Still in Bicheno!

Waitin'. On the paddlewheeler

Just before we were to leave Bicheno, we decided to head up the east coast and see the Bay of Fires.
Not so fast!

We drove to St Helens and stopped for lunch at the paddlewheeler. When we went to open the tailgate of the car to get jumpers, there was no power. Nothing. Not a light on the dash would light up. So we got on the phone to the RACT and they organised for someone to come and have a look. I had to wait with the car for the "within the hour", while the family ate lunch. I rang at the end of the hour to see how far away the guy was, and they told me that they were unable to reach him as he was on a job and out of mobile range! Quiet mutter under the breath... When the repair man turned up, he was 87 in the shade and I wasn't at all confident that he would know what to do with the land rover. I showed him how to get the cover off the battery, and he had a go at jump starting it to no avail. He thought our best bet was to leave it for a while, he'd go and do another job and then check up on me on the way past. I didn't wait for that, and organised with NRMA premium care (bless their souls), to have our car towed back to Bicheno with us transported along with it. The tow truck arrived after four hours of waiting and, the land rover started! The tow truck followed us all the way home and after checking the power output of the alternator, we decided it was a mystery.  No Bay of Fires for us.

A day at the beach!

The next day, we decided to do nothing! It really was time to stay around town and relax a little instead of rushing from amazing sight to fabulous experience. The weather was perfect, so a day at the beach it was! It was really lovely to just lie around and watch the kids catching waves and digging holes, and to catch a couple myself. We also really enjoyed the Tasmanian sun that allowed us to be out in the sun for a good few hours without turning into burnt offerings. It was so nice to have the warm sun on your back after a few days of cool weather and frosty evenings. Dom was happy to sit in a hole and keep warm while the big boys braved the surf. It wasn't really that cold, but the wetsuits kept them in the water for an extra hour and a half.

We had been watching the tides for the past few days and picked a high tide to go and see the blowhole on the other side of Bicheno. It was great! There were some smaller fizzers, but for the main, the blowhole was going off! We were able to get right around behind it and see the power of the water without having to have an unwelcome shower. As you can see it was hard to stop taking photos.

Isaac took the opportunity to give us, what seemed to me to be, his best impersonation of the dancing traffic cop from NY!

We lazed around on the rocks for quite a while in the afternoon sun, It was a perfect day for being rather than doing.

I had bought a tripod in Launceston, and when night fell I thought it would be a great time to take it for a spin. The stars were wonderful, and taking pictures of the night sky with the sound of nesting/returning penguins in the background was a very memorable experience.

Emma here now - a number of the days in Bicheno were Paul-less as he was on car duties in Launceston.  Mostly that was okay, as our schoolday stretched out.  We did a lot of craft, photography and outdoor learning!  One time Dom and I even napped in the afternoon! We took a much more slow and lazy approach to life... no car... no worries!  It was great to be so connected to the sea and the sky.