Lillico Beach

Lillico Beach Conservation Area, 6km west of Devonport alongside the Bass Highway, is a beautiful spot during the day (coastal bush with pebbles, rocks and a boardwalk, but no sand) and wonderful around dusk when a colony of fairy penguins come in for the night after a day of fishing in the open ocean.



Between October and April, volunteer guides are on hand to provide information and use red light torches so visitors can see the penguins clearly from viewing platforms. The highlight of the viewing experience is seeing the little penguins emerge from the sea and make their way over the rocks and up the beach to their burrows. The walkway is wheelchair friendly.

Braddons Lookout

9 km east via Bass Highway and Braddons Lookout Road

Braddons Lookout, located on the Upper Forth Road (enter from the Bass Highway on the eastern side of the Forth River Bridge) offers excellent views over both the coast and the hinterland. It is said that on a clear day it is possible to see Cradle Mountain to the south.



Braddons Lookout was named after Sir Edward Nicholas Coventry Braddon who, after a long career in the British civil service, arrived in Tasmania in 1878, entered state parliament in 1879 and was premier from 1894-99. The lookout stands on the site of Sir Edward Braddon's home. A secondary platform with a low fence improves the view for people in wheelchairs who may be unable to see over the stone wall that surrounds the main viewing platform. Eight plaques are dedicated to prominent local businesses, such as vegetable processing company Harvest Moon, while the others explore local history and historical figures such as Braddon himself.

Turners Beach

While Tasmania's north-west is famously known for the iconic Cradle Mountain and wilderness adventures, lesser known are its beaches, which are not only among the best in Tasmania, they rival some in states which have built their repulation on their ribbons of clean golden sand. Turners Beach and Leith are two localities on the shores of Bass Strait that are blessed with superb beaches, serene pieces of beach paradise that are untouched by the masses. Turners Beach and Leith sit on either side of the mouth of the River Forth where it empties into Bass Strait. The beaches are big and wide, with plenty of room for young travellers to stretch their legs and run off some energy. According to the local fishermen, the salmon and mullet run thick and fast in the river mouth of the Forth.

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Turners Beach Berry Patch

Tasmania is famous for its berries, and if you like the thought of picking your own, Turners Beach Berry Patch is a place where you can do this. If you'd rather not pick your owm, there are pre-picked raspberries and strawberries available. Gluten-free options available. The Berry Patch also has a cafe serving zesty berry ice-cream or freshly ground coffee, or you can relax over lunch, morning and afternoon teas, or enjoy a wood fired pizza as we did. Gluten-free options available and you also have an option of indoor and outdoor dining. Open daily from 9am to 5pm, winter opening hours from 10am to 4pm (Closed public holidays and during June). Phone (03) 6428 3967, 0400 173 737.

Forth

When it comes to small towns in Tasmania, Forth definitely ranks as one of the most scenic, as well as one of the oldest. Nestled on the banks of River Forth, it is only a 13 kilometre drive from the city of Devonport. Being just 'up the road' from Devonport makes it a great place to kick off your exploration of the state if you are arriving by the Spirit of Tasmania.

Previously known as Hamilton-on-Forth, the village predates the larger settlement of Devonport. James Fenton, a young man of Irish descent came to the Forth estuary in 1839 in search of arable land. Assisted by his hired male companion, he erected the first European edifice in the district, and in 1840 returned to take up permanent settlement.



The steep, narrow Claytons Beach is composed of cobbles and fronted by uniform cobble flats up to 100 metres wide. It is backed by drained grass-covered wetlands, the old railway line, with the highway 500 metres to the south and no direct public access. The Fish Pond, inside two recurved cobble spits that have converged on the point to partly enclose a shallow 100 metre wide embayment, is located to the east of Claytons Beach. A small stream drains out of the pond at its western end. No direct public access.

Ulverstone

The main ocean beach at Ulverstone, Buttons Beach (above) is a 2.7 km long north-facing ribbon of clean sand, bordered by the 1 km long training wall of the River Leven in the west and the low rocks of The Fish Pond in the east. The Ulverstone Surf Life Saving Club is located toward the centre of the beach. The small Buttons Creek drains out across the centre of the beach.

Picnic Point and Buttons beaches are moderately safe for swimming under normal low wave conditions, apart from near the exposed and submerged rocks. During higher waves rips can also form in the low tide surf zone and around the rocks. The safest swimming is in the patrolled area in front of the surf club, otherwise at mid to high tide away from the rocks.

Picnic Point Beach

Picnic Point Beach (above) commences immediately west of Picnic Point near Ulverstone and extends for 1.8 km to Goat Island. It is initially a cobble high tide beach, containing rock outcrops and intertidal rock flats. As it extends to the east the cobbles are replaced by a narrow high tide sand beach fronted by a mixture of rock flats and a 100 m wide low tide terrace. It is backed by a narrow reserve then the road, with houses increasing to the east. Waves average less than 1 metre and spill across the low gradient beach and flats.



