies and My First Sunrise

I had every intention of completing a post before we headed off to the East Coast on Saturday morning but since I decided to pull my usual trick and leave packing to the very last second I had no time. Never mind, at least now I have a post of 'some' interest rather than the one I was going to write about how boring my Friday had been and how I was starting to get pretty bad running withdrawals!

Danny and I had plans to hit the road pretty early on Saturday morning. Our destination - Freycinet National Park - was a three hour drive away and we wanted to get as much time there as we could. Despite our best intentions we still didn't leave the house until 9am...

Must learn to pack ahead of time!

Freycinet National Park lies on the east coast of Tasmania. It's most known for this -

[Source]

That's Wineglass Bay and it's even more spectacular in person!

After three hours, a book and many games on my iPhone later we arrived. We grabbed some lunch before heading to our accomodation and crossing our fingers for an early check-in - SUCCESS! We were staying at Freycinet Lodge which has one main reception building with two restrayrants and a bar but the actual rooms are seperate little cabins dotted throughout bush land. I was a bit hesitant when I heard the word 'cabin' but was plesantly surprised to find that they were pretty fancy inside!

This photo of Freycinet Lodge is courtesy of TripAdvisor

I had to steal a photo because in our haste to get out and see the bay we managed to trash our little cabin before I thought to take a picture! We did manage to get a picture of our welcoming committee though!

 

This little guy was hanging around outside our cabin but made a hasty exit when he realised he had company. Danny is absolutely fascinated by our native fauna and always wants to get as close to it as possible and I always have to try to reign him in and convince him to just let the little creatures go about their business... Especially the spiky ones like echidnas!!

 

We got changed into some walking clothes... The thing about Wineglass Bay is that you have to work for it! It's a 90 minute walk, mostly up hill rock-hopping on granite boulders, just to get there! It was hot, sweaty work and reminded me of the Thailand trek... But at least I could see the immense improvement in my fitness from all those years ago!

 

 

 

It was worth the effort when we got there though! The beach was beautiful, the water was crystal clear and we were sharing it all with only about 20 other people!! We changed (yet again) into our swimmers... Danny dove straight in, I took a much more tentative approach. Not only am I still scarred from the triathlon, it was also pretty damn cold! The water flows in straight from the Tasman Sea which feeds up from Antarctica. Brrrrrr!!

 

I wussed out after about twenty minutes and left Danny to make very poor attempts at body surfing. I got back to our bag and found another local visitor... A very tame wallaby! He came right up to me so despite always being on at Danny to leave the natives alone, I couldn't resist a pat!

 

 

I was in love!

 

Danny eventually gave up on the body surfing and we made the long trek back to the car. The three hours of hiking left us pretty thirsty so we showered and headed to the bar at the lodge.

I spied a cocktails menu and couldn't resist when I saw one that had coconut rum and peach liqueur... Coconut and peach!? Is there a more divine pairing??

 

 

See my hair? Another downside to packing at the last minute is the fact that you forget essential items such as a hairbrush!! D'oh!

 

Turns out the cocktail was okay tasting but the server must have been pretty heavy handed with the alcohol... I had this drink, a glass of wine with dinner and then one when I got back to our room and then developed a nasty alcohol induced headache! YUCK! It didn't stop me enjoying a very hot and very relaxing spa bath in the tub in our cabin though.

 

I woke up about a thousand a few times during the night, each time my head was getting worse and I added painkillers to the list of things I had forgotten to pack... It was made worse by the fact that I knew Danny had set his alarm for some terribly early hour...

 

It was just after 5am when he was dragging me out of the bed and into the car. My head was thumping and my stomach was swirling as we drove a very windy road to an opportunity he assured me we couldn't miss.

 

Our destination was Cape Tourville. Despite feeling like I was about to empty the contents of my stomach on the ground, the moment wasn't lost on me... Danny had brought me to see my very first sunrise... Now I've seen sunrises over hills and things like that, but never a sunrise over a completely unobscured horizon... And Cape Tourville was the perfect vantage point.

 

 

 

 

One for you Jamie!

 

The sea air and the sheer beauty of the moment did a lot to make me feel better but we headed back to the cabin and back to bed for a couple of hours. I woke up feeling 100% which was a blessing because I was not looking forward to the three hours car trip home feeling as seedy as I had been!!

 

Now we are back home and I'm a bit sad that all of my post-marathon treats are all done! I've felt very spoilt but I am definitely ready to get back into running! I was tempted to go for one this afternoon but Danny gave me a look that said 'You said one full week' so back to the exercise bike it was. There will be nothing stopping me tomorrow though! I've actually been pretty keen to get on the treadmill since I saw a fun idea that Tina from Carrots 'n' Cake came up with - Treadmill Roulette! Much more fun that Russian Roulette that's for sure!! I must say, it's quite a feat to get me excited about anything that involves a run on the treadmill... She's a magician for sure!

 

I'd Like To Know...

Are you a prepared traveller or are you terrible like me and leave your packing to the last minute?

Have you ever experienced a proper, unobscured, over the horizon sunrise? Where was it and how did you come to see it?