We drove about 40 minutes inland (south) from Stanley along a narrow farm road that is only partially sealed to Dip Falls. It is one of the more interesting of the many waterfalls in Tasmania, mainly because the water flows over cubic-basalt columns.
Follow our travel adventures as we explore the amazing planet we call earth.
Monday 21 January 2019
Dip Falls
Stanley and The Nut
The Nut is one of the better known bluffs dotted along Tasmania's north coast. The steep sides of the 143m high extinct volcano are quite dawnting when you are standing at it's foot. There are two ways to reach the flat top.
1. The easy way. Take the chairlift.
2. The hard way. Walk up the steep zig-zag trail.
Stubbornly, we opted for the hard way. I'm going to say that the challenge of the climb was the driving factor. The reality was probably more finacial.
Fortunately, the reward for effort is significant. The unobstructed views from the circuit trail around the rim of the knoll are breathtaking.
There werre plenty of things to see as we made our way around the circuit.
We encountered abundant wildlife including a blue tounged lizard and a family of show-off fairy wrens.
Just as we were admiring the last of the spectacular scenery before decending into Stanley, one more creature decided to impress us with a flying display.
This Autralian Kestrel was hovering completely still in the face of a considerable breeze.
Truth be told, we found decending the steep zig-zag trail more difficult than the climb.
We didn't stop in Stanley itself. There wasn't much of a draw and we had lots still to do.
We did make one stop at the lookout point on the top of the hill that overlooks Stanley before moving on to our next attraction.
Port Latta
As we tracked along the coast, we stopped every now and then to enjoy the views back toward Rocky Cape and Table Cape (above). About 20km short of Stanley, we were surprised to find a very long jetty, of all things. As it turns out, Port Latta is home to an iron ore ship loading terminal.
The iron ore is mined near Savage River some 42 kms to the south and piped to the port. Western Tasmania was the last place I expected to find an iron ore mine.
We caught our first good look at the Nut while we were checking out the port.
Sunday 20 January 2019
The Town of Penguin
The drive from Devenport to Sisters Beach didn't have much of interest. We were seemingly hopping from small coastal town to town. Our lunch stop was in the town of Penguin. There is a healthy penguin population that have nests along the local coastline. The towns folk have almost everything penguin themed. Statues (above), street furniture (below),...
Even rubbish bins.
Mysteriously, we didn't see any real penguins.
We eventually reached Sisters Beach late in the afternoon. By then, the temperature was in the high 30s! We had a quick drive around to get the lie of the land. ending up at Rocky Point (below).
Don River Railway.
Today we were on the move again but we did have one activity planned before leaving Devenport for Sisters Beach.
Devenport is home to the Don River Railway. The historic railway is stacked with a wide range of locomotives & rolling stock from the steam age, through to more more recent times of the diesel age.
Harry's favourite was the Y-Class loco (above). He was most put out that it wouldn't be pulling our train today.
Steam train journey.
Saturday 19 January 2019
Devenport Ferries
Our caravan park in East Devenport was located right at the rivermouth where the Spirit of Tasmania departs for Melbourne. With departure information at hand, we set off to the river hoping to see the famous ferry make it's way out into Bass Straight. Our first impressions of the ferry were a bit underwhelming (above). We quickly we realised that this was in fact the Spirit of Devenport, a small cross river ferry.
The huge Spirit of Tasmania cruised past us right on time. Mersey River is fairly narrow, so the size of the huge ferry is quite daunting when you are so close.
Before we knew it, the Spirit was out of the river and into Bass Straight for the overnight voyage to Melbourne.