This morning we climbed up The Nut. It is 152m high on the plateau at the top. There is a chairlift but we decided to take the path to test out our legs. The path goes up in three switchbacks and boy are they steep! I reckon the path was at 30 degrees, it could really have been steps. It was concrete all the way and had a handrail so it was just a steady grind. At the top there is a circular walk of 2km that goes around the cliff top with viewing platforms at interesting locations. This walk would have been quite pleasant except that there are millions of flies. They are all over you all the time and if you are not used to them it is very unpleasant. They are all over your face and clothes.
The Nut is a basalt outcrop, the cone of an ancient volcano, and about 12 million years old. Its aborigine name is Monatteh and the European discoverers called it Circular Head. No one is quite sure where the name The Nut came from but there are many hypotheses. There would have been trees on the top but these were felled by early settlers and pushed off the sides for use as building timber. There is some scrubby growth and a few trees in sheltered areas and this is home to many wallabies.
The walk down was almost as hard as the walk up and we met many distraught visitors resting at the hairpin corners.
In the afternoon we did a self guided walk at the Highfield historic site. This is about 2km from Stanley on a high broad but bleak promontory overlooking the sea and The Nut.
The Van Diemen’s Land Company was established by Royal Charter in London in 1824. A group of influential merchants, businessmen and politicians formed the company in the hope of making a fortune from fine merino wool. For various reasons the enterprise failed, including the sheep succumbing to the extreme cold and rain. However the land, once it was cleared of dense timber, was suitable for agriculture.
The Highfield site contains many of the original buildings from the 1830s, 1840s and later. As well as quite a grand homestead for the chief agent of the company there are staff houses, barns, stables, a chapel, a school, cart sheds, cow sheds, etc. The homestead was designed in 1832 in the elegant Regency Style (1811 – 1820) and this is unique among early colonial residences in Tasmania.
The buildings, gardens, hedges, fences etc are quite well preserved and the interpretive material is excellent. The best thing about it though is that it is still isolated on farmland, just as it always would have been. The adjacent town and suburbia have not swallowed it up and reduced the impact of its wonderful position.
We were very impressed. The stories of the families, their tragedies, the trials and disasters are all well told but in a low key way compared to high tec MONA. Interestingly the complex had up to 70 convicts and aborigines as free labour at various times. There was also a lot of tension between the Company and the colonial Governor as to who had most influence in the development of NW Tasmania.
The smoke from the fires arrived in Stanley this afternoon and the sun was a very bright red as it set this evening.
Our visit to Stanley has sure been one of the highlights of this trip.