North West Coast of Tassie.

We have covered so much ground in the last few days. Last Friday, we spent time checking out Penguin. Pretty little town, where Penguins are the big theme. Even the rubbish bins have penguins on them.
Penguin also had beautifully kept gardens, and one of the things that we loved was the beautiful flowering gardens on each side of the railway line that ran through town.

From here we ended up back at Burnie and went to visit a place called Fern Glades. We had heard that you could see platypus in the wild. We were so fortunate to see a platypus swimming and diving up and down the creek. We must have watched him for 20 minutes or more. We are lovely getting up close and personal with the wildlife down here.
It was so peaceful here, very quite, just the sound of the water running and some birds. Could have stayed here all afternoon.

From here we went to checkout Guide Falls. This is about 19kms south of Burnie but well worth the drive and then the walk down to the falls.
The falls are all looking pretty awesome at the moment because of all the rain they have had.

Saturday we left early to head to Stanley for the Day. We had several stops along the way.

BOAT HARBOUR BEACH

One of the girls I worked with loved this beach and had on numerous occassions told us we must visit this beach. It was lovely. It was actually a beach with beautiful white sand. The first nice sand we have seen since we have arrived. It was extremely cold here though. The wind was blowing right through us and we had to rug up.
Took lots of photos to share with my friend Jannett back home. We also went on a bush walk whilst there. It never ceases to amaze me how well plants thrive here, right up almost to the waters edge.
We continued to head west and our next stop was

ROCKY CAPE NATIONAL PARK

where we came upon Lake Llewellyn. Whilst this lake was in a National Park, there were actually people who lived on the lake. Their views would have been pretty spectacular. Steve could think of nothing better than to live there and just roll your boat down you back yard into the lake.

After Rocky Cape National Park we drove into

SISTER'S BEACH

Not quite as pretty as Boat Harbour Beach, but loved how it wasn't too commercialized. One of the contrasts there was this Black and I mean black creek that ran out into the ocean. Photos really don't quite capture it.

After we left Sister's Beach we headed to Stanley. We followed the ocean for miles. and for the first time since being in Tassie, there were miles of Sandy beaches, and not all the rocks that we had become accustomed too.

STANLEY

Stanley was a beautiful spot. We had been told by several people to try the scallop and chicken and Camembert cheese pies at a Cafe called the Swinging Anchor. We pretty much saw it as soon as we arrived, so decided to have lunch before heading up to the Stanley Nut.

When we walked in and saw that Scallop and Prawn Crepes were on the menu, we changed our minds and decided to have that for lunch instead. We still ordered some of the pies and put them in our car fridge and took them home for dinner. The Crepes were to die for. Very fresh seafood, and the taste was divine. Wanted to savor every mouthful.
After lunch we decided to take the chairlift up to the top of the Nut. The views were spectacular.
We met up with another couple going up at the same time and we walked all over the top of the Nut together. We even saw a really blonde coloured echinda. Love how we are able to get up so close to the wildlife in Tassie.
The cemetery was right at the bottom of the Nut, overlooking the sea. Steve was quite amused by the sign posted on the gate. We went for drive around the area and checked out the Highfield Estate, There was a wedding there when we drove past. This area dates back to the convict days.

We passed some beautiful country - lovely lush green hills again, and as this drive was all around the coast line, there were gorgeous views of the rolling green hills with the ocean in the background. Some people here really do have majestic views.
I am missing some of the other photos from this area ( mainly because I am finishing this post on Steve's computer and the photos are all on mine. As a spare of the moment thing, we turned off the road and visited a place called "Dip Falls" and "Big Tree", both were well worth the 26km drive. Will post photos of that when I next log on.

I have heaps more photos to share from this week. We have had a great week on the West Coast visiting Queenstown, Strahan, and Zeehan. We were fortunate to be able to do the Gordon River Cruise and the West Coast Wilderness Railway Tour in great weather. On the day it rained we visited Zeehan and spent the day at the museum. Definitely worth the visit. Will have to share that on another day.

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