Travelways

SUDDENLY, we are at leisure.

It has already been a big day. Alarm clocks go off before 6am so we can be at Coles Bay by eight.

There is a morning paddling the bay, a lunch at the bakery and an afternoon water taxi ride to Hazards Beach for a leisurely self- guided stroll to Wineglass Bay.

This is the Freycinet in a Day tour run by Freycinet Adventures. We finish the paddle, scoff pies and milkshakes and await the water taxi when the wind blows up.

It's too rough for the water and I'm secretly pleased because we can beetle back towards home at our leisure.

Organised tours are wonderful but so is the freedom of running your own show.

We are sheltering in the office of Wineglass Bay Cruises and chatting to Irene Sinclair, who runs the business with husband Duncan.

We start talking about the area and it occurs to me that the boy has been asking to do the Wineglass Bay walk for some time.

Mrs Sinclair helps out by suggesting we slip up to Cape Tourville before heading along to Wineglass.

As plans go, this one's being made up as we go along - it's perfect.

We drive the winding eight kilometres to Cape Tourville and set out for the 20-minute walk circuit. This is a level, wheelchair- friendly circuit, with occasional stone benches upon which to rest a weary butt.

There are interpretation boards aplenty and views of the stunning East Coast. If we had walked anti- clockwise, we might have better appreciated the lengths of various sea creatures marked out on the boardwalk, but we've passed several whale extremities before we notice that the common dolphin might grow to 2.5 metres and a bluefin tuna could stretch to 2.4 metres.

We gaze over the coast south to Wineglass Bay, appreciating a wild, overcast day for the contrast it gives to the airbrushed summer image of Wineglass.

On the topic of airbrushing, one of the interpretation boards at Cape Tourville proclaims the following about the bay: "Origin of name unknown. Is the water as crystal clear as a wineglass, or is the bay shaped like a wine glass?"

One theory not alluded to on the board is sometimes trotted out by guides. It's connected to the area's history in whaling and confirms the wineglass-shape idea but suggests a filling of shiraz rather than riesling.

From Cape Tourville we make the short drive to Sleepy Bay. By short, I mean two songs long. The songs, selected by son Solomon from one of those greatest-hits-of- the-decades compilations, are Yakety Yak and Shaddap You Face, both full of sound parenting advice.

It's a 10-minute walk down to the pink sand-gravel of Sleepy Bay with its wee creek and its shallow granite caves. A handful of tourists come and go; we clamber back up the hill to the car and motor along to the car park for the saddle walk to Wineglass Bay.

In 20 minutes of steady uphill walking we are at the saddle look- out taking photos; in 50 minutes we are on the beach at Wineglass.

The south-easterly has pushed up huge waves and they are breaking right on the shore.

Sol and I have a "swim" by standing and waiting for the bigger breakers. I'd forgotten how steep the beach was and how coarse the sand was at Wineglass - that brochure beauty conjures up thoughts of fine, white sand but the dusty stuff is in short supply and high on the beach.

We dry off and start our return trek. Sol's keen to take a rest at the saddle seat, a novel board bench designed by school of architecture students.

It's a great place to rest; to pause and smell the eucalypts.

Travel is as much about stopping as going; about taking the time. It's been a busy day but there have been moments of unhurried serenity.

One was the making of my lunchtime milkshake at Freycinet Bakery. Most vendors rush the task and ruin the result, but this time the whirring went on for several minutes, aerating the milk and syrup to a delicious concoction.

It was a micro-pointer to the secret of Freycinet. Spend some time. Park yourself on the saddle seat, look skywards; let gum leaves filter your view of passing clouds.

Travelways; for all your Tasmania Accommodation