Australian Scenic Drives – Tasmania’s East Coast

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Tasmania’s east coast is undoubtedly the most popular scenic coastal drive in the country and is a contrast to the rugged west coast. From the stunning white beaches and orange lichen rocks of the Bay of Fires, historic towns and sites, wineries and national parks like Freycinet with its pink granite mountains, white sand beaches and crystal clear blue sea.

We had a four day weekend so we decided to fly over from Melbourne and see and experience a part of Tasmania that I had always wanted to see but never got around to seeing until now.  Vaughan had last seen the East Coast on a school trip so he was keen for a re-visit. We decided to base ourselves centrally in the small coast town of Bicheno and booked ourselves a lovely Airbnb cabin just on the north side of town with amazing views over the coastline.

Launceston to Bicheno

We picked up our small hire car and headed south through historic Campbell Town which is worth a mention as it has a photogenic old church and the Red Bridge built in 1838 by convicts (penal labour). The bridge is the oldest surviving brick arch bridge in Australia and being on the main Midland Highway between Launceston and Hobart it has done well to survive carrying an estimated 2 million vehicles per year!

A turnoff just after Campbell Town takes you to the East Coast and past Lake Leake, a man-made water storage reservoir.

The first of our East Coast explorations was the wineries, we stopped at all of them  (Springvale, Milton, Gala Estate and Devil’s Corner)  except Freycinet, somehow we seemed to miss that one.  Probably a good job as we bought more bottles than we anticipated and we had three days to drink them or luggage them home was going to have some extra weight!! We bought some local cheese from Gala Estate which went down well with a bottle of Chardonnay that evening 🙂

The region is best known for its cool climate wines so naturally there were more whites than reds.  Springvale’s tasting room was an old stable and Gala Estate was also very photogenic with old historic buildings and relics including an old Morris Minor!

Devil’s Corner is a modern winery and has excellent food and the best views out towards Freycinet National Park.

Bicheno is a small town with great beaches, fabulous diving, a few small restaurant and cafe options and plenty of accommodation on hand.  It is also central to the main attractions of the East Coast like the Bay of Fires and Freycinet National Park.  There are a few things to see and do, on a warm day you can enjoy its white sand beaches and sheltered bay, a little further on is a surf beach.

An easy climb up to Whalers Lookout, which we did that afternoon, gives you great views over the town and The Gulch, a small channel that runs between the coastline and Governor Island.

The blow hole is worth a visit and it puts on a great show especially when the gullible stand right in its path and wonder why they get soaked!

Penguin tours are available to see the Little (Fairy) Penguin. We didn’t do this activity as we have seen them numerous times on Phillip Island back home.

Diving is supposed to be excellent here, something we will save for a next time visit 🙂

For good food I recommend the Three Spices (Middle Eastern flavours) which is a good lunch option and Pasini’s for dinner, their pizzas were excellent!

The Visitor Information Centre has great info on what to see and do in the area.

Bay of Fires

The Bay of Fires is a series of sugar white beaches and orange hued granite rocks from the lichen, that stretches for over 50 kilometres and starts in Binalong Bay in the south and finishes at Eddystone Point in the North.   Its one of the top attractions on the east coast and is a 45 minute drive north of Bicheno.  I have written a separate posting on the Bay Of Fires which you can read all about in – “Exploring the Bay of Fires”  We spent the day enjoying this area.

Freycinet National Park

In the other direction to Bicheno heading south is another must see destination on the East Coast – Freycinet National Park , its closest town being Coles Bay.  Freycinet peninsula is home to the stunning Wine Glass Bay as well as other equally stunning secluded bays and the dramatic granite peaks known as the Hazards. If you want to know more about this park then feel free to read my post  “Best Day Walks in Tasmania’s Freycinet National Park” where I have gone into detail about the fantastic day walk we did as well as other things to see and do in the park. 🙂

Coles Bay to Richmond

Coming down the coast further you will drive some lovely coastline and pass through some quaint historic towns like Swansea on the shores of Oyster Bay with its craft shops and old world charm.

As you head out of town take a look at spiky bridge built by convicts in 1843.

Further down the coast is the popular seaside town of Orford which lies on the Prosser River and is also the gateway to Maria Island National Park (which we have added to our bucket list!)

From Orford we left the East Coast and followed a very pretty drive along the A3 inland towards Hobart. We needed get back to Launceston airport and this is the only route!  If you want to continue on down the coast then you can take the minor road and this will join up with the Arthur Hwy which of course will take you to the famous Port Arthur historic site and other places of interest.  We didn’t have time and we have already seen Port Arthur in the past so we continued towards Richmond with a stop in historic Buckland to see what it is best known for – Its old historic church.

Buckland Church of St John the Baptist was convict built in 1846 and is a replica of the church of at Cookham Dean in Sussex, its 14th century stained glass window is its masterpiece. Standing looking at the church surrounded by English looking countryside I can honestly say it is like being in England!  If you are interested in plants then a little further down the road is the Tasmanian Bushland Garden known for its displays of endemic and rare Tasmanian east coast plants.  We didn’t have time so didn’t go in.

Richmond was our final stop before we took the highway north back to Launceston.   Richmond is definitely a place to visit and spend some time and it’s only a 30 minute drive from Hobart so an easy day trip.  The picture perfect historic town is a place to learn about Tasmania’s historic past. It has more than 50 Georgian buildings operating as cafe’s, restaurants, galleries and accommodation.

The town’s most photographed landmark is the Bridge spanning the Coal River and built by convicts in the 1820’s, it is the oldest bridge in Australia.  The day we were in Richmond was Australia day and it was very busy but we did manage to to find a table at Richmond Bakery and enjoy one of its many tasty pies followed by home-made ice cream at Sweets and Treats!

We did this trip in 4 days and easily covered all of what we wanted to see.  You can easily spend longer exploring the east coast if you wanted to add in overnight hikes in both Freycinet and Bay of Fires plus a visit to Maria Island, in fact you can spend weeks exploring the beautiful east coast, there is so much to enjoy.  I would put it high up on my list as one of the best places I have seen in Australia, it lived up to my expectations and we look forward to returning.

Visited: January 2016

If you have enjoyed the photos and would like to see more! then the complete gallery can be viewed in the Trip Photos