Day 13 - Stanley and The Nut

Today started out wet, windy and a little cold. It was our intention to tour Stanley and visit The Nut. We waited until after lunch, until we could wait no longer.  The day would be gone with no action, so off we toddled with our wet gear in hand.  Much to our surprise and delight, the rain moved away, the sun came out and, save for the nuisance wind, we had a pretty reasonable afternoon.

Our first port of call was indeed the port at Stanley.  It is only used now as a harbour for NW coast fishermen and a couple of tourist boats.  The wind was blowing but there were a few hardy souls trying their luck fishing off the wharf, with some success.

090315 The eastern end of The Nut taken from the wharf

Stanley is one of the oldest settlements in Tasmania and was developed by the Van Diemen's Land Company.  Most activity in the area revolved around this company.  It was founded in 1826 and was granted 250,000 acres of land in north western Tasmania. It established its headquarters at Circular head, under the management of Edward Curr. Curr's home, Highfield House, still remains. It has been restored and is a major tourist attraction. There are many other historical buildings in Stanley and it presents itself well with interpretive signs everywhere for points of historical significance.

090315 Highfield House near Cape Grim

090315 Highfield House near Cape Grim

090315 Old and the new at Stanley 

090315 Old buildings in Stanley

090315 More old buildings in Stanley

The Nut dominates Stanley so we could not leave without seeing it, "up close and personal". It is a granite volcanic plug and rises 143m above the sea. The walk to its top is very, very steep and was beyond us, so we took the chairlift to the top.  In many respects we were blown up by the wind.

090315 Going up The Nut by chairlift

We did the 45 minute walk around the top and not surprisingly, there were some fantastic views. The sun shone for the remainder of the day but if anything the wind worsened, particularly on top of The Nut.

030915 Looking west over Cape Grim from the top of The Nut

090315 Looking SW from the top of The Nut

090315 Self explanatory.  Note the height

090315 Looking west from the eastern end of The Nut

090315 Looking down from the eastern end of The Nut - the One Apostle?

090315 The wharf from The Nut

090315 Tatlow's Beach from the Nut

090315 Stanley taken from the chairlift - coming down

We drove to the west of Stanley, towards Cape Grim, and saw Stanley and The Nut from another perspective.  We could not get to Cape Grim proper.

090315 The Nut and Stanley taken from the west near Cape Grim

090315 The Nut and Stanley from the SW

Thankfully, we managed to see the majority of Stanley and its surrounds in relative comfort.