Friday, 13 April 2018
Moina - Stanley
We’ve had an excellent day today for our last full day in
Tassie! Travelled a lot, did heaps of things and saw wonderful sights. Unfortunately,
these did NOT include the fabled Cradle Mountain – alas, it was not to be third
time lucky with it.
Lovely view from our verandah
Time to pack up and leave Wombat Cabin, sadly
We were up and about in our lovely little chalet at Moina
bright and early – and it WAS bright – the sun was shining through the trees,
the sky was blue and from our little verandah we could see the wallabies having
their breakfast and the mountains in the distance – just lovely! We hurried to
sort and pack before setting out about 9. We’d debated which way to go, as we
basically had a choice of two ways – to go north to Burnie, then west, or to
head back past Cradle Mountain then up to Wynyard. We ended up deciding on the
Cradle Mountain route as tomorrow will take us right along the highway from
Stanley back to Launceston, so we figured this way we would see more
countryside. We also thought that we might just have a chance to glimpse the
ever-elusive Cradle Mountain itself while the sun was shining….
Raining again :(
The waterfall in Waratah
Looking towards Hellyer Gorge from Waratah
However, inevitably as we headed towards it, the clouds
rolled on in (giggling softly to themselves, no doubt) and of course by the
time we got to the national park, it was beginning to gently rain. We thought
we’d try our luck with the boom gate to see if we could drive closer, but the
lights were flashing, indicating No Access, so we gave up and headed north-west! The highlight of this
part of the drive was when we noticed a wombat ambling happily across the road
ahead of us. I lunged for my camera but was too late to photograph him.
The road headed higher into more mountainous territory. We
stopped in the little town of Waratah, an old tin mining town, for a look, and
admired the waterfall there, then decided to go via Hellyer Gorge, as it wasn’t
far out of our way. I knew had visited this in 1978 on my school trip, but couldn’t
remember any of it! Anyway, we had a nice walk through the forest down to the
gorge and along the creek before coming back to the parking area. Then we drove
through miles of forestry areas. A bit further along, we just had to pull over
as we had noticed the most incredible bright red toadstools. I think we’ve
mentioned the spectacular Tasmanian fungi before, but these were straight out
of the pages of Enid Blyton – they just needed some fairies or elves to make
their homes in them. We have never seen anything like them before! To make
things even more bizarre, there was a stirring in the bushes….and a lovely
little chook walked out. It seemed quite happy to see us, especially when I got
out some of our biscuits and threw them to it!
Hellyer Gorge
Amazing fungi - and chook!
The chook was explained when we resumed our drive, and very
shortly found ourselves out of the forest and into dairy farming country,
almost abruptly. We arrived in the fairly large coastal town of Wynyard in time
for an early lunch. A perusal of Trip Advisor brought up the name of ‘Bruce’s Café’,
right on the beach at the eastern end of town. It was very popular, and our
meals and drinks showed us why. Lex had the salmon and quinoa salad, and I had
soup of the day (a delicious potato and bacon). Then I succumbed to the cake
fridge and a piece of Banoffee Pie that would inspire poets! Absolutely
delicious. After lunch, we wandered across the road to the beach, dominated by
the impressive headland of Table Cape, for a look, then headed west once more.
Lunch at Bruce's
Beach at Wynyard across the road looking towards Table Cape
Here, we got a bit distracted when we saw a sign towards a
historic lighthouse and lookout up on Table Cape, so we just had to go and
check them out. Although it was very overcast by this stage, the view was
incredible, and we could look in several directions. Far in the distance to the
west, we could just make out the shape of ‘The Nut’, the huge ex-volcanic plug
which dominates the town of Stanley, our destination for the day. We continued
westward, only being distracted a few more times by things like stopping to
photograph a field full of deer, lovely scenery etc. The day had turned quite
warm by this stage – a heady 16 degrees so very pleasant!
Looking west from Table Cape lookout
The old lighthouse, and looking east (below)
We finally got to Stanley a bit after half past two, and
drove in marvelling at the huge shape of ‘The Nut’ which looms over the town.
It’s a very old settlement dating back to the 1820s, with some absolutely beautiful
old buildings. Our hotel, The Stanley Hotel, was built in 1847. We have a
lovely room upstairs with the verandah outside looking towards The Nut.
As soon as we’d booked in, we got ourselves some warmer
clothes (not liking the look of the clouds rolling in yet again) and headed up
the hill to the chair lift, as we’d been advised that it closed at 4.15. Here we
paid $16 each for a return trip up the hill – excellent value! At the top of The
Nut, we had an hour or so to do the 2km walking track which took us right
around the top. Some absolutely stunning views up there, plus quite a few of
the lovely little wallabies feeding just near the track and pretty much
unconcerned about us. Excellent views of the sea and the land, and over the
fishing docks – you can see that seafood is a huge industry in this area. Of
course, it decided to rain occasionally, but generally we were very lucky and
had a lovely walk before getting the chair lift down again just after 4.
Chair lift to The Nut
Our hotel seen from The Nut
After a visit to the gift shop there, we went for a drive
around the town, then came back and parked again at the hotel before going for
a wander up the street in search of a café for afternoon tea. We found ‘The
Brown Dog’ which gave us tea, coffee and some lovely scones with home-made
raspberry jam. After this, we had to go for a longer stroll to walk that off.
The terrace above the main street in town is an almost unbroken row of
beautiful heritage houses, some dating back to the mid-1800s. It was lovely to
walk along it and see all of the different styles. Then we followed the main
street down, turned past the old Catholic ‘Star of the Sea’ church and very
early burial ground to the beach.
No penguins here, sadly
The Nut
Late evening sunshine in Stanley
History AND wine.....how could it get better?!
Here we discovered that apparently, Stanley is famed for its
Little Penguin colony! Sadly for us, though, penguin season has ended. We did
look hard for quite a while, but I’m afraid that penguin-spotting will have to
be right up there with platypus-spotting for us…..we returned to the hotel and
visited its historic (1840s) wine cellar. I, of course, thought this was sheer
bliss – two of my favourite things combined! We bought a bottle of Tassie Pinot
Grigio to souvenir.
View from our hotel balcony this evening
We’d made a reservation for dinner in the hotel’s dining room
for 6.30, as we’d been advised that it books out quickly (like Strahan – lots of
diners and not that many places to dine!). Just as well we did; the room was
fully booked by the time we got there and turning people away. We smugly ate
our delicious meals (chicken and camembert pie for me, crumbed local scallops
for Lex) then returned to our room for the dreaded final pack. Ugh! The wind is
howling around outside and rain is forecast again for tomorrow, so I’m so glad
we got here in time to do the chair lift today.
Tomorrow, we head back into Launceston and fly out tomorrow
night to Brisbane, where poor Cait and Mikeal will be staying up late to get us
from the airport! Then Sunday it will be home to Emerald. Sigh. It’s been a
wonderful holiday! Stay tuned for the final Tassie blog 😊