We decided to
gradually head in the direction of the camp area as it was still early in the
day.
Our first taste of
Tasmania was MERSEY BLUFF. We walked around the basalt headland and down to the
beach. The views were nice and I was pretty thrilled at doing some activity.
Next was COVES BEACH.
The surf was about 1 foot in a strong onshore wind. Still, a nice beach.
ULVERSTONE
We drove to West Ulverston
and our camp area – Blue Wren. A simple campground with very good showers. In
front of the camp was a railway line and then a large rocky bay.
We organised the van
and then I had a walk out to GOAT ISLAND as the tide was low. A train passed
along the railway line as I was walking down. It was a very rocky walk to the
island. The island consisted of two peaks. I walked around part of the island
and through its interior. I found a small cave on the other side of the island
that smelt of bat. I walked back through the interior and climbed one of the
peaks. Such a good view. I rested there and thought about king of the mountain.
After a shower and
dinner, Jacinta and I had a late afternoon walk along the rocky shore of the
bay and its small intermittent beaches. The wind had dropped to nil.
14 FEBRUARY
ULVERSTONE
After breakfast, we
drove to the PENGUIN MOUNTAIN BIKE PARK. I rode the green level with a little
bit of a blue run. The ride started off uphill and into a long slightly
downhill transverse and then a heap of fun downhill with nice berms. It ended
with a leg aching uphill and down to the carpark. I did the circuit twice. The
second run was better for me and I rode the berms the best I ever have - look
where you want to go, follow the line and be confident.
At the promenade at
PENGUIN, we had coffee and watched the small waves breaking. I wandered along
the beach and Jacinta did some food shopping.
On the way back to
camp we stopped to admire the view of the THREE SISTERS RESERVE (3 islands)
which was very pretty.
The wind had dropped
off today and was blowing lightly from the west. The waves had become very
small. The coastline looked so pretty with farmhouses on one side of the road
and a railway line on the other followed by the mainly rocky coastline.
Later, in the night, we stargazed.
15 FEBRUARY
An excellent day. no clouds and warm. Time to move on towards the mountains.
Motorbike hire – 100 000R
with a full tank of petrol
Boat snorkelling tour –
500 000R
Entry fee into Bira Beach area
– a one off fee of 20 000r per person
THE ARRIVAL
It was a long drive from
Makassar to Bira. Arus was a careful driver. The roads were good except for a
section just after leaving Makassar.
We stopped in some town
for lunch and coffee.
Ar Bira, we stopped at
Riswan Homestay and met Riswan himself. The rooms were small, clean and basic.
He also had another guesthouse ‘Puri View Inn’. We drove over to the other side
of Bira to look at the rooms. It looked okay and finally he showed us one more
room which was very large, tables and chairs, a good size balcony and a view
over the ocean. The room itself was made entirely from varnished timber. It
looked great so we took it and said our farewells to Arus.
On another day I checked
out a couple of other4 hotels. They also had good rooms but they were twice the
cost.
RISWAN
Riswan was the owner of
the hotel. He had a dry sense of humour.
One day he told us that hundreds
of his chickens just died. He also owned a chicken farm. The cause he feels was
the stress from the latest weather extremes of cold nights and hot/dry days.
THE BEACHES
Bira Beach
I started most days with a
stroll down to the beach and a swim. The water was a bit chilly and it was very
quiet. I would stand on the beach watching the boats as the sun rose between
the hills and buildings.
During the rest of the
day, the beach could be quite crowded with Indonesian tourists from Makassar.
They would swim fully clothed. I always use to think that later that would be
so uncomfortable but they seemed to enjoy themselves so much.
Quite often people on the
beach would ask if they could have a photo of you and them. The asking of the
photo was amusing, It varied from very polite English and a prayer gesture with
their hands to a grunt and a abrupt come here wave. So now I have so many ‘friends’.
The beach at Bira was
white sand and very soft and fine. The waves were small and gently rolled
towards the shore. There were many boats moored just off to beach which offered
services to tourists.
We would walk along the
beach and pick a quiet and secluded spot to sit. The beach at this end was
lined with a 4 metre high limestone cliff. Jacinta would sit in the sun while I
sat in the shade of the cliff. A nice spot, where it was good to wade through
the water or sit and read.
