Tessellated pavement
The last two days have been quite cloudy, raining, and cool. Yesterday (Wednesday, Feb 16) we didn’t leave Coles Bay, nor our motorhome much either. In the morning we did laundry. In the afternoon we both read. We walked down to the beach from the caravan park after supper, but didn’t stay long as it wasn’t very nice out.
Today (Thursday, Feb 17) it was initially quite nice as we drove to Seaforth. It got cloudier though, and starated to rain by the time we got to Sorell, where we bought groceries, fuel, and ate our lunch.
The most interesting site today was probably the broken rock known as the ‘Tessellated Pavement’. Large flat slabs of siltstone have eroded along the fault lines in the rock, and it looks very much like someone had laid down paving stones. Next we stopped at the cliffs south of Pirate Bay. These are the highest sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere. There is a very large arch and a deep chasm called “The Devils’ Kitchen” where the waves crash into the rocks. As well there is a blowhole, though it was low tide when we were there so not much water was entering. It would probably be a lot more impressive at high tide.
We drove the 12 km of rough road into Tasman Park and Fortescue Campground. To my surprise the campground was nearly full. We drove around and found a good site, and went back to book it. The office was closed, but there was a list of reserved sites, and this one, site 49, was vacant today though it is booked tomorrow. We self-registered for the site, drove back and set up. Not too long after that, just as we got back from walking down to the jetty, a campervan arrived at the site, and the attendant (who must now have been back) had booked our site out to them. We explained that we had self-registered, and they accepted that, and went back to the registration area. Tonight we went for a walk along the beach, and saw that they are in a different site (though one not nearly as nice as where we are). We stopped back at the registration area on the return from our walk, and the reservation sign now says “full”. We feel lucky that we got here when we did.
We had a long and interesting chat with our neighbours. They are from Perth, almost identical in age to us, and will be travelling around Australia for over a year. They are in an outback camper tent trailer and have a four wheel drive. We talked to the wife for quite a while, and pointed out to her some of the nice camp sites we’ve been in here in Tasmania.