MOTT Tour Day 29 - St Helens to Bicheno

Peggy's Point, Bicheno

As we travel down the east coast of Tasmania, we are making a series of short hops. Today, it's just 73kms to Bicheno.

The first part of the trip, to Scamander, was pretty ordinary road but the reward came when we got there. Crossing the Scamander River, we turned into a reserve to discover a series of information boards telling us the story of the 8 bridges that have spanned the Scamander. The first six never lasted very long as floods generally took them out. The problem was always the alternating layers of soft sandy soil among the harder soil. Pilons tended to be driven into what was thought to be bedrock, only to sink and the bridge be destroyed. 

Bridge 7 was different. A big iron construction, it lasted nearly 80 years before rusting caught up with it and it was replaced by a massive concrete bridge number 8 in 2021. The community of Scamander fought hard to keep their iron bridge but it was too far gone.

From there it was a straight forward run down to Bicheno and we soon booked in.

After lunch, we went for a walk into town and booked a date with the local penguins tomorrow night and then walked down to the water in Waubs Bay and around Peggy's Point. This last part involved walking over a field of granite, similarly coloured with the orange lichen we had seen in Bay of Fires. The granite is in large slabs and runs down into the ocean. It's quite spectacular: in fact, I thought more impressive than Bay of Fires.

Click here for today's photos

Fish and chips tonight on a technicality, from the Lobster Shack, where we had a pleasant conversation with a German backpacker. The fish and chips were good too.

Some bad news this afternoon, with our glass bottom boat tour cancelled tomorrow because of the weather. We are hoping to re-schedule over the weekend.