Bicheno, AU

The town's long-running waterfront restaurant overlooking Waubs Bay, in the building that was the original Sealife Centre aquarium back in the 1970s. The menu leans on East Coast seafood and Tasmanian produce, and it's the spot most visitors save for the sit-down dinner of the trip.

A casual ocean-to-plate seafood shack on the Gulch, run by the local fishing co-op and pulling lobster, oysters and chowder straight off the boats moored out front. The Bicheno lobster roll and the seafood platter are what people queue for.

The town bakery on Burgess Street, turning out scallop pies, sausage rolls, sourdough and the strongest morning coffee in Bicheno. It's the standard packed-lunch stop before a Freycinet walk and the standard breakfast for everyone not staying at a lodge.

An Italian cafe and pizzeria on Burgess Street next to the penguin-tour office, doing wood-fired pizzas, homemade pasta and arancini with good coffee, homemade desserts and a short wine list. It's the de facto pre- or post-penguin-tour dinner in town, and one of the few kitchens open into the evening.

A roadside cafe and ice-creamery on the Tasman Highway just before the Coles Bay turnoff, with a backyard of farm animals, a kids' playground, and house-made ice cream that's the East Coast's worst-kept secret. The Asian-leaning lunch menu is the surprise.

The dining room at Freycinet Lodge, with a full glass wall onto Great Oyster Bay and the Hazards, and a modern Tasmanian menu built on East Coast seafood, game and wine. It's the dressier dinner on the peninsula and the room most visitors book one night of the trip.

A timber-decked all-day cafe and pizzeria in the heart of Coles Bay (in the building Tombolo Freycinet used to occupy), doing wood-fired pizzas, pastas and good coffee with the Hazards directly across the bay. It's the village's reliable all-day room.

A working oyster and mussel farm on the Coles Bay road with a farm-gate kiosk selling its own Pacific and Angasi oysters, mussels, scallops and rock lobster to eat at picnic tables out front. It's the closest you get to the leases without a boat.

A takeaway seafood counter on Burgess Street with a tiny indoor area, selling fish-and-chips off the local boats and a small case of fresh seafood to take home. It's where Bicheno locals send people who want fish and chips without the Lobster Shack queue.

The cafe at Devil's Corner cellar door, run by the Freycinet Marine Farm family, serving oysters, mussels, seafood chowder, garlic prawns and house-made ice cream against a vineyard-and-Hazards backdrop. It's the lunch that pairs with the wine tasting.

The 3km return climb from the Freycinet day-use carpark up the saddle between Mt Amos and Mt Mayson to the lookout over Wineglass Bay. Steady, well-graded, and the single most-walked track in Tasmania.

An 11km loop from the day-use carpark up to the Wineglass Bay lookout, down to Wineglass Bay beach, across the isthmus through coastal heath, and back along Hazards Beach to the carpark. It's the standard full-day Freycinet walk and the best way to see both sides of the peninsula in one go.

A 720m boardwalk loop around the Cape Tourville Lighthouse on the northeast tip of the peninsula, with railed lookouts down the cliffs to Wineglass Bay and the Nuggets. It's the easiest big-view walk in the park and the only one a wheelchair will manage.

A 3.6km coastal walkway from the Blowhole at the south end of town to Redbill Point at the north, passing the Gulch, the penguin-viewing area, the Lobster Shack jetty and Waubs Beach. It's the way to walk the whole townscape end-to-end without driving.

A short, steep climb from Fraser Street up the granite knob behind town to two summit platforms with 360-degree views over Bicheno, the islands and the coast. In the 1800s it was the lookout where spotters signalled passing whales down to the boats.

A short stepped descent from the Cape Tourville road down to a small rock-and-pebble cove ringed in orange lichen and turquoise water. It's the postcard small-bay walk on the peninsula and a frequent pair with the Cape Tourville loop.

A 7km loop in Douglas-Apsley National Park north of Bicheno, dropping from a forest track through stacked boulders into the Apsley Gorge and returning via the river. It's the closest proper bush walk to town and a contrast to the granite-coast walks at Freycinet.

A 30-year-old guided dusk tour onto a private rookery on the northern edge of town, where Little Penguins come ashore at dark to walk up to their burrows. The tour is the original Bicheno experience and the reason most visitors stay the night.

A 40-minute glass-bottom boat tour out of the Gulch run by a born-and-bred local skipper, drifting over kelp, seal colonies, stingrays and the sponge gardens of Waubs Bay. The narration is half marine biology, half town history and the standard wet-weather backup.

A 150-acre wildlife park 7km north of Bicheno with Tasmanian devils, quolls, wombats, echidnas and the chance to hand-feed wallabies and kangaroos. The Devils in the Dark night feeding session is what serious visitors come for.

A 4.5-hour eco cruise out of Coles Bay around the eastern side of the peninsula into Wineglass Bay, with on-deck lunch and a near-certain shot at seals, sea eagles and dolphins. It's the way to see Wineglass without the climb.

A small owner-run dive operation working the Bicheno shore dives and boat sites, where the cold-water marine life includes weedy sea dragons, pot-bellied seahorses, sponge gardens and the occasional fur seal. Tasmania's most accessible cold-water diving.

A natural blowhole on the granite foreshore at the south end of the Bicheno waterfront, where the southerly swell drives water up through a fissure and sends spray ten metres in the air. It's the town's defining set piece and the easiest stop in the visit.

The natural rock-walled harbour at the centre of Bicheno, where the local crayfish and abalone fleet ties up, the glass-bottom boat departs, and the Lobster Shack sits on the wharf. The boat ramp and the wharf walk are the closest thing the town has to a town square.

A small granite island at the north end of Redbill Beach, joined to the mainland by a low sand tombolo that's walkable at low tide. It's a Little Penguin rookery and a nesting site for shorebirds, and the rocky shoreline is the local low-tide rockpool.

A short, automated lighthouse on the cliffs at the northeast tip of the Freycinet Peninsula, with a boardwalk loop that gives the only easy-access view down the eastern coast to Wineglass Bay and the Nuggets. It's the alternative for visitors who can't manage the Wineglass climb.

The cellar door for Devil's Corner wines, on a vineyard slope above Moulting Lagoon with a shipping-container lookout tower aimed straight at the Hazards. The cellar door pours East Coast Pinot, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc and shares the site with the Fishers of Freycinet seafood kitchen and a wood-fired pizza kitchen.

A long, undeveloped stretch of white sand and dunes north of the Freycinet Peninsula, accessed by an unsealed road off the Coles Bay road. It's the part of the national park with no carpark crowds and the closest thing to a deserted beach within driving range of Bicheno.

A small, granite-bracketed cove inside Freycinet National Park, sheltered from the swell and the most reliable swimming spot on the peninsula. The bay sits below a short campground and is the standard family beach stop on a Coles Bay day.

The crescent of white sand on the eastern side of the Freycinet Peninsula, bracketed by pink granite peaks and visible from the saddle lookout above. It's the headline image of Tasmania's east coast and the reason most visitors come to Bicheno in the first place.