Penguin to Cradle Mountain via Stanley

After a breakfast of scrambled eggs in our room (rather than paying $25.00 each for a fancy continental breakfast from our host) we loaded up the car again and headed west along the coast. There are some lovely beaches in this part of the island but the wind made it too cold to even think about a swim!

We detoured off the main road and descended to Boat Harbour Beach. It has a beautiful white beach so we wandered around a bit and took some photos. After a coffee in the Surf Club Café we carried on towards Stanley.

Stanley is on a small peninsula culminating in what is called 'The Nut'. This is an ancient lava lake solidified into a Basalt plug with the surrounding volcano eroded away. It is a large flat rocky headland about 170 m tall and 2km around the perimeter. While there is a chairlift to take you to the top, this was not running due to high winds. The alternative is a three stage zig-zag path which is quite a steep climb of about 80m over a 430 m of path. I chose to do that while Miriam perused the shops!


I didn't see any Echidnas along the way but did see a Wallaby cross my path. It turns out it probably wasn't a Wallaby as 'The Nut' has a population of Tasmanian Pademelon. These are similar to Wallabies but are Macropods meaning they have large feet. They are also a bit smaller and have thicker fur.

When I got back we had a great scallop mornay pie at a local takeaway.

Miriam had a quick look at an original colonial Regency house - Highfield - built in the early 1800's as the base for the Van Diemen's Land company. I was a but stuffed so stayed in the car.

We then headed back along the coast before turning south for Cradle Mountain. With two nights at Cradle Mountain we needed some further supplies so stopped at a Woolworths in Wynyard before heading inland. The 2 hour drive through some beautiful rainforest was unlike anything we had seen so on the island so far.

Our accommodation here at Cradle Mountain for the next two nights is a very upmarket deluxe two-bedroom cabin. It has all mod cons so Miriam can finally cook a proper meal.




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