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.

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.

We have said our last goodbyes to our trusty bikes. Just abandoned them really, under the verandah at Gill’s place. They served us well, no saddle sores, no break downs or punctures and only tipped me off once. They were slow and heavy but got us there in the end, like reliable mules rather than flighty thoroughbreds. I reckon we averaged about 15km/hr whereas at home it was a slow ride if we averaged under 20, even including Paekak or Akatarawara Hill.

Gill said normally she would drive us into Launceston but she  is on the St Andrews parish committee and they were serving pancakes in the village square, it being Shrove (Pancake) Tuesday. The bus stop was only 300m away and we got the TassLink bus into downturn Launceston. A 40 minute ride via the airport for A$6.20. The bus driver was young and friendly and drove in a very enthusiastic manner, like he was behind schedule, which he wasn’t. It was just an ordinary suburban bus so there was no space in the aisle or between the seats for our big bag.  He told us to put it in the rear exit door well where it bounced around as we sped along. I felt like saying hang on a bit mate there is a well earned bottle of wine in that bag!

We were in town by 10.30 and way too early for our 2pm hotel check-in but thought we would give it a go anyway. The hotel people were happy to see us and we lounged on their cafe balcony for 10 minutes while they made up our room. They have super fast NBN internet which is great after nothing the last three days at Evandale, Scottsdale and Pyrengana.

We are tired. Psychologically down because the cycling is finished but worn out physically. We have cycled the last 10 days including on the two days that were supposed to be rest days. I think the heavy bikes and carrying everything we had in the panniers was harder than we expected.

So we rested in the hotel room for a couple of hours before going out for a four walk in the 28 degree heat. Are we stupid or what? Walked around the River Tamar wharf front and up to the suspension bridge in Cataract Gorge. It was nice and cool under the trees in the gorge. At the first basin the early settlers created a Victorian garden, tea house, band rotunda, play ground and planted many European trees. This is quite nice but is in stark contrast to the natural rugged landscape of the gorge. I don’t think today we would do what they have done.

After shopping at a Coles Supermarket chilled out for a while before going and finding the Avis Rental Car depot where we will pick up our car tomorrow morning. Turns out it is just a desk in the lobby of the Grand Chancellor Hotel. Also checked out how to get from there onto a road out of town. Launceston has a typical one way street system.

We actually felt a bit better after walking around a bit today. The legs seemed to come right. Tomorrow we become your typical seniors tourists tooling around in our little car.