Stanley, Tasmania (2017-03-05)

From Launceston we drove Northwest through Deloraine to Devonport, then followed the coast through Penguin, Burnie and Wynyard.

Our first stop was at the Lonely Planet recommended “Laneway” Café in Devonport, so that we could experience one of “Tassie’s best cafes”. Certainly no complaints from us.  As we had stopped, we also wandered through the main street of Devonport and up to the lighthouse on Mersey Bluff.  There was absolutely no sign of the Australian mainland, which is about 200 Km North of here, across Bass Strait.

 

Art Deco in Devonport, Tasmania

 

Beach at Devonport, Tasmania

 

We drove on to Penguin, a pretty seaside town, where the world’s smallest penguin breeds.  Despite all of the penguin statues around town, we did not see any real penguins, but ate our lunch under a shady tree on the beachfront.

Burnie is a decaying industrial town which is trying to reinvent itself as a “City of Makers” (paper, cheese, etc.), but the only makers that we were interested in seeing were the burrow-making platypuses, which supposedly inhabit a stream just East of town.  We had a nice walk, but it was a bright sunny day, with no sign of the elusive platypuses.

Stanley is a beautiful little town, nestled on an isthmus, between “The Nut” (a large flat-topped extinct volcano), and the rest of Tasmania.

 

The Nut & Stanley, Tasmania

 

Margaret and Tricia visited the historic Highfield House, built in 1835 for the chief agent of the Van Diemen’s Land Company, while Marlene and I had a walk along the main beach.  Highfield House is built on a rise overlooking the ocean, the town and The Nut, and seemed like a wonderful place to live, but is likely very cold when the Roaring Forties are blowing through in the Winter.

Highfield House - Stanley, Tasmania

 

The Beach - Stanley, Tasmania

 

Stanley itself was almost deserted, as there was a planned power outage.  Luckily we found one café open, the Touchwood Café, and a great little find it was.  Great coffee, great scones and great views.  It was too bad that we were only staying one night.

 

Main Street - Stanley, Tasmania

All too soon we were back on the road, headed to Cradle Mountain – Lake St. Clair National Park.