Watching the huge waves roll in at Kalk Bay with Jo

Jo and I had a marvellous time photographing huge waves crashing onto restaurants at Kalk Bay.  The seals and sea gulls also gave us a great show.  I fell even more in love with my new 18 - 300 mm lens and the versatility it gives me.

This colourful art was selling at a local stall.

Exploring the Wild Coast at Port St Johns

I have always wanted to visit The Wild Coast (formerly known as The Transkei) so was very excited to finally get the chance.

Highlights

• Driving through the thriving towns on the way to Mtatha, all bustling with humanity. 
• Arriving in Mtatha and discovering that our shuttle to Port St Johns was an African taxi!  The real deal. We travelled with the locals, driving like a bat out of hell at times through the mountainous roads and stopping many times to pick up locals along the road.  I loved it!
• The beautiful landscape - mountainous, hilly and green with lots of traditional houses along the way.
• Stopping at one point to watch the moon rise from the hills. Sublime stuff.
• The mellow vibes of The Jungle Monkey where we stayed. Sometimes a bit too mellow maybe as the food often took ages to arrive, if it arrived at all.  The staff were all extremely friendly though.
• The three friendly dogs and the one very grouchy, old St Bernard, who didn't like attention very much at all.
• A gorgeous hike along the coast with our friendly local guide, Buntu, and the dogs. The highlight of the hike was a slightly precarious climb down a cliff to view The Gap and Blowhole.  Also the beautiful rock art that Buntu created on the beach during our break.
• Being very tempted to swim in the ocean, but remembering Atony advice not to as Port St Johns has the most shark attacks in the world!  When we arrived back at The Jungle Monkey, we discovered that a local was attacked by a great white while we were hiking!! Thank you, Mr Boting for your sage advice!
• The mellow cows on the beach.
• The Vervet Monkeys "swearing" at the dogs from the trees. Very put out, they were.
• Going for a walk in the town and exploring the markets, then stopping at a river side restaurant for a nice milk-shake.
• Going for a drive with Mike, the friendly owner of the hostel, to the old airport high on a mountain top with amazing views down onto the river.  As we were driving towards the cliff face, Mike jokingly sped up in the car and I just about had kittens!  A total phobia for me it turns out.  Mike let the dogs out and let them run and I have never seen such speed and grace as I saw from the youngest one.  She's just built to run; a beautiful sight.  
• An early morning walk to The Lighthouse that had lovely views of the coast.
• Our relief when the shuttle arrived to take us back to Mtatha. Taxi's are apparently notoriously unreliable on a Sunday.
• Lazing on the grass with a group of fellow backpackers, eating delicious bran and banana muffins at the Mtatha Petrol Port, while waiting for The Baz bus. And a lovely double thick milkshake from The Spur. Their milkshakes are definitely better than their burgers!

We did a lovely hike along the coast with Buntu, a very friendly local guide, with the dogs in tow.

How's that for a stunning coastline!

This was the hairiest part of the climb: a steep climb down to view The Gap and Blowhole. Needless to say, the dogs didn't join us.

Enjoying the view from The Gap.

The dogs loved every minute of it.

Lots of cows on the beach.  Not a bad place for a cow to live, chilling on the sand.  Definitely free range!

Buntu created some beautiful stone art at rapid speed.

Some wildlife along the way: A very curious Vervet Monkey and a Giant Kingfisher that Chrisèl had been hoping to see.

Lovely plants and flowers.

The view from the lodge where the hike ended.

The Jungle Monkey -  a very mellow hostel. 

I absolutely loved their mirror. Every bathroom should have a mirror like this!

Exploring the town of Port St Johns

Enjoying the amazing view from The Airport at dusk.

A lovely morning walk to The Lighthouse.

The beautiful hills of The Transkei from the bus window.

Cape Point

What would a visit to Cape Town be without visiting the iconic landmark of Cape Point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean?

Highlights ...

• The steepish climb up to the lighthouse and a larger than life fellow South African lady doing a triumphant dance when she reached the top (so much better than and healthier than the bus!). 
• The beautiful panoramic views from the top of rugged cliffs and nestled beach coves.
• A lady asking Chrisèl to take a photo of her and then giving her "constructive" criticism on her photographic attempt and asking for another. Then more criticism and another requested attempt, and another ...  until Chrisèl politely but firmly returned the camera. 
• A lovely walk along the cliffs of the narrow peninsula to a view of the little lighthouse right at the tip. 
• The way the clouds lifted and the blue sky added to the colour of our photos.
• The melodic calls of the red winged starlings that seem to love Cape Point as much as the tourists.
• A deep discussion about life on the way home where, after a refreshing red cappuccino and sublime roast vegetable wrap at The Red Bean, we proceeded to pack for our Baz Bus trip leaving the next day.

Freycinet

It was wonderful to end our adventures in Tasmania with some rest and relaxation at the coast. Freycinet is a world renowned coastal mecca and with good reason.  The scenery is absolutely spectacular.

