This morning we picked up our wee car. A silver Holden Barina Spark. The smallest car you can hire. It is very well appointed though: 6 air bags, 14 inch alloys, electronic stability control, anti-lock braking, electronic brake force distribution, traction control system, brake assist, steering wheel telephone and audio control, bluetooth, etc. It has done only 8000kms.

Only has a 1.2 litre engine which is fine on the flat, you can cruise at the speed limit of 110km/hr, but when you come to a hill it very quickly runs out of puff. Just like me really. We wanted to give it a name and Sparkie springs to mind but he was a train. The number plate is E 34 RX so we are tossing up between Rex, T Rex and Forex (as in foreign exchange).

We used the motorway as the simplest way to get out of Launceston but a few kms out of town got onto the road we cycled last time through Westbury and Deloraine. Owen and Kevin will remember Andy’s Cafe in Westbury which we visited again. From there we got back on route 1 through Devonport and Burnie as far as Wynyard. From there we took a detour up to the Table Cape Lighthouse where we had lunch.

All the way from Launceston we had been travelling in what looked like a heat haze but at the lighthouse you could smell that it was smoke. There are fires in inaccessible parts of The Tarkine Range and the wind is blowing the smoke to the NE. It is much clearer at Stanley where we are now.

We are in a little cottage called The Retreat and Barb wants to stay here forever. It is very, very comfortable and only 20 metres from the water. She’s just come in and told me she’s changed her mind – too many fricken flies. The unwanted Australians.

The cottage has a really cool bathroom. A spa bath, a shower with one of those large square overhead roses with 81 jets, shaving sets, vanity sets, shower caps, bath gels, shampoo,  conditioner, soap, luxury bathroom tissue (ie toilet paper) and towels for Africa.

Stanley’s main feature is The Nut, the solidified lava lake of a long-extinct volcano. Population is about 650 and it is the principal fishing village on the North West Coast of Tasmania. It is located in the Circular Head Municipality – The Edge of the World. It has a long history, 40,000 years of Aborigine inhabitation and European since 1825 when the Van Diemen Land Company was granted 350,000 acres of land. There are many historical buildings and a very interesting heritage walk.

Tomorrow we will do the walk up to the top of The Nut,  explore the village, and visit Highfield, an historic estate close to Stanley.