I had VERY NOBLE INTENTIONS of waking up early pre-sunset, then driving into Bay of Fires to watch the sun come up over the ocean. Instead, I woke up in St. Helens right at sunrise, saw the sky was steel-grey and completely clouded over, and decided to have a more leisurely morning.
Leisurely, of course, meant getting breakfast.
I found out with some delight that a nearby spot I saw last night was also open at 8:00am. I found it during last night’s walk, when I came upon this sign:
I followed the arrow until I saw this spot, teeming with people. I’d just eaten and didn’t feel like having a drink, and I also didn’t see any cinema at first glance. I passed it by, thinking I might stop by after my Bay of Fires plans on the morrow.
So! This morning, I packed up the car and headed over to Easy Tiger. It turns out that this place is indeed a micro-screen first-run movie theater, as well as a brewery, a Thai restaurant, a coffee house, and a local music venue. And the “tiger” of the name isn’t just any tiger, it’s a Tasmanian tiger. THEIR LOGO IS A THYLACINE.
It turns out that Easy Tiger is pretty empty at 8:00am on a Thursday morning just after the tourist high-season. They also didn’t serve meals in the morning, but they did have baked goods and some excellent coffee.
I also discovered they had swag, so I bought a hoodie because their LOGO is a THYLACINE.
Ready to face a cloudy morning at the Bay of Fires, I hopped into the rental car and drove north about 10km to Jeanneret Beach, one of several beaches of the bay. When I parked the car in a grassy area just feet away from beach sand, I contemplated what gear I wanted to bring with me. With the clouds, I doubted I could get any good photos on the big new camera, so I left it in the car. I did, however, grab my Nikon binoculars, a big beach hat, and some aquasocks.
When I walked out onto the sand, I quickly started to realize why the Bay of Fires is one of the beloved parts of Tasmania.
First of all, the sand is the color and texture of sugar. While the tide was outbound at the moment and was thus leaving patches of kelp here and there, it was impossible not to admire the beautiful, fine sand. I waded just into the cool waves and enjoyed the feeling of the sand flowing around my feet when the water moved.
Secondly, these beaches are framed by large granite boulders covered with patches of bright orange-red lichen.
* Lichen is actually two organisms functioning as one: an algae and a fungus. Each lichen “species” consists of a specific pairing of algae and fungus. Weird stuff!
Since I wasn’t running around trying to do photography due to the light, I picked a spot on one of the rocks and just sat for a long while, watching the waves break. This particular patch of water was fascinating, because the waves often whipped up into perfect curls before they broke on the beach.
Then, suddenly… the sun broke through the clouds. I immediately saw the third famous thing about Bay of Fires: the water is turquoise when the sun catches it.
I ran back to my car for the camera.
I spent the whole morning at the Bay of Fires, a couple hours longer than I’d originally intended. I fiddled with my new camera until it took a couple good photos. I stalked some birds around the beach. I eventually found a couple tide pools and just sat, staring at transparent shrimp, tiny fish, hundreds of snails, and one solitary shore crab. I cultivated a mild sunburn.
And I saw only four other people the entire time I was there.