Here are the highlights of our time in Freycinet ...

• Delicious blue cheese, quince and crackers from a roadside cafe on the way to Freycinet followed by orgasmically good cherry ice-cream and succulent black cherries from another cafe further down the road. 
• Seeing the ocean after all our time in the mountains and an invigorating swim. 
• Our awesome accommodation in Coles Bay with its water view. Well found, Liz!
• Doing the Wine Glass Bay - Hazards Beach circuit (a 5 hour hike) including the iconic view of Wine Glass Bay from the mountain side and some nice group shots.
• A nice swim and a lovely sleep on the rocks of Wineglass Bay, listening to the waves. So relaxing. 
• A bracing and fun group swim on Hazards Beach where we had fun with Srini's GoPro and delayed getting out of the ocean to give Elizabeth time to chat up a sexy Polish diplomat. 
• Delicious Pagan Cider (a big thanks to JC for the recommendation) and fish and chips from the most disorganised takeaway joint in Tasmania. Still, we were so hungry by the time we got it, it tasted great.
• Running the 60+ minute climb to the Wineglass Bay Lookout in under 25 minutes to get my fleece which I'd left up there.  Unfortunately it was gone. 
• Taking lots of close up photos at Sleepy Bay and photos of its mesmerising sculptured orange rocks after being inspired by the photos of Wolfgang Glowacki at the visitor centre.
• A scrumptious final meal at a good restaurant "The Edge of the Bay."  My meal consisted of seafood chowder, Scollop Linguine and Chocolate Mousse. 

Wineglass Bay / Hazard's Beach Circuit

This lovely 5 hour walk took us up to the spectacular Wineglass Bay lookout.  Then we continued down to the sandy beach of the Wineglass Bay itself. From there, we hiked to Hazard's Beach and then further along the coast around the base of Mt Mayson back to our car.

A view on the way up to The Wineglass Lookout

The famous view of The Wineglass Bay from a boulder above the Look Out Point.

A great opportunity for a group photo.

Doing the famous Howard ponder!

From the Wineglass Look Out, we hiked down to the sandy beach of The Wineglass Bay itself.

This beach is bordered by gorgeous orange rocks that we made a bee line for.

I loved the bright orange against the green of the sea and blue of the sky.

The sun came out and it was time for a swim.

Of course, Srini had the same idea.  Not sure who loves the water more.

Then we sat on the rocks and chilled...

... which led to a group sleep.  So relaxing, with the sound of the waves sighing up the beach.

Srini out for the count!

Revived by our sleep, it was time for a leap!

Liz wasn't to be outdone.

From Wineglass Bay, we hiked onto Hazard's Beach....

... where we had a gorgeous group swim while Liz chatted up a sexy Polish diplomat.

Srini took his GoPro into the water and captured these stunning shots of Zante ....

... and Lauren

Here's the awesome video footage of the underwater swimming.

From Hazard's Beach, we hiked on along the coast ....

.... around the base of Mount Mayson

We saw some lovely wildlife on the way ...

... and some gorgeous flowers too.

I absolutely loved the "Grass Tree" (left)

Cape Tourville

After our hike, we drove onto Cape Tourville to enjoy its fantastic views up and down the coast.  I don't ever remember seeing ocean so blue.

Cape Tourville is home to a lighthouse.  The coastline around here is very treacherous.

Sleepy Bay

On our last full day, it was overcast and threatened to rain so we decided to chill out at Sleepy Bay instead of going for a long drive somewhere.  I'm so delighted we did.  I had no expectations, but it blew me away with it's amazing sculptured, colourful rocks.  Oh how I do love sculptured rocks!!

How beautiful is that!

Absolutely no-one can show off rocks like Srini. He really is my photographic muse.

This huge orange rock especially caught our imagination.

Before we went to Sleepy Bay, we spent some time in the visitor centre where we were entranced by the macro photography of Wolfgang Glowacki.  So when we arrived at the bay, we were inspired to try out lots of close ups.  Here is a selection of those photos.  It blows me away how much beauty there is in the little things.

Here are some people shots taken at Sleepy Bay...

Me in action ...

... then having a rest. Photography is hard work!

Srini taking in the wonder of it all ....

... then having a bit of a contemplation.

Home life

We stayed at an amazing house in Freycinet with a patio and a lovely view.  All our accommodation was organised by Liz.  She's a genius at finding amazing places that don't cost a lot.

Here I am making a local friend at the supermarket.

Places in Tasmania we visited

• Cradle Mountain National Park
• Lake St Clair National Park
• Mount Field National Park (The Tarn Shelf)
• Mount Field National Park (Tall Trees walk)
• Cathedral Peak (Mount Wellington)
• Freycinet
• Leaping in Tasmania
• Daily life on our trip
• Previous Tasmania visit (2008)

Photos by others in the group

• Lauren
• Liz
• Srini
• Zante