Friendly beach is located just north of Coles Bay and is part of the Freycinet National Park. We decided to check it out one afternoon thinking that the amiable beach name, warranted a visit.  I guess I expected to find lots of friendly people there, but instead we found this beautiful beach that went on for miles and miles with not a single-other-soul around.  It was a very blustery day so Kingsley did what any expert paraglider would do and pulled out his four line mini kite to test its "high winds" limits.  See the somewhat blurry video below. 

Wineglass bay is perhaps one of the best known tourist spots in Tasmania.  There is a lookout point that you can hike to which is incredibly popular, however, reading reviews on how many people do this hike everyday made me a little skittish that it might not be worth it.  Walking in the heat of the day surrounded by hundreds of other people is exactly why we were taking a break from Singapore over the holidays. But don't be alarmed,  I have become a clever little traveler and have learned over the years to try and do the busiest most popular things on days when most other people have other things to do.  Christmas day being an ideal example.  So, after a delicious Christmas campsite "breakie",  we began our hike up to the Wineglass bay lookout point without a single soul in site!  It was a glorious day for a hike and the spectacular view at the top was the icing on our Christmas cake! 

This is the overflow parking lot which is usually full of tourists cars but on Christmas day all we found were a few friendly wallabies. 

We rented our little caravan from Tascamper, which is owned by a lovely guy named Peter.  We had a wonderful experience working with Tascamper and would highly recommend this company should you ever find yourself in need of a caravan in Tasmania.  The caravans are clean, well maintained, have a comfy bed and come with an awning and table and chairs.  Which in my opinion are essential items when camping but surprisingly many companies did not offer these items with the caravans.  

In addition, Kingsley and I brought along a few of our own items to make everything a bit more homey and festive. The most important of those obviously being the Rudolf antlers and nose and the battery powered led Christmas lights.  All in all our Rudolf caravan was just perfect for the two of us. 

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. 

December is often the rainiest month in Singapore with big thunderstorms that roll through for an hour or two each day torrentially covering the city and then drifting back out to sea.  Here are a few awesome photos of a waterspout that went directly over our condo and then out to sea. The power of Mother Nature always leaves me in awe. 

In early December I made a quick trip to Seattle, as my mom went through a fairly major surgery.  It was a week and a half of high stress and very little sleep. However,  the surgery went exactly as expected and my mom is now, thankfully, recovering very well.  Despite a very limited social agenda, I will still able to squeeze in a visit with a few friends AND to sneak in a quick visit to Santa with my friend Jen.