BEAUTY POINT

 

1/ Beauty Point is on the Tamar River in central northern Tasmania. It is just north of Beaconsfield and is a great place to enjoy the River. This photo looks north past Redbill Point.

2/ The Beauty Point settlement is on a hill looking east across the Tamar River. It has a number of shops, cafes, hotels and a river front park. It also has the 2 major attractions of Sea Horse World and Platypus House. In the distance on the left is the Gunns Wood Chip Mill and in the centre is Middle Island. You regularly see ships, yachts and pleasure boats on the Tamar River at Beauty Point.

3/ This view looks south into the Beauty Point settlement. On the extreme left are the major attractions of Sea Horse World and Platypus House. In the centre is one of the beaches and to the right is the settlement. The river front is a landscaped park.

4/ This view was taken from north of the Beauty Point settlement and shows the Riviera Hotel. It was taken at low tide hence the large area of mud.

5/ This view was taken from just north of Beauty Point and looks west across West Arm towards the Asbestos Range. West Arm is a bay of the Tamar River north of Beauty Point.

5/ Just north of Beauty Point is Sandy Beach, which is adjacent to the caravan park. The land on the horizon was once a vast 3 metre high Aboriginal midden. It was destroyed to make lime at the start of the 19th Century.

6/ This view looks south down the Tamar River and shows the club house and the moorings of the Dalrymple Yacht Club. The famous 3 peaks yacht race begins at Beauty Point.

7/ This restaurant has a fine view of the Tamar River. There are a number of good restaurants and hotels at Beauty Point.

8/ This photo shows the Australian Maritime College. It is a major training centre for the whole Australian maritime industry.

9/ Beauty Point is a very old settlement and it still has some houses built in the 19th Century like this one. It was located quite close to the Maritime College.

10/ This house was built in 1830. It is the oldest house in Beauty Point and one of the oldest in Tasmania. It fronts onto the Tamar River.

11/ This photo shows the entrance to Sea Horse World, where you can see rare, exotic sea horses.

12/ The Lady Cynthia is a support ship for the nearby Bass Strait gas field.

13/ The rear of the Lady Cynthia shows a large working space for operations in the gas field.

14/ This rig was brought in from afar to do major repairs on nearby the gas field.

15/ A wide variety of vessels visit Beauty Point. I was fortunate in 2015 to find this Collins Class submarine berthed there. I was surprised at how large it was. The Collins Class submarines were built in Australia based on a Swedish design.

16/ This is another view of the submarine. Note the size of the two large ocean tugs for a comparison.

17/ This is the Beauty Point Marina. The large ship is the training vessel used by the Australian Maritime College. Many people in Beauty Point own pleasure vessels.

18/ This is another view of the Beauty Point Marina. The Tamar River has an ambience of deep peacefulness about it, as this photo illustrates.

19/ At the Marina are these life boats. They are used for training by the Maritime College.

20/ This view looks east across the Tamar River to the port of Bell Bay. The strange orange hill to the left is a pile of wood chips belonging to the Gunns Wood Chip Mill.

 

1/ Sea Horse World is at Beauty Point in central northern Tasmania. At Sea Horse World the sea horses and other fish were kept in tanks. No flash photography was allowed, as bright light is very bad for the shy sea horses.

2/ The sea horses at Sea Horse World at Beauty Point are very small and tend to flow and blend into the sea grass around them, as this one is doing. This makes them difficult to spot in the wild.

3/ This photo shows the magical shape of a sea horse in profile. Sea horses like to wrap their tales around things.

4/ The smallest and youngest sea horses were kept in large tanks like this one. Sea Horse World at Beauty Point runs a large breeding program for these unique fish.

5/ Sea horses are carnivores and in this tank they were in a feeding frenzy, as they chased the tiny brime shrimp. This was one of the highlights of our tour of Sea Horse World at Beauty Point.

6/ One reason why sea horses have a magical aspect attached to them is that sea horses adopt poses like this one. This can be interpreted as lovers kissing.

7/ Sea horses are unique in the animal world in that only the male gets pregnant. Here we sea pregnant male sea horses with their classic, bulging stomachs. This was one of the most interesting things I saw at Sea Horse World at Beauty Point.

8/ Sea horse World had a wide variety of species like this red sea horse. You can see all the Australian species at Sea Horse World at Beauty Point.

9/ These sea horses were even redder than those above. It is known that sea horses will quickly change their color to blend into their new environment.

10/ This yellow sea horse look almost like a piece of candy. Note how different it looks from those above.

11/ Baby sea horses were bred in tanks like this one. Sea Horse World at Beauty Point runs a large breeding and selling program.

 

1/ Sea horse World at Beauty Point also had many displays of the fish of the Tamar River like these crabs.

2/ Tasmanian waters are the home to large lobsters like this one, which are caught for the global market.

3/ I was able to get really close to these exotic fish at Sea Horse World at Beauty Point.

4/ It was really enchanting to be so close to a table fish like this one. Sea Horse World at Beauty Point is a good place to learn about Tasmanian fish.

5/ I have heard that lion fish are becoming a pest to other fish species.

6/ This fish was quite a sight, as it swam around its tank at Sea Horse World at Beauty Point.

7/ This white fish was very fast moving. I was lucky to be able to capture this shot.

8/ The sting ray had an enchanting way of just gently gliding across the sea floor. Its shape is a great contrast to that of most fish.

 

1/ Platypus House is at the Beauty Point jetty in central northern Tasmania. It specializes in monotremes. These are the spiky echidna and the duck billed platypus. These animals are the oldest known mammals.

2/ This is an underwater view of a platypus swimming on the surface in a tank at Platypus House at Beauty Point.

3/ This shows a platypus from the top view in its dry area. Platypus House at Beauty Point had a very complicated platypus enclosure with pipes being used to connect separate areas.

4/ This platypus took to hiding himself under wood and swimming underneath it. It you want to see platypuses then your best chance is at a facility like Platypus House at Beauty Point.

5/ This guide lady had established a very close bond with the echidnas of Platypus House at Beauty Point. She emphasized, though, that holding echidnas is not for the inexperienced.

6/ The echidnas were fed a special food to replace their normal diet of ants. This was prepared by the experienced staff of Platypus House at Beauty Point.

7/ This echidna came right up onto my leg. I found it very exciting to be so close to them. You have to be lucky to get this close to them.

8/ I was quite surprised at how friendly these highly domesticated echidnas had become. They made my visit to Platypus House at Beauty Point very memorable.

 

1/ The 3 Peaks Race begins at the Beauty Point jetty in central northern Tasmania and sails around the east coast to Hobart. This photo shows the dignitaries ordering the cannon to be fired. Note the yachts before the start line on the River Tamar.

2/ The crowd at the Beauty Point jetty watches, as the 3 Peaks Race begins on the Tamar River.

3/ The yachts fight for advantage, as a monitoring boat speeds past them. From Beauty Point they sailed up the Tamar River towards George Town. The 3 Peaks Race from Beauty Point had really begun.

4/ These spectators watched from their private yacht. They had a better view than the crowd watching from the Beauty Point jetty.

5/ A monitoring boat checks up on an anchored yacht. Safety was a major concern at the 3 Peaks Race from Beauty Point.

6/ The racing yachts unfurl their spinnakers and really started to run. The 3 Peaks Race from Beauty Point is a major yachting event.

7/ This is a close up of one of the racing yachts taking part in the 3 Peaks Race from Beauty Point.

8/ The waiting crowd was entertained by these child dancers. They help make the 3 Peaks Race from Beauty Point a very enjoyable event.

9/ A Japanese style drum group also entertained the waiting crowd at the Beauty Point jetty.