Bicheno

It was really warm when we set out this morning but we didn’t get very far as 2kms down the road, Gordon had another issue with his bike. That took about 40 mins to sort, by which time, the clouds had gathered and the temperature dropped. But it stayed dry.

A quick detour took us down a dirt track to Friendly Beaches to the edge of the Ocean before riding on towards Bicheno. 

Many places round here have French sounding names, little villages, rivers, reserves named after French explorers and botanists who came here in the 1700 and 1800s, some at the direct behest of Napoleon Bonapart, and some places named after notable French of the time - Freycinet was an admiral. However, Bicheno who sounds very French, was a Brit - James Ebenezer Bicheno, Colonial secretary for Van Diemen’s Land, and its main claim to fame was the doscovery of coal in the mid 1840s although the coal soon ran out.

Quite by accident, we found another blowhole in Bicheno, this time much more impressive than the one in DooTown. Every wave sent a plume skyward, it crashing down on the now very smooth granite blocks that form a jagged raised pavenent at the spot.

Some of the rocks there are covered with different coloured algaes, making it look like the rocks have been painted - oranges, rust colours, blacks.

The coastline going north is pretty wild and open, with a few little places dotted here and there, We carried on to the Bay of fires and free camped in the National Park right on the beach, with the sound of waves crashing down onto the sand for company. 

The noise is quite comforting, regular and unending muted thumps as water is driven onto the sand. 

I never really understood why waves are called white horses, but watching them as they break then jostle for position as they  propel towards the sand, I can sort of see that they do look a bit like galloping wild things. But I doubt I would have  thought to call them white horses. 

But all that energy released onto beaches all over the world for free on a daily basis, I wonder why it was never really harnessed in days gone by. I mean, they used it to travel and explore but how come its actual energy was never used? Maybe there wasn’t the need, or maybe land based things were plentiful and easier to utilise. Or maybe the ocean was regarded as something to endure and stay away from unless you had to be on it. Who knows. But I’ve often wondered about the lack of waterside cultures and their non use of what is right there.

We had a good fire tonight. You can't collect or burn anything in National Parks but State Reserves are ok to take dead or fallen wood from. It’s nice and dry too and because its gum wood, it smells good when it burns.

The eucalypts are particularly zingy up here. I don’t know whether its the coastal air or the heavy rain that has fallen recently and soaked the soil and made the air damp, or if its the sea air or just coincidence, but the odour really lozenges your lungs and makes them feel all fresh and clean.Lovely.

The starts are  particularly fabulous tonight, and the moon  very bright. I’m getting to grips with Orion and his belt, Venus, Pluto and the Southern Cross, thanks to my phone app. Good old Mr Apple. But those constellation patterns are something else; what’s that all about? They are just stars scattered in patterns across the universe and they don’t look in the slightest bit like  goats or chickens or bulls or whatever it was that the ancients thought they did. Well, at least not to me.