The beach in Tasmania that doesn't look like Australia

There's a stretch of coastline on Tasmania's east coast called the Bay of Fires, and the first time you see it, you'll assume something's wrong with your eyes.

White sand — properly white, not off-white. Water so clear and turquoise it looks like someone's adjusted the settings. And scattered along the shoreline, enormous granite boulders covered in bright orange lichen that glow in the afternoon light like they're lit from inside.

It doesn't look like Australia. It looks like someone cut a piece of coastline from the Caribbean and dropped it into the Tasman Sea, then added rocks from another planet for good measure.

We drove there from St Helens on our east coast caravan trip and spent the whole day. Swimming (cold, but worth it), walking, sitting on the rocks eating lunch, and trying to take photos that captured what we were seeing. They didn't. You have to go.

The Bay of Fires is part of a longer east coast drive that includes Derby, Pipers Brook and other local wineries, the Lobster Shack in Bicheno, Devil's Corner winery with its views of the Hazards, and a Wineglass Bay cruise with Pennicott Wilderness Tours that poured us bubbles before 10am and kept us transfixed all day.

I wrote the whole thing up this week: Tasmania's East Coast by Caravan: The Drive That Keeps Getting Better

See you next Friday.

— Robert