The end of the road

About an hour and 20 minutes drive south of our place is the end of the road. Cockle Creek is the farthest south you can drive in Australia. It also marks the start (or end) of the South Coast Track, one of the greatest bushwalks in the country. Right now, I don't have the experience, skills or fitness required to do it.

From Cockle Creek we walked to Fishers Point, where there is a navigation light and the ruins of an old pilot station. The area has amazing history attached to it. The walk goes along the south side of Recherche Bay, which was discovered by French admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux in 1792 and named after his ship. The area was once home to more than 1000 people and even two pubs when the whaling stations were in operation, between 1830 and 1850.

We saw aboriginal middens, remants of bricks and David spotted a fragment of crockery on the beach, white decorated with lilac. I also saw a snake for the first time since we moved to Tasmania! I think it was a small white-lipped snake (whipsnake) but wasn't about to get closer to look. It slipped away beneath the rocks on the shoreline.

While the beaches and rocks are beautiful, I most enjoyed the view opposite the walk, into the Southwest National Park, part of Tasmania's Wilderness World Heritage area. Lined up in a neat little row were some magnificent peaks, each shaped differently, including Mt. La Perouse, The Cockscomb, The Hippo, Adamsons Peak and The Calf.