Beautiful Coles Bay was the first stop on our 10 day caravan trek around Tasmania.  Coles bay, and the east coast of Tasmania in general is just beautiful.  We couldn't get over how few people we encountered on these stunning beaches.  Kingsley and I stayed at the Big4 Illuka Freycinet Holiday Park in Coles Bay which sits right at the entrance of the Freycinet peninsula and National Park. The Holiday Park was clean with a lovely mini mart and restaurant and an easy two minute amble to arrive at the beach.  The only downside of the Caravan park was the lack of trees and shade,  we were initially placed in a dry dusty site with no grass, trees or sun protection.  Once I had a look at it I went back to the front desk and firmly asked for something else.  With a bit of creative juggling, they were able to move us to campsite 133 which had grass and more trees and privacy which worked perfectly for us.  Our first night in the campsite I tested out my new portable kitchen and made us Kangaroo burgers which were delicious. 

Picnic lunch at Prosser Bay, on our way up the coast.  We stopped here for lunch a little nap (after our red eye flight from Singapore) and some kite flying on our way up to Coles Bay. 

Unfortunately our crazy travel adventures began early this trip when on our first night at the Caravan park Kingsley left the headlights on overnight.   On Christmas Eve we woke to a dead battery.  I wanted to go immediately to our campsite neighbors and beg for jumper cables but Kingsley insisted he knew this "old school" way to do a rolling jump start.  The only thing required was for me to "give it a little push".   Somehow I got myself roped into this crazy idea and found myself behind our camper van pushing with all my might!  The video below is just hilarious but captures perfectly our haphazard scheme and our eventual, surprising success. 

The stunning skies and beautiful deserted beaches were exactly what we need to unwind and reset ourselves from the furiously paced last few months.  We stayed in Coles Bay for four nights which is the minimum stay during peak season and for  us that was just the right amount of time to see the sites, and get ourselves into vacation mode.

On Boxing day and our last day in Coles Bay, we were discovered by a three legged dog on the beach named Tipi.  Tipi is the self appointed beach seagull hunter.  You can't imagine how impressive it is to see a three legged dog run down a beach, falling often but always righting her self again and carrying on.  Her determination and grit was inspiring to watch and left an impression on both Kingsley and I.