Friday dawned with a lazy start, but by lunch Jacob and I needed to be on the road to pick up Ethan from School. We checked into accommodation in Launceston and I was lucky enough to watch Ethan play his game of basketball that night. I’m looking back through my photos and just realised I have absolutely no photos from this day – but basically it was an “admin” day until the game.
The accommodation at the Olde Tudor Hotel was quite nice, and you know when you are being lazy when you just get dinner delivered to your room so you don’t have to be sociable 🙂
Saturday saw us on the road heading west, continuing past Devonport and Burnie.
We turned off the Bass Highway towards Stanley, which has the grand old population of 550 people (still too many people I reckon). Anyway Stanley has been pretty smart and set up a few lookouts, although we also took a look down Green Hills Road near the Old Cable Station. Very picturesque through this whole area
A pretty cool fact is Lieutenant Arthur Long did the first ever flight across Bass Strait from here in December 1919. He said after the flight “I do not, for a moment, consider that a daily air service is possible between Hobart and Melbourne”
We ducked into town for a feed at the cafe, which was bloody nice, although the drinks might have been the highlight!!!
So now that I had a nice full (well fuller than normal) belly, the kids decided now was a good time to kill Dad. So the decided we were going to walk up “The Nut”. Now this “Nut” is 143 metres high with a perfectly good chairlift – that doesn’t operate in July (oh joy). So up we went ….. on foot.
There’s a nice 3km circuit walk around the top – I think I needed that for my legs to work normal again. But then … there’s the downhill part …..
Seriously though – it was worth it. Amazing place, amazing views, I didn’t die, and I definitely need to take Loryn 🙂
We rounded the night off with dinner at the pub and then went to look at the Fairy Penguins at Godfrey’s Beach. We didn’t take photos for good reason but it was amazing to share that experience with the boys. When Ethan and I retired back to our cabin at the caravan park, Jacob wandered down to the water and was literally watching heaps of penguins coming up the beach at the park itself – absolutely amazing and I am definitely going back.
Sunday arrived and we continued heading west. It has been really heart-breaking to see so many businesses closed. This was really highlighted when we were trying to find breakfast on this morning – we ended up getting yoghurts and a few other bits and pieces from the supermarket at Smithton.
We had booked in with Woolnorth Tours to explore the far north-west of Tassie, up at Cape Grim. There is some amazing history and bits & pieces tucked away up here, including the CSIRO Atmospheric Research Centre and the infamous Robbins Island saltwater cattle muster.
I can’t explain just how powerful the weather is in this area, it literally is the cleanest air on earth at this point. Unfortunately this same area also highlights the brutality of our history – it is the site of the Cape Grim massacre. It is amazing watching the difference in how each generation appreciates our history – the boys looked horrified listening to the story (not that I’m not, but I can see how much more they are sheltered to what we were).
The Woolnorth Wind Farm comprises Bluff Point and Studland Bay, and the same company owns the wind farm at Cape Portland (Musselroe) on the north-east coast of Tassie, that Ethan & I visited last year.
Bluff Point was constructed between 2002 & 2004 and has 37 wind turbines that are 60 metres high – the blades are 32 metres long. Studland Bay was added in 2007 with 25 wind turbines that are 80 metres high – these blades are 44 metres long. Between the 2 wind farms they produce approximately 4% of Tasmania’s energy needs, and added to Musselroe the three of them nearly cover 10%.
Leaving Woolnorth we headed down the gravel road to Marrawah. Jacob’s Mazda 6 had very recently had a top end rebuild – we certainly broke it in during this trip and might have shown him some techniques to gravel driving (responsibly of course – Ethan was with us!!!)
Lunch was consumed at the Marrawah Pub – I think this was fast becoming the pub and lighthouse tour somehow. Bloody good food with a very relaxing atmosphere
After lunch we wandered south to the Arthur River which has some extremely good 4WDing surrounding the area. However the Mazda 6 probably wasn’t the best option, although we have so far this trip disappeared down some places it probably shouldn’t have gone.
Not far from Arthur River is a place known as the Edge of the World. From this point there is no landfall until the eastern coast of Argentina. It is the furthest reaching stretch of ocean on the globe. Kinda makes you feel a little small when you consider it. For such a powerful place I always feel relaxed and calm here – it just feels “right”
It was time to slowly start heading back towards Latrobe to drop Ethan off, but first there was other places to stop and explore. Bluff Hill Point:
Rocky Cape Lighthouse:
Table Cape Lighthouse:
We had dinner with Ethan at Bellys Bar n Grill at Latrobe (bloody yummy) prior to the 2.5 hour run back down to Mum’s. It was bloody good to catch up with the young fella and just spend some time together.
