If I had a chance to redo our itinerary, I’d definitely allocate more days in Tasmania. On the map Tasmania looks like a tiny island off the Australian mainland. But, my mistake was underestimating the size of Australia. Two weeks in Tasmania can superficially cover both the northern and southern parts of the island. With only four full days, we were confined to the Hobart area. We were further hamstrung by the shortened winter daylight hours. So a good trip to Tasmania would be 2 weeks during the summer. On the flip side, the advantage of winter in Tasmania is the lack of crowds, which is essential when looking to hike in solitude.
The Wineglass Bay walking track located in Freycinet National Park is a two and a half hour drive from Hobart. The hike itself is only about two hours, so most people may think it’s a bit crazy to drive five hours round trip for such a short hike, but we’re not most people.
Several options to choose from. We chose to hike to the lookout and beach given the lack of time.The scenery at the start of the trail almost looks like the American Southwest.Lots of stone stepsWell graded trailWith visually interesting spots.View from the lookout- Wineglass Bay Beach on the left and Hazard beach on the right.Past the lookout is the straight descent down to the beach. Not exactly 1000 stairs, more like 891. Yes, we counted.Starting our descentHiking through eucalyptus forest.Trail branches at the bottom. You bet I would have done the longer loop had we had more time.A beautiful white sand beachToo cold to get into, but likely a popular spot during the summer..Heading back was surprisingly easy. Doable in the colder months, but I can see this being challenging in the warmer months.The return route past Cole’s Bay lookout is different than the one we hiked up, which made the return trip a bit more interesting.A bonus while leaving the parking lot, a Bennetts wallaby. Then it was a race against sunset to make it back to Hobart without hitting any wildlife on the road, and I’m relieved to report that there were no casualties.
FIRE'd @ 47 