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Bay of Fires, Tasmania
Blazing boulders
The Bay of Fires is named not after its notable ember-coloured granite (whose tint is actually a crust of orange lichen), but after bonfires spied here from the sea by a British ship captain in 1773. Those fires belonged to the Aboriginal Tasmanians who were first to enjoy the beauty of this wild island, now one of the six states of Australia. The Bay of Fires' wave-washed white sands frequently earn it a ranking on world's-best-beach lists, even beating mainland mainstays, such as Bondi and Surfers Paradise.
Blazing boulders
The Bay of Fires is named not after its notable ember-coloured granite (whose tint is actually a crust of orange lichen), but after bonfires spied here from the sea by a British ship captain in 1773. Those fires belonged to the Aboriginal Tasmanians who were first to enjoy the beauty of this wild island, now one of the six states of Australia. The Bay of Fires' wave-washed white sands frequently earn it a ranking on world's-best-beach lists, even beating mainland mainstays, such as Bondi and Surfers Paradise.
While the stones here appear tinted orange, that's actually a thin coating of lichen.
© zetter / iStock / Getty Images Plus 2026-09-11 08:45:51 :