Words and pictures: Elizabeth Osborne

Beautiful Seven Mile Beach is seven miles (10 kilometres) long, curving around the northern shores of Frederick Henry Bay. The sand is firm underfoot and the beach level, making for relaxing walking, with panoramic views across land and water.

Seven Mile Beach is located twenty minutes east of Hobart, along the Tasman Highway. We turned off the Tasman Highway at Pittwater Road, just past the Hobart Airport, driving the short distance to Surf Road. There is ample parking in the Surf Road carpark. A path leads from the carpark, through the dunes, to the south­ern end of the beach. On reaching the beach, we walked along the sands to Sandy Point, a distance of some seven kilometres.

Seven Mile Beach is rich in bird life. Flocks of delicate fairy terns raced along the wa­ters’ edge, repeating an excited “kiri-kiki”. Pied oystercatchers piped “keleep”, silver gulls mobbed the beach repeating their raucous “karr” “keows”.

Ribbons of kelp, delicate sponges, shells, opaque crabs, lie scattered by the tide. At the end of the beach, Sandy Point looks across the Pittwater Channel to Lewisham, where boats bob in the sheltered waters.

We retraced our steps along the beach, this time looking towards coastal cliffs, with Kunanyi/Mount Wellington in the distance.

We forgot to mark our path onto the beach, which was a mistake as the long stretches of sand and dunes all look the same. Consequently, on our return, we took several wrong turnings, before we finally found the right path. Next time, we’ll draw an arrow in the sand to identify our path!