Well, May is over, and it was busy and crazy but in the very best way possible. I have stories to share about adventures with Grandparents, trips to the coast with friends and meeting brand new nephews but those will have to wait until I have time to catch my breath and edit the photos. In the meantime, I’m still working through the posts from our trip to Tasmania almost 6 months ago. Never a dull moment.

Freycinet National Park is located on the east coast of Tasmania and was the primary reason we decided to stop for a couple of days in the neighboring town of Swansea. While I would have loved a few more days to explore the entire National Park, the hike to Wineglass Bay was well worth the day trip and one of the highlights of our holiday. It’s not an easy hike, but the 4 hour round trip provided some amazing views and the opportunity to step onto a gorgeous isolated beach. In fact, the only way to reach Wineglass Bay is by foot – or obnoxious Catamaran if you want to be lazy and shell out some money. OK, I admit that I was a tad bit envious of the Catamaran travelers after our 2 hour hike, half of it uphill, but I bet they didn’t finish the trip with the same sense of achievement… or the same number of mosquito bites.

The first half of the hike was an uphill walk through some unmistakably-Australian bush.

Every now and then we were provided with a glimpse of the Tasman Sea to our east.

And a comfortable place to stop and take in the views.

And, after about 60 uphill minutes, we reached the lookout over Wineglass Bay which took our breath away.

After taking in the view, Mum decided to head back to the car (and her Kindle), while the rest of us walked a couple more miles down to the beach alongside a shockingly large number of young men wearing thongs (flip flops, not the other kind, thank goodness). In fact a lot of people looked like they were woefully unprepared for a hike that the park calls “medium intensity”, including a car full of young female Chinese tourists wearing mini skirts and platform heels that we saw as we exited the parking lot. I felt bad that I’d forgotten the sunscreen.

As expected, the beach was gorgeous, even if the water temperature felt like it came from Antarctica (which it probably did).

The kids wasted no time getting wet and taking advantage of the crystal blue waters to work on their water bending.

We stayed at the beach for about an hour before we decided to brave the steep hike back to the parking lot. Thankfully the warm weather meant that the boys dried off fairly quickly while we walked.

We returned tired, but happy, after about 4 hours which included our hour at the beach. And then our amazing experience continued when we ran into this little guy in the parking lot.

Samuel and Thomas fed him some leaves from the tree that he was already eating from.

After a few minutes, we said a quick farewell to our new friend and started the drive out of the park, which included that obligatory stop at the gift shop, of course.

And, while I don’t have photos, you can take my word for it that the oysters we ate at Freycinet Marine Farm on the way out of the park were to die for. So good! Seafood doesn’t get much fresher than a 1km trip straight from the ocean to the table.

So, go to Freycinet National Park. That’s my travel tip for today. Sure, it’s a trek, but I can guarantee you won’t experience any other place on earth quite like this one.