Lately
A weekend on the East Coast of Tasmania
Hello Everyone,
I hope this letter finds you well. Today, it’s time for another instalment of Lately…
My husband’s best friend has what Tasmanians call a “shack”, a small, rustic holiday home at the edge of the beach in a tiny little community called Dolphin Sands, on the East Coast of Tasmania. A few weekends ago, we were invited up to spend the afternoon with him and his family. Hubby and I decided, on the spur of the moment, to turn it into a weekend away, to revisit the place where we got engaged all those years ago. Very romantic, oui?
This part of the Island tends to get more sunny days than anywhere else, and I remember when we lived here for a short while over 10 years ago, we would often head up the East Coast in the depths of winter, chasing the sun. She didn’t disappoint us this time either; the sun was so delicious and constant and oh so warm that for the 24 hours we were here, it felt more like late summer than the early days of winter.
So, settle in and enjoy a little tour of the East Coast of Tasmania with me.
Lately…
If you remember, in our last Lately adventure, I started with the view from the toilet. Why not start a tradition? Let me introduce you to the “loo with a view”. It’s such an epic view I had to break it up into 2 photos!
I’m not sure those pictures did it justice, so here’s a video:
What if this were your local supermarket?
The Shack
One thing I’ve come to appreciate about Tasmania is its enduring love affair with the humble shack. Some shacks along the coastline here are quite spectacular, and often provide a means of income through holiday letting, but for most families, their shack is a tumbledown, humble abode. The furniture is often decades out of date, the cupboards don’t quite match, and there is usually a collection of well-loved odds and ends that would have long ago been discarded elsewhere. That was certainly true of our friends shack, but that is precisely the point.
A shack is not a place that has been carefully curated for appearances. It is a place that has been lived in. It’s a place to come and be with family, to enjoy the rugged wilderness and reconnect with your true essence.
The Tassie shack is where generations learnt to fish from nearby jetties, played cards around kitchen tables, watched storms roll in from the sea and returned year after year to the same patch of coastline. More often than not they’re passed down from generation to generation, and having a shack does not equal wealth, it’s not only the rich who have shacks here, because they are not a status symbol, they’re a way of life.
The Tassie shack represents a different set of values to those celebrated by the modern world. They aren’t about status or perfection. They are about belonging.
In an age where everything seems to demand improvement, renovation or reinvention, the Tasmanian shack remains wonderfully resistant. It asks only that you arrive, put the kettle on, and settle into the familiar rhythm of a place that remembers you.
The shack’s backyard:
After an afternoon spent wandering beaches and collecting shells, we headed 40 minutes up the road to Freycinet National Park, the place where hubby popped the question 14 years ago, and I had the good sense to say yes.
The French Connection
As it turns out, Freycinet has its own love story, though this one belongs to the French. The peninsula takes its name from Louis de Freycinet, a French naval officer who sailed with Nicolas Baudin’s expedition along Tasmania’s coast in the early 1800s. During their exploration, the French corrected an earlier assumption made by Abel Tasman, who believed the landform was a chain of islands. Recognising it as a peninsula, they named it in honour of the Freycinet brothers, fellow officers on the voyage.
More than two centuries later, traces of that French connection remain scattered along Tasmania’s east coast in place names such as Cape Baudin and Cape Forestier. I often wonder what Tasmania would have been if the French had continued their colonisation of the Island. Our food and wine is so heavily influenced by those first French settlers, I can’t help but wonder what might have been.
Here’s the drive into Freycinet National Park and the Lodge where we stayed. The mountain range you see peeking out above the trees are The Hazards, named after Captain Richard Hazard, an African-American sealing and whaling captain working Tasmania’s east coast in the early 1800s, a much darker part of Tasmanian history for sure.
The first time I visited The Hazards, my entire body hummed. This was long before I became an energy healer, before I had any real understanding of energy, but even then I knew I was standing in a place of immense power.
Ten years later, returning after so long away, I recognised that feeling immediately. As we drew closer to the mountains, my hands began to tingle, as though the land itself was greeting an old friend.
One day, I would love to host an energy healing retreat beneath these glorious peaks. If my own experience is anything to go by, the healings, awakenings and transformations that could unfold here would be profound.
Freycinet National Park and Lodge.
The eco-lodge where we stayed sits in the centre of the park and is a rare treat. Everything about it is designed for understated comfort, but puts you right in the centre of the wilderness. The gentle sound of the ocean lapping in the bay, the canopy of stars above you, the sound of wildlife as you stroll to your cabin after dinner. And the food! We have stayed here twice now, and both times our minds were completely blown by the freshness, taste and presentation of the food. I ordered the wild mushroom risotto and I’m afraid I will never eat another mushroom risotto ever again because nothing will ever compare to that dish. They have ruined mushroom risotto for me!
The sunset speaks for itself. Just around the corner from where I took these shots was an outdoor bar, buzzing with people, but everyone grew silent as the sunset deepened and we all spent a few minutes in awestruck solidarity, smitten with the beauty of nature.
And after a comfortable night's sleep
Now, pay attention to the side of the road in this video.
And to finish our little adventure, the view from the mountain peak.
Thanks for coming on the journey with me,
What a gorgeous place to be. So happy you were there and decided to share its beauty with us! Thank you. ❤️