We took the Bass Highway west along the top of Tasmania on our way to Stanley, a little isthmus at the very top left corner of the state. On the way we stopped at Burnie to browse that Makers Centre. We scoped a couple of makers and their mades and bought an ashtray or something. Best part was the free cheese that you could scoff as the lady frowned at the kids and I and rearranged the dishes. We didn’t get the hint. She must’ve known we weren’t serious buyers even though we look like money, with our unwashed clothes and sandalised footwear.

There is huge volcanic plug at the end of the isthmus that overshadows the town and it is called The Nut. Fair enough with me. We were on Tatlows Beach which is a broad expanse of lovely white sand on a huge curve. However it was as windy as all get out again and basically stayed that way for most of the time we were there.

First day we took the Tarkine Drive which takes you south and in a big loop through some forest (a lot of which had been burnt out last year) and some clear felled stretches of destruction. The first point of interest was a little piece of untouched wilderness called Trowutta Arch which is an amazing sinkhole in the middle of the forest.  Then we stopped at the Julius River reserve and went on a walk through the sort of rainforest that you see in the Lord of the Rings (very elven). Moss from head to toe and a strange open understorey rather than the tangle you get in the rainforest we are used to.

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The second day we stayed in Stanley and had a good look around and did the The Nut. There’s two ways to get up to the top of that precipice. 1. You walk the very steep track 2. You ride the chair lift. No prizes for guessing the health giving alternative that we chose. Although I did choose to walk/stumble down the track and my thighs are paying the price (though I beat the chair lifters down!).

I went for a fish at the wharf that afternoon and was catching nothing while the locals pulled in fish after fish. Eventually the guy beside me gave me a bit of the chicken flesh that was working and told me to take the sinker off and use a smaller hook. That did the trick and I got enough mackeral to keep me happy. Good fun.