Our Tasmanian Adventure – Day 2

It rained overnight and was still pretty wild and wet as we drove to Marrawah on the far North West Coast of Tasmania, absolutely stunning. It stopped raining long enough to grab a few photos, and then the skies opened again. This was a game of tag we seemed to play for the next few days. Don’t let that bright blue sky, fool you – it was cold and windy and shortly after this spell, the rains came again.

Marrawah Beach

Next stop was Arthur River, where I had hoped to see the weather clear and do a cruise along the river, but alas, no boats were going anywhere today, way too wet and windy. These skippers were not scaredy cats, it was just THAT bad folks! The Painted Cliffs were also a no go – we were not winning here.

We drove through the wilderness on the each of the Tarkine National Park. Now some people may claim we did not, in fact, get that close, but check your maps people we did, even saw a sign saying Welcome to the Tarkine, so even though we did not spend days exploring the region (mostly due to weather), I can cross that off my list. We then visited the Bluff Point Lighthouse, very windy, but so very beautiful. The Lighthouse is actually situated in the car park (very handy). This expanse of the coast is so wild and untamed, perhaps if we had seen it on a clear, sunny and calm day it may have appeared a little different.

We drove back down the coast with the skies clearing just a little (again) through beautiful farmland (mostly beef and dairy) for lunch in Stanley, at The Brown Dog – lovely warm toasties and coffee, just what we needed. It was still extremely windy and too hazardous to attempt the chairlift (which was not even running), or even attempt to climb The Nut, a rather strange name for a large rock formation just at the tip of the coast. This place was gorgeous, I did not expect so many photographic treasures here.Tabletop Lighthouse, Colony Convict cottages (in a lovely state of ruin) and truly stunning views from The Hill. What struck me was the greens so emerald green and the aqua of the clear water, mixed with the occasional bright blue sky, amazing colour combinations.

Convict Barracks, Stanley

Moving further along the coast towards Burnie we stopped at Guide Falls, such a fantastic little waterfall, and only about 50m from the car park, bonus! We drove to the top lookout above the falls and then walked down to the picnic area (My lovely Hubby walked back up and got the car and picked me up).