If I lean back from my seat at the breakfast bar, I can see a silver sea meeting a pink sky. It is a beautiful sunset over Scamander, and a balmy 18 degrees makes it about the perfect end to the day. Adding to the joy is an excellent milk stout from my new friends at Iron House Brewery. Robyn is enjoying the Pinot Grigio she bought from Iron Pot Winery on Monday. But, let us start at the beginning.

The day dawned clear and bright. Our fears for a cold morning were soon put to rest - we had been prepared for cold weather that so far has not appeared. Not disappointed there. Also, there has been barely a light silver cloud in the sky, and nothing even looking like rain. Even the wind has stayed away.

The sun beamed down on us as we headed south toward Bicheno. In a sheltered bay, we saw the famous blowhole. Actually, it was pretty tame, but the other tourists loved it. Prominent among these was a good proportion of Asian visitors. They stood patiently waiting for the next big wave to shoot water into the sky. True to their stereotype, they take lots of photos of themselves, their girlfriends, and whatever they came to see. However, most did not even take the time to look around the bay.

Tourists; Oh! and a blowhole spouting water into the air.

I drove to a coastal spot in north Bicheno and found a seafood shop selling lobster at $120/Kg. I settled for a $15 lobster roll. It tastes like the red claw crayfish we get out of the Fairbairn dam at Emerald. Then we went into town for morning tea. The cafe (Pasini's) didn't have anything we wanted to eat, so Robyn just had tea, and I just had (excellent) coffee.

Across the road is a bakery. I had a mini quiche, and Robyn thought she should try one also. She also decided that the jelly cakes looked good, but restricted herself to just one :- restraint!

The drive back through Bicheno was beautiful. It is a pretty town with the sea so blue and the granite boulders so different to anything we are familiar with. The view from the road further north can be good too.

We drove north through Scamander, and on the St Helens. This is the regional centre, and the biggest town for many miles. Robyn bought sunglasses, and then we drove on to Pyengana. There is a cheese factory there. Attached to this is a dairy, and a cafe. They make cheddar in its various forms. Mild, matured, and enhanced with things- caraway seeds, chilli etc.

 We had lunch. Robyn had a cheese sandwich (special order), and I had the Farmer's Lunch (Cheese, pickles, Fevre, Ham, onions, relish). Both were good, but struggled to eat all the cheese; Robyn helped. I bought a bottle of milk stout (made by Iron House Brewery, which is just down the road from Scamander) for tonight.

Our walk for today was St Columba Falls, just a few kilometers past the cheese factory. It was only seven hundred meters to the lookout at the base of the falls, but the track somewhat inclined (steep !). It was lined with tree ferns and crossed two sidestreams.

There were tree ferns all along the track.

The falls themselves were impressive, but somewhat tamed by a lack of recent rain. They looked better in real life than the picture shows.

St Columba Falls near Pyengana

After zooming down the mountain, we headed back into St Helens; then to Binalong Bay.


 Binalong Bay is a separatley named bay at the bottom of the Bay of Fires. It is a popular bathing spot. The small waves rolling over the bathing tourists were the greenest I've ever seen. I could see through them, like light green glass. Beautiful.

Green sea and pretty girl.

We continued along the bay. It is an open bay, consisting of several white sandy beaches, interrupted by outcrops of granite. Those rocks were typically coloured yellow or orange by lichens growing on them.

Robyn and orange lichens clinging to a granite outcrop.

The northern boundary  of the bay is known as The Gardens. The road had narrowed to a country lane as we approached this point, and turned at right angles around individual farm houses. We were reminded very strongly of Ireland (Sheep's Head Peninsula in particular).  At the end was another granite outcrop and more orange lichen.

As the sun began to set, we headed for home. It took us less than an hour, and we arrived before dark.

Now...about that beer.

Til tomorrow... bye for now