"Without a hint of exaggeration, it’s one of the most stunning places I’ve ever seen."
Location
Location of Saffire Freycinet - Places to Visit in Tasmania
The Freycinet Peninsula extends south-eastwards from Tasmania’s coastline and is a fully protected national park, including the internationally acclaimed Wineglass Bay. Saffire is located on the inside of the gentle curve of sandy coastline that joins the peninsula to mainland Tasmania.
Saffire overlooks the wide expanses of Great Oyster Bay, where migrating whales and dolphins come to play; calamari and squid in-season spawn in the rocky outcrops; local farms produce fresh, succulent oysters in some of the world’s cleanest waters; and fishing boats and trawlers bring in their daily catch of rock lobster, scallops and deep sea fish, dripping and salty-sweet straight from the ocean.
The dominant view from Saffire’s every window is the pink-hued granite of the peninsula’s Hazards Mountains, providing a spectacular and ever-changing backdrop from morning to nightfall.
Saffire-Freycinet
2532 Coles Bay Rd
Coles Bay Tasmania Australia 7215
The Freycinet Peninsula took over 400 million years to form into two massive, eroded blocks of granite, now known as the Hazards mountains and Mt Graham/Mt Freycinet. These granite monoliths are tenuously joined by a sand isthmus, which spans the celebrated Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach.
Aboriginal people have known this area for at least 35,000 years, substantiated by the presence of middens found today around the coastline. Sadly, almost all evidence of the lives of the earliest Tasmanians was lost when the sea levels began to rise about 10,000 years ago. What remains of this dramatic period is among the most ancient evidence of human culture anywhere in the world.
In 1642, Dutchman Abel Tasman became the first European to sight the Freycinet area. He named Schouten Island and marked down the adjacent peninsula as a chain of three islands. This myth was finally dispelled 160 years later when Nicholas Baudin, French explorer, renamed Tasman’s “Vanderlins Eylandt” as Freycinet Peninsula in 1802, after the brothers Henri and Louis de Freycinet, lieutenants on the expedition.
Whaling parties, tin and coal miners and pastoralists were among those who lived and worked on the Freycinet Peninsula. Old mine shafts, abandoned farmers' huts and the remains of whalers' camps form part of the area’s rich cultural heritage.
Sapphires are fairly widespread in alluvial tin areas of the north-east. They vary in colour from green (oriental emerald), blue, yellow (oriental topaz) and purple (oriental amethyst).
The area was reserved as a national park in 1916, making it (along with Mt Field) the oldest national park in Tasmania.
In the 1920s, the tourist potential of the area was promoted and led to the establishment of shacks and tourist accommodation at “The Fisheries”, Parson’s Cove (1929) and, later, cabins at Coles Bay in the 1930s.
In 1934, the Chateau holiday units were established by Ron Richardson. The Chateau offered an exclusive getaway for locals, interstate and international visitors. The complex was re-built in 1954 after a fire destroyed the main building. In the early 1990s the property was redeveloped into Freycinet Lodge, which is now a Pure Tasmania property.
The 1960s and 70s saw further developments in the area. Aquaculture has been practised since the early 1970s. Species cultivated commercially include Pacific oysters, native oysters, mussels, scallops, abalone and sea urchins in the Great Oyster Bay and Mercury Passage.
It was in the early 1980s that wine growing in the region began to re-emerge. Freycinet is situated at 42° south and enjoys a unique microclimate and long growing season that extends right into May. The magnificent mix of high sunshine hours, warm temperatures, winter rain and no frosts fosters the production of exceptional cool-climate wines. Presently the area boasts more than a dozen wineries.
On Anzac Day 2003, Coles Bay became Australia’s first plastic bag-free town, following an initiative of local bakery owner Ben Kearney, and Planet Ark, to protect the ecological integrity of the region.
Wineglass Bay regularly features on the most illustrious “world’s best beaches” lists.
History
The Freycinet Peninsula took over 400 million years to form into two massive, eroded blocks of granite, now known as the Hazards mountains and Mt Graham/Mt Freycinet. These granite monoliths are tenuously joined by a sand isthmus, which spans the celebrated Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach.
Aboriginal people have known this area for at least 35,000 years, substantiated by the presence of middens found today around the coastline. Sadly, almost all evidence of the lives of the earliest Tasmanians was lost when the sea levels began to rise about 10,000 years ago. What remains of this dramatic period is among the most ancient evidence of human culture anywhere in the world.
In 1642, Dutchman Abel Tasman became the first European to sight the Freycinet area. He named Schouten Island and marked down the adjacent peninsula as a chain of three islands. This myth was finally dispelled 160 years later when Nicholas Baudin, French explorer, renamed Tasman’s “Vanderlins Eylandt” as Freycinet Peninsula in 1802, after the brothers Henri and Louis de Freycinet, lieutenants on the expedition.
Whaling parties, tin and coal miners and pastoralists were among those who lived and worked on the Freycinet Peninsula. Old mine shafts, abandoned farmers' huts and the remains of whalers' camps form part of the area’s rich cultural heritage.
Sapphires are fairly widespread in alluvial tin areas of the north-east. They vary in colour from green (oriental emerald), blue, yellow (oriental topaz) and purple (oriental amethyst).
The area was reserved as a national park in 1916, making it (along with Mt Field) the oldest national park in Tasmania.
In the 1920s, the tourist potential of the area was promoted and led to the establishment of shacks and tourist accommodation at “The Fisheries”, Parson’s Cove (1929) and, later, cabins at Coles Bay in the 1930s.
In 1934, the Chateau holiday units were established by Ron Richardson. The Chateau offered an exclusive getaway for locals, interstate and international visitors. The complex was re-built in 1954 after a fire destroyed the main building. In the early 1990s the property was redeveloped into Freycinet Lodge, which is now a Pure Tasmania property.
The 1960s and 70s saw further developments in the area. Aquaculture has been practised since the early 1970s. Species cultivated commercially include Pacific oysters, native oysters, mussels, scallops, abalone and sea urchins in the Great Oyster Bay and Mercury Passage.
It was in the early 1980s that wine growing in the region began to re-emerge. Freycinet is situated at 42° south and enjoys a unique microclimate and long growing season that extends right into May. The magnificent mix of high sunshine hours, warm temperatures, winter rain and no frosts fosters the production of exceptional cool-climate wines. Presently the area boasts more than a dozen wineries.
On Anzac Day 2003, Coles Bay became Australia’s first plastic bag-free town, following an initiative of local bakery owner Ben Kearney, and Planet Ark, to protect the ecological integrity of the region.
Wineglass Bay regularly features on the most illustrious “world’s best beaches” lists.
