Fish Fires

We finish up our "devil day" up the coast at the famed Bay of Fires where free beachside campsites abound. Pulling into the Swimcart Bay site, we find it jam packed. Figuring it's just the weekend crowd, we snag one of the few spots and take a wander down to the beach. Spotting a brightly lit truck and figuring it for one of those mobile fish and chip shops, Keir saunters up to order, only to discover we are here just in time for the start of the 49th annual Bay Of Fires Fishing Derby. Do we want to register?

It's a party like atmosphere all night at the campsite and in the morning we stroll down to the beach to see what's up — and what's up is 260 fisher-folk with surf rods planted in the sand and their territory staked out. This is serious business with heaps of prizes to be won!




We chat with Rob from the Burnie area who explains more about how the derby works. Basically, you fish and "drink a few cans" from 10:30 am to late at night with prizes going to the biggest fish, the biggest shark or ray, the best sandcastle, etc.

While we wait for the derby to get underway and hopefully watch someone haul in a shark, we walk the beach and take in some of the red rocks, waters and landscape that makes up the Bay Of Fires. The area was christened by Captain Cook's right hand man, Tobias Furneaux, who sailed past in 1774 and noted all the Aboriginal fires along the shore.













A flare shot signals the start of the derby and 260 lines go into the water. On the way back, we are gifted a fresh salmon for our tea, courtesy of our new Tassie fishing friends.




We drive up to The Gardens and take in more of the Bay Of Fires. The red moss on the rocks makes for some great photographic opportunities.