Bay of Fires to Boat Harbour Beach

Low Head Lighthouse on a very windy day

Pity the poor penguins having to traverse this rocky shore

Low Head Lighthouse, machinery shed and housing for foghorn (note foghorn -  sure it can be heard miles away, and it's sounded at noon every Sunday)

Low Head Maritime Museum - a profitable hour checking out the area's history

Bass and Flinders' replica Norfolk, and Tom Thumb in the Bass and Flinders Centre

One of the many beautiful pubs in George Town

Modern carvings of Macroparpa trees, George Town, depicting whaling and piloting

At last - fresh apples, straight off the tree; a large bag of delicious Gravensteins for $4

Apple orchard, near Westbury

What a delicious sight

Swimming Lagoon. Bay of Fires

For a free pedicure, attract fish!

Well, once more I seem to have more photos than I need, but it's difficult culling them.

The one photo I wanted to start the blog is non-existent; cousin John's birthday drinks and dinner at South Cosy Corner, Bay of Fires.  No-one took a photo that night!  We managed to match up our travels with John and Iris's meanderings in their rented hippy van and met up in St Helens for a night at the Bay of Fires.  First a stock-up in the excellent IGA at St Helens, and then the purchase of a couple of dozen fresh oysters on the way out to South Cosy Corner, where we managed to snare a secluded site for the 2 vans.

It was the end of the May Day long weekend (in March!) so people were heading home, so   there weren't too many people around.  As Iris and John long since decommissioned their fridge we used ours to chill the champagne, and we enjoyed a vegetarian feast after a swim in the Lagoon a few minutes walk from our campsite.  There hasn't been much rain, and the Lagoon wasn't open to the sea so it was pretty shallow but as you can see from the photo, we were surrounded by tiny fish, all anxious to feed on us - thank heavens they weren't piranhas!

We couldn't pass up breakfast at Binalong Bay, about 15 minutes drive from our campsite.  There's a very kitsch welcome along the road - a bigger than life-size 1960s concrete bikini-clad young woman with a "Welcome to Binalong Bay" sign.  It's so bad it's good!

After breakfast, John and Iris headed for Triabunna where they were due to spend a day on Maria Island, while we headed north for George Town, via Evandale where we were fortunate enough to arrive in time for the announcement of the John Gower Art Prize for 2014.  We paid our entrance fee, nabbed a glass of champagne and wandered around the gallery admiring the art on display, only about 15 minutes before the judging.  There's a lovely tree-shaded free camp right outside the Hall, though week days only - Saturdays and Sundays it is verboten to camp there because it is also the site of the local weekend market.  Unfortunately we missed both the market and the recent Evandale PennyFarthing bike race, despite having noted it on the calendar months ago.  Never mind, one day!

From there we headed north and east for George Town, on the eastern bank of the mouth of the Tamar River.  Named for King George III, it is one of the older European settlements in Australia, first settled in 1804 by Colonel William Paterson, though Bass and Flinders were the first recorded Europeans to enter the Tamar River in 1798.   A signal station was set up at Low Head in 1805; it is Australia's oldest continuously used pilot station.  The lighthouse was built in 1833, designed by Colonial Architect John Lee Archer.  Low Head has played a fundamental role in the navigation of shipping in the Tamar River since those early days.  There are also a number of buildings from the early convict days, housing both convicts and pilots, all built around a village "green" - well ordered and well maintained.  One of these now houses the Maritime Museum.

After 2 days galloping round George Town (and by the way we discovered there the very best fish and chips in Tasmania at George Town Seafoods) we headed for Boat Harbour, where the previously magnificent sunny days and sparkling sea have changed to grey skies and drizzly rain.  Ray has been busy bringing his photos and records up to date while I have Facebooked, emailed and read.

We hope to make Stanley tomorrow, with blue skies once again, and then we'll head for the Arthur River and perhaps Cape Grimm.  Who knows?