Between Penguin and Ulverstone are a group of small granite offshore islands known as The Three Sisters. Goat Island (above) to their east is accessible at low tide -but be very careful not to get stranded. The island is a beschcombers paradise - there are jagged edges, fiery lichen, unusual seaweed, muscles, a cave and a fishing pool that's big enough to swim in. Goat Island even houses a breeding colony of little penguins.



The Three Sisters island group (above) has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because, with up to 400 breeding pairs, it supports over 1 percent of the world population of black-faced cormorants. Because landings are difficult owing to the lack of beaches and safe anchoring points they are little affected by human visitation and disturbance, although Australian fur seals haul-out on the lowest of them. Pacific gulls and sooty oystercatchers breed there every year in small numbers, and Caspian terns have nested there. White-bellied sea-eagles forage around the islands.



Nakaervis Reserve (qbove) runs along the shoreline opposite the Three Sisters island group. On the western side of the point there is a small beach, but to access it, one must cross the railway line. Though there are only a few trains travelling the line each day, care must still be taken doing this as the line is in regular use by freight trains.


Neptune silver mine site

The site of the Neptune silver mine is just outside of the town on the eastern side on the coastal road to Ulverstone. It was here, in 1850, that silver ore was first discovered by James 'Philosopher' Smith, an indifatigable Tasmanian explorer. By 1871, Penguin Silver Mines Co. had sunk a permenant shaft from which some of the richest sampled had yielded ore as high as 157 oz. to the ton. The ore also contained considerable quantities of copper, nickel, cobalt, lead, arsenic, sulphur, manganese and a small portion of gold. The mine, however, did not live up to expectations, and was soon cloded and the shaft filled in. The site is marked with information signs but little evidence of the mine remains. Please take care if you cross the railway line looking for the mine site as goods trains do pass along along it every day.

Penguin

The little town of Penguin sits midway between Burnie and Ulverstone on Tasmania's Bass Strait coast. It's one of those pretty places that you can keep coming back to time and time again and never get tired of. Though it gained its name from the fairy penguin colonies which dot the coast in this part of Tasmania, you will be unlikely see one of the cute little critters as you saunter along the north-facing Penguin Esplanade, but the chance of seeing a sunbeam shimmering off the sea is likely. And if you are very lucky - and it has happened to me - you might catch a pod of dolphins at plasy or even a whale on its way up or down the coast



Preservation Bay, between Pentuin and Burnie on the old coast road, is one of the prettiest beaches on Tasmania's Bass Strait. It features a north-facing curved ribbon of sand set between low rocky bluffs. There is good access to the beach from the large car park next to the Penguin Surf Life Saving Club located behind the rocky shore at the eastern end. It is a popular swimming beach, hoever rips do occur during higher waves at low tide, with a strong rip running out against the eastern clubhouse rocks during northwest wave conditions.

It is common belief that George Bass and Matthew Flinders came ashore here to take on fresh water in 1798. Contrary to popular belief, the bay was not named by James Cook (he came nowhere near the place) but recalls a visit by three early European settlers who took refuge here in 1845 when the whaleboat they were sailing in was amost swamped in a storm. They camped for the night here, then sailed on to Emu Bay (Burnie).



Sulphur Creek, beyond Preservation Bay, has a curving 250 metre long sandy beach bordered by rocky shore and boulders. Volcanic activity has been the main determinant of the current landscape of North-West Tasmania. Weathering of the numerous lava flows has resulted in both the rich red soils so important to the agricultural industry and very prominent landforms, such as the amazing rock formations lining the shore near the boat ramp here.

Sulphur Creek is reputedly named because of the perceived smell of sulphur in the area when first explored by Europeans. Sulphur is associated with volcanic activity. This site is very interesting in that it contains rocks from the geological period just prior to, and the geological period following the most violent period of volcanic activity when chains of volcanoes formed across Tasmania.

Blythe Heads

Blythe Heads is where the Blythe River enters Bass Strait and the coastal road joins Bass Highway. The highway runs around the base of Titan Point (eastern side of Blythe River) and clips the western end of Blythe Mouth beach with a seawall backing the first 200 metres of the beach.



To the east of the Blythe River is a 200 metre long section of rocky shore and rock flats, followed by a beach which curves to the east, terminating at a low protruding rocky point. This is a narrow sandy high tide beach, backed by some cobbles and fronted by ridged rock flats. The community of Heybridge is located on the southern side of the highway. Blythe Point is the home of the Max Stonehouse Woodchop arena, Blythe Heads Azmens Club and the annual Blythe Heads woodchopping carnival.



The shore of Round Hill Point consists of a strip of high tide cobbles, fronted by ridges of metasedimentary rocks and intertidal rock flats. The railway line clips the rear of the beach. The once 400 metre long beach around the point now consists of an 70 metre long wedge of sand between the western boundary rocks and the seawall, where the small Chasm Creek drains out against the rocks.

BURNIE WEATHER