Supascoota 5: Iluka Christmas 2020
2020, Another Christmas on the road,
Celebrating in the caravan that we towed.
Our destination was Coles Bay, on Freycinet,
At Iluka Caravan Park, we chose to stay.
Freycinet was named by Baudin, as explorers do,
In February, Eighteen Hundred and two,
After Louis Claude De Salles De Freycinet, Second
Lieutenant on the Naturaliste, the Frenchman’s friend.
The town’s namesake, Silas Cole, burnt midden shells
In his kiln at Iluka, making lime to sell
Across the bay in Swansea, for the building trade,
To use in mortar, on the stone buildings they made.
Son Matt was with us, which made it rather special,
He came from Melbourne to this Tasmanian jewel.
It was two years since we’d seen him, due to Covid,
We had time to make up, and sure enough we did.
An Oz tent for Matt to sleep, loaned to us by friends,
Made our camp complete, with time then to unbend.
In our big barbecue, we’d cook up special food.
We’d live like kings at Christmas, just because we could!
Hot croissants were a breakfast treat on Christmas Day,
Tasmanian Crayfish for lunch, soon eaten away,
Roast pork, Roast veg., Pavlova with fresh fruit salad,
Were a few of the delicious, delights we had.
Matt climbed Mt Amos in the dark and dead of night,
Scrabbling over boulders, keeping the markers in sight,
Until, there on top, watching a brand new day,
All became worthwhile, – the sun rose over Freycinet.
The Supascoota cruised the path at Cape Tourville,
Where endless seascapes are etched in my memory still,
Along a boardwalk seventy metres above the sea,
With Joy and Matt, special, prime time with family.
Baudin named the cape after The Comte De Tourville,
A Seventeenth Century French Admiral.
In nineteen seventy one a navigation light
Was built, advising sailors to stand clear at night.
Sleepy Bay below, sheltered, quiet as any pond.
Wineglass Bay with Mounts Graham and Freycinet beyond,
The Nuggets, islets nestled off the granite cape;
A memorable, timeless, enduring waterscape.
The Supascoota purred along the sands of Muirs Beach,
In the intertidal zone, normally out of reach
When walking. A feeling of delight rose inside,
When, in the great outdoors, in sun and wind, I ride.
The iPhone on the handlebars captured my foray
Among the rocks, as on the Supacoota, I played,
Dodging rock pools, making tyre tracks along the shore,
Enjoying freedom, spirits lifting, wanting more.
Matt photographed pools in the intertidal zone,
To compare with what his other studies have shown.
He’s constructing an interpretive site for data
Collected, using his computer as translator.
We left, leaving behind a magic wonderland.
Coffee and views of the Hazards at Devils Bend,
Later, fish and chips at The Triabunna Van awaited,
Before it’s home, with our appetites fully sated.
Bill Edmunds
January 2021
Bill Edmunds 