Towards sunset, we would
walk down to the beach. I would have a swim on the beach followed by a beer
together while sitting on the sand watching the sun disappear below the
horizon. Nice!
East Beach
This was a wide white sand
beach. It was best at high tide. It was palm fringed with a few shaded spots
but watch out for falling coconuts. We would either sit on the beach in the
shade of the palms or on a nice wooden
platform when we ate food from Kaluku Cottages.
Bara Beach
This beach was on the
other side of the bay visible from Bira Beach. Generally, I think it was a
pretty beach though the road to the beach was very rough.
THE SNORKELING AT BIRA
It was an effort to get to
the drop off of the reef from the beach as the water was fairly shallow during thee
lowering tide. I maneuvered between coral outcrops and slight indentations in
the rocks to get to deeper water. I was well rewarded once past the shallow
waters with clear water, heaps of fish and coral, schools of fish and three
turtles. I drifted along with the current then had a difficult time getting to
shore as the water was even shallower. J
On another day, we had a
snorkel off the beach. The tide was higher than previously so getting out to
the drop off wasn’t as hard. We drifted with the current and saw heaps of fish
and some pretty coral.
SNORKELING BOAT TOUR
We organised our gear for
a snorkeling tour then set off for the beach to meet Oudin (the skipper of the
boat) at 8am, He readied his boat and off we went. It was a hard trip to the
uninhabited Goat Island. The wind was strong with a metre swell running against
us. The boat bumped and heaved along for about ½ hour in the blustery
conditions.
We moored on the sheltered
side of the island. The water was crystal clear, calm with a slow drift
current. Perfect. The corals were pristine and there was an enormous amount and
variety of fish and no one else was there. It was one of the best snorkels I
have had ever.
Oudin took us around to
the wild, windy and wavy side of the island to show us a monument on the
island.
Next, was Liuang Island,
which is opposite Bira. He beached the boat and I walked up to the guesthouse
on the edge of the beach to check it out. The rooms were good but ita bit much at 500 000r plus 50 000r per
person for meals and 300 000R for a boat drop off and pick up.
I had a snorkel while
Jacinta warmed up and baked on the island beach. Once again the water was clear
though there wasn’t as much coral or fish. Still, I saw a lot of clown fish.
We picked up Jaciinta from
the beach and motored back to Bira Beach.
THE MOTORBIKE
I went looking for a
motorbike to hire one morning but no luck. Everyone kept saying ‘tidak ada’,
not have but try Warung Bamboo. Eventually, I got to Warung Bamboo but thee
only bike they had looked very dodgy with bald tires and being dirty. I came
back to the hotel empty handed. Haha!
We decided to walk to the
Indomart just outside the main drag of Bira. Along the way, a friendly guy said
hello so I asked him about hiring a bike. Yes he said with a choice of two. He
hired his bike to us and we drove the rest of the way to the Indomart where we
stocked up biscuits, fruit, etc. We were pretty lucky as I nearly didn’t ask
him.
FOOD
The food at Bira is not
good. Not that it is unclean, it is just that there is no where to eat. BUT
there are heaps of warungs and restaurants all selling basically instant
noodles. No fruit, no variety!
At first, we ate a lot at
the Warung Bamboo. The food was okay but generally, it was a noisy place and
the tables were always dirty.
There was another restaurant
on stilts to the east of the beach. The cooking was done by a lady from Timor.
The food was good and the servings were big. The place was clean and it had an
excellent view. This was our favourite.
We also drove the
motorbike to Kakulu Cottages at East Beach which had excellent meals and a
great view over the beach.
There were a couple of
larger hotels with restaurants but they always seemed to be closed as they were
mainly dealing with packaged Indonesian tourist with a set buffet of dishes.
Why was the food so poor?
Who knows?
We cooked our own
breakfast at our hotel – weetbix, coffee and boiled eggs.
THE HIKE
I took the motor bike for
a ride over to the start of a nature hike. It was a pleasant hike with lots of
butterflies and calls from distant and well hidden birds. The lantana was thick
along the track edge making it difficult
to walk. I got a number of scratches. At
one point, there was a massive web across
the track with a huge spider and a number of babies on it.
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