Why Tasmania’s Bay of Fires is the best camping spot in Australia

If the thought of waking up to a million-dollar view – and paying nothing for it – sounds like your perfect holiday, this camping spot is for you.

You don’t have to fork out a fortune to stay at Tasmania’s Bay of Fires. Picture: Tourism Australia

Call me cheap, but I love waking up to a million-dollar view and paying nothing for it, especially when the view is of one of the country’s most famously photogenic beaches.

The Bay of Fires in the north-east corner of Tassie is one of the country’s more dramatic coastlines. A favourite with photographers and instagrammers (#bayoffires) it’s a crowd-free stretch of teal blue sea rimmed with long curves of powdery white sand, littered with super-sized granite boulders covered in bright orange lichen (#nofilterneeded).

They say it got its name from burning campfires, but on a sunny day, when the red and orange rocks glow in the sunshine, it’s easy to believe that Captain Tobias Furneaux named it after these fiery monoliths. Even on a cloudy day, it’s dazzling.

On a sunny day, the red and orange rocks glow in the sunshine.

Even more dazzling, though, is that you don’t have to fork out a fortune to stay here.

There are six free camping areas, most overlooking the beach, in the southern section of the Bay of Fires Conservation Area.

Facilities are basic – pit toilets and you’ll need to bring your own drinking water and firewood, and you can forget about hot (or even cold) showers.

It’s a bit of a dusty drive in on unsealed roads, and given the beachfront location and the price (zilch) it’s popular, so arrive early in the day rather than later to claim the best spots, because you can’t book.

If you’re in a caravan or camper trailer you may have to search around a little for a level site.

Once you’ve set up camp, though, you can stay for up to four weeks. And because it’s a conservation park, rather than a national park, you can even bring your dog as long as you keep her or him on a lead.

All the proof you need that the best things in life – or campsites in Tasmania at least – really are free.

The Bay of Fires is 278km north of Hobart, around a four-hour drive, and 185km east of Launceston, around a three-hour drive.

See more:
• Tassie hikes: 21 best tracks to tread
• The ultimate 7-day Tassie road trip

Originally published as Why Tasmania’s Bay of Fires is the best camping spot in Australia