Tasman Peninsula Coastline on Foot

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On Saturday the 12th of November, we set out to see on foot what we had seen from the boat along the coast of the Tasman Peninsula.  We parked at Fortescue Bay and walked the five hour return trek to Cape Hauy and the Candlestick that we saw from sea level - Tasman Coastline by Boat.  The walk took us through an area of wildfire damage where a few years ago during a regeneration burn of a nearby, clearfelled area, the fire got out of control and toasted much of this part of the peninsula.  We were glad for cloud cover as it would have been quite hot under the sun in this ozone free atmosphere without any shade.  We hiked all the way to the overlook of the Candlestick and had our lunch as far out to sea as one can walk at Cape Hauy.  That evening, we packed our gear an hour the other way from Fortescue to Canoe Bay where we set up camp.  Our only visitors were a cormorant, a pair of fairy wrens, some fairy penguins which we did not see, a sea eagle that kept watch overhead and the ever present currawongs.                             The sea cliffs of Cape Hauy seemed very close at this point, but it took an hour to reach the trail's end.  You can just see the Hippolyte Rocks beyond one of the peaks in the center of this photo.  We stopped along the way to enjoy the views down to the water.  Most of the places we couldn't actually see the base of the cliffs as the faces were vertical and I didn't have the nerve to hang far enough out over the edge to do try.  Columnar Dolerite forms this part of the sea cliffs and it is unbelievably beautiful (and vertical)!   From this vantage point, the Hippolyte Rocks can be seen clearly and the gap between the cliffs is starting to show. The Candlestick from above.  The Totem Pole is right below us, but I couldn't hang far enough over the edge to see it. There is a water gap all the way through to the north side of the cliffs here around Candlestick.  This section of the cape is called The Lanterns.   I was asked recently to include some photos of myself to prove that I was here with Mary, so on this page, you will see my smiling face a bit.  Here I am about to indulge in lunch after the long run out to the cape! From our campsite in Canoe Bay we could see Cape Hauy.  Candlestick is the spire sticking up in the second gap from the left which goes all the way through to the south side of the cape.  We had the campground all to ourselves.  Canoe Bay is a long thin bay that is quite sheltered.  We had barely any waves lapping against the shore, a bit of a disappointment for us as we drifted off to sleep.  Sunrise over Cape Hauy.  In 1952, the steamship, William Pitt was sunk here to provide a breakwater for an anchorage in the bay.  It still resembles a ship, but only just.  The arcing, white sand beach that is so typical of the beaches in this part of Australia - the water was inviting in the hot sun, but the air temperature and the water temperature made me wonder if I would ever be able to swim in one of these bays.  New growth on the eucalypts - the colors are so delicate and so Australian!

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This site was last updated 12/10/07