Stanley, Tasmania

Stanley, Tasmania  

                                           

In the morning I went for  walk along the riverbank. The water surface was as flat as a mirror. I saw plenty of ripples and something surfacing and diving, but no incontriversible and documented sighting of a platypus. Then any hope of a sighting died when a local day cruise boat set off and a car wanted to use the ferry to cross the river to the other side. 

We left our wilderness retreat in Corinna and headed to Smithton. We hadn't gone far when we were contronted with a problem. Part of the gravel road hd been washed away and was impassable to ordinary cars. The locals knew of the issue but the Park Service had not erected any warning signs so that drivers were on their own. 

Our minibus had the clearance to negotiate some of the terrain, but the rain made it difficult to judge the depth of some of the puddles. The surviving track also narrowed considerably in certain sections and whilst a powerful 4x4 might negotiate the track, a fully laden minibus towing a trailer might not make it through. 

It was too much risk to attempt it and to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. We had to turn back. There was an alternative route but it wasn't our planned route.' The difference in time and distance mae keeping to our schedule n impossibility. There was a quick reassessment of our options. We developed a plan that hopefully would take in many of the sights on the originl schedule but in an alternative order and perhaps include a lot more driving and longer days. In a demoractic vote, we all agreed to the alternative plan and we set off. 

We passed bavck through Waratah. We crossed the stream connecting two lakes with road signs warning of platypus crossing at night. Near the centre of town, we saw our first Tasmanian Tiger, thought to be extinct. Perhaps a third of Tasmania is still to be throughly explored and mapped on the ground. The optimists still hope that there are still some Tasmanian Tigers surviving in remote areas. 

One of the last confirmed sightings of the Tasmanian Tiger ocurred here in 1933. Two were captured. One died shortly afterwards and the other surived in Launceston zoo until its death.  

There were other items in public areas to record the towns past history with mining, such as this 2D cut out of an early miner...

...and this cutout of a miner with a head torch.

We moved on to Stanley. We were going to climb the Nut. It is a former volcanic plug. The cone and surrounding rock has been eroded to leave just a distinctive hill.

There is a path up to the top or there is a cable car for the less ambitious to reach the top.  There are views back to the town below. 

A view from the top. 

A view of part of the harbour.

The fishing harbour. 

The ferry port. 

One of the beach arounf the Nut. 

A masked plover. They nest on the ground and so are susceptible to predators. But they are good parents. If a predator approaches to clos, they might fain an injury to lure the predator away before miracuously recovering and flying off. They also have a poisoned barb on their wings to cause injury to a predator. They are bold parents and will defend their chicks even against humans who are many times their size. 

A nuturing parent looking after one of its chicks...and this was in the centre of the town.