Freycinet in a Day

Monday, 27 July 2020

The first Covid lockdown occurred just days before we were going to Freycinet to organise and participate in some orienteering events.  So now we've been looking forward to this resheduled trip for ages!  Keen to make the absolute most of it, Clare and I went up ahead of everyone else on Thursday night so we could hike all of the Freycinet circuit on Friday.  

After an uneventful drive we arrived in Coles Bay just in time to be treated to some delicious dinner cooked by the Mitchell family.  When we got up the next morning it was pretty cold and there was lots of frost on the ground around the cabin park.  It was so cold that we encountered icy puddles all the way up to the top of Mt Graham, despite the sunshine and blue skies.  I guess frost isn't all that surprising in winter, but what was truly amazing was how quiet the tracks were.  Normally the car park is pretty full by 8am regardless of the season, when we arrived we were one of about 3 cars.  As we walked up to the wineglass lookout we passed all of two people.  By the time we got to Cooks Beach - some 18kms in, we had encountered 4 people.  

We left the first footprints of the day on Wineglass Bay.

The view from Mt Graham (above), then descending to Cooks Beach

It was lovely to hit the coast again after all the climbing and descending

We had lunch on the rocks at Cooks Beach, then refilled our water bottles with the icy cold water from the tank and headed down to Bryan's Beach.

Then we finally turned for home. There was still lots of ks to go as we wound our way up the coast.

Hazards Beach was a bit of a slog but I've never seen it so still and calm. 

We manaaged to break into a bit of a jog as we neared the end. 

We finally arrived back at the car just before 4. It was a big day. All up we covered 38kms - the 2nd longest hike I've ever done (the longest was the fifty something kms Jon and I did in the rogaine last year.