I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere near the place.
Steven Wright
Lonely Planet travel guides named the Bay of Fires as the top place to visit in 2009.
Independent travel magazine
Wanderlust subsequently included it, together with Britain's iconic Stonehenge monuments, on a list of the world's most threatened tourist sites.
We tiptoed through there earlier this year. We wiped our feet when we left. Returned small animals to their places under rocks. Disposed of our rubbish thoughtfully. Left nothing but footprints.
The Bay of Fires is located northeast of the old whaling town of St Helens between Eddystone Point in the north and Binalong Bay in the south.
English navigator,Captain Tobias Furneaux, bestowed the name upon the bay in 1773, when he noticed numerous fires along the coast lit by Aboriginals. Here I was thinking the fire referred to the brilliant orange lichen covering the granite rocks.
Furneaux was commander of HMS Adventure which accompanied Captain James Cook in HMS Resolution on Captain Cook's second voyage to Australia. Apparently after having sailed from Old Blighty through storm and tempest, he became separated from the Resolution on the tranquil and smooth seas of Tasmania's southeast coast. Hard to believe. I suspect the kegs of rum had more to do with it.
Anyway that it was it for us. Ten minute tourists.
