(Tassie Trip) Day 8 – Stanley

Usually I publish my Tassie Trip posts on a Wednesday for Wordless Wednesday but for this one there was no way I could keep my words to a minimum, let alone wordless!  I was totally enamored with Stanley and therefore have quite a bit to say.  It’s taken me a while to get this post ready for publishing because I took SO MANY photographs and therefore have had many to pour through to decide which ones were most worth editing and including and then of course there was finding the time to edit.

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After having lunch at Wynyard we set off towards Stanley where we finally arrived mid-late afternoon.

A bit about Stanley:  It has a population today of around 481 people. In 1825 the Van Diemen’s Land Company was granted land in north-western Van Diemen’s Land, including the Stanley area. Employees of the company from England settled in the area in October 1826.  It was named after Lord Stanley, the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the 1830s and 1840s, who later had three terms of office as British Prime Minister.  Today Stanley is a tourist destination and the main fishing port on the north-west coast of Tasmania.  The most distinctive landmark in Stanley is The Nut, an old volcanic plug discovered by the explorers Bass and Flinders in 1798, who named it Circular Head.  Tourists regularly travel to Highfield (a farming region on the north west of the township) to view the picturesque northern beaches with The Nut in the background.  The port on the southern side of The Nut is also a regularly used fishing spot.

This place absolutely stole my heart.  I loved it here.  It’s tiny.  It’s quaint.  It’s unique.  It’s special.  It spoke to me!  What did it say?  It said “Min, you could so live here. Well you at least need a longer stay here!”  How sad that we had so little time here.  We were due to leave again the next day – probably needing to be gone by late morning in order to reach our next destination before dark.

We walked up to the base of ‘The Nut’ (a fascinating geological rock formation at the base of which is the township of Stanley) with the intention of catching the chairlift to the top for a walk around the plateau and of course so I could take some 360 degree view photographs.  Hubby was concerned we were short on time and that the chairlift operating hours would not allow us time to get up there, walk around, take photographs, and then catch a chairlift back down.  So, we didn’t go to the top, planning to do it in the morning.  Sadly, it was pouring with rain in the morning so we never got to the top of The Nut!  I was so disappointed.  I will most definitely have to go back to Stanley!

We stayed at Touchwood’s ‘The Studio Cottage‘ and were very ‘touched’ that there were beautiful hot muffins wrapped up in a tea towel still hot from the oven awaiting our arrival.  We made a pot of tea to accompany the muffins and boy were those muffins delicious! 

The cottage was very roomy and cosy and contained everything you would need plus more!  The only down side to this cottage was that, though it had a lovely view out to the beach and water, it wasn’t particularly private if you opened the blinds on the windows because the Touchwood Cafe and Craft Gallery were out there and clientele seated at tables (indoor & outdoor) would be able to see in to the cottage if the blinds were fully open.  We were only staying one night so it wasn’t a problem, but if I were in Stanley for a longer stay I think I would seek alternative accommodation.  Here are some pics that I took with my phone.

1. The Cottage Bathroom 2. The Cottage Lounge area, and 3. Stone Wall – Convict Built

1. Cottage Bathroom – showing the gorgeous skylight, 2. A sideboard in the kitchen area, and 3. The hot from the oven muffins awaiting our arrival

The Cottage Bed

Stanley Post Office and Phone Box

We had dinner that night at Xanders Restaurant.  Oh my gosh – I highly, highly recommend that you eat at this place if ever you are at Stanley.  Note that you must book – it is that popular – even in such a small little town!  People come from all over to eat here!  Though we were there at night and it was dark, should you eat there during the day – the outlook is stunning!  The food, service and ambiance was absolutely superb!  Afterwards, it was just a short stroll up the street back to our cottage.

If you’ve read to this point, it would be quite obvious by now that I was very taken with Stanley.  It felt a bit like stepping back in time.   I felt like I had discovered a very special secret little village in an absolutely stunning part of the world.   Here was this gorgeous village settlement at the base of ‘The Nut’ surrounded on both sides by water and the most beautiful beaches.  I loved the architecture of the cottages and shops and those are what I was most drawn to photograph.  Here are some of the photographs that I managed to take on the afternoon we arrived, in the very short period of time we had before it got dark.  There are quite a few – I was like a woman obsessed – I loved the place!  Note that many of them really need to be seen at full size for the beauty of this place to be fully appreciated.

The next Tassie Trip post I’ll be sharing more photographs from Stanley – but the majority will be from our visit to Highfield House (a different Highfield House than the B&B we stayed in of the same name in Launceston).  This Highfield House is a historic site that offers a historically accurate vision of a gentleman’s home and farm of the 1830s.  It sits on a hillside overlooking the lands the manager would have once controlled, with views across to Stanley, The Nut and Bass Strait beyond. Find out more and see some fabulous photographs (if I do say so myself) in the next Tassie Trip post which will probably be published at some point during January 2016.

Meanwhile, here’s where you can catch up on our Tassie trip so far:  Day 1 – Hobart, Day 2 – MONA – Hobart, Day 3 – Richmond, Day 4 – Port Arthur, Day 5 – Bicheno, Day 5 – Wineglass Bay, Day 5 – Sleepy Bay, Day 5 – Cape Tourville, Day 5 – St Mary’s, Day 6 – Bay of Fires: Binalong Bay, Day 6 – Bay of Fires: The Gardens, Day 6 – Pyengana Cows, Day 6 – St Columba Falls, Day 7 – Launceston – where we Stayed, Day 7 – City of Launceston, Day 7 – Launceston’s Cataract Gorge, Day 8 – Deloraine and Devonport, and Day 8 – Penguin and Wynyard.

On Friday we’re off to Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast for a week’s holiday, so there will probably only be one more post from me for 2015, somewhere in the week prior to Christmas.  Until then, stay safe and may the Christmas spirit be with you!  🙂

Ciao for now,

Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT
&
I decided after all to cheekily link up with
My Little Drummer Boys and Steph’s Joy for #WordlessWednesday
(apologies ladies for all the words!)