3. Swansea

The 133km drive from Launceston is a joyful trip, particularly when you’re feasting on locally grown cherries from Campbell Town, bursting with sweet, red juice in all their ripe lusciousness.  The traffic is minimal at the end of the holiday season, and before long you’ll emerge from Lake Leake Rd to the town of Swansea.

At the Bark Mill Tavern and Bakery, make sure you sample one of the wonderful butter chicken pies, something I’ll have to try making at home now.  Plus I can’t fault the freshly caught Baramundi, grilled while you wait at the Seafood cafe.

The peaks of The Hazard Range are visible on the opposite side of the Bay, three sheer pink granite mountains rising up out of the sea.  The Peninsula is in fact the site of the Freycinet National Park, several thousand hectares filled with walking trails and pristine beaches.  It stretches all the way up the coastline to the town of Bicheno, some 40km further north of Swansea.  (When I visited in 2014, I walked the trail over the Hazards to the pure white sands of Wineglass Bay, but this time I intend to explore the local coastline.)

Nine Mile Beach is my first pick.

This is just one of the ‘longest and prettiest beaches’ that they brag about in their brochures.  And it is – nine miles long.  Words like glorious come to mind frequently when wandering the beach for a couple of hours, collecting shells.  I think I saw a couple of people in the distance once or twice, but otherwise, it was all mine.

It’s very easy to lose track of how far you’ve walked when faced with this sort of panorama, but really, it’s not a bad place to get lost for a while.