Rocky Cape - Cradle Mountain

The Rocky Cape Tavern is really just a pub on the road from Wynyard (pop. 5000) to Stanley (pop. 450).  Rocky Cape had a population of about 7 plus a few stray dogs.  If you count the people camping at the back of the pub, the population trebles. After we arrived I reckon it was close to 30.

The next morning we planned a trip to the “Nut”, a volcanic plug that now stands 150 m above sea level at the end of an isthmus on which the town of Stanley rests. The obvious thing to do is climb it, so we did. It is only a short walk (430m) to the top, but you ascend almost 120m in that distance. A great work out for the thighs. Of course, Georgia just ran up it and then looked disparagingly at her aged parents as we dragged ourselves over the last 30 metres. The views from the top were great, we could see almost to the north western edge of the island (Tasmania,that is) There is a chairlift to go up, but felt that would be cowardly. I have to secretly admit to not minding the children begging to have a lift down the Nut on the chairlift, just for the fun of it.  My hockey knees are not so good coming down steep paths. Of course, we made a fuss and then acquiesced. We treated the kids to an ice cream at the bottom, I had a coffee…. 6/10 I am afraid, but I am becoming far more tolerant of bad grinds.  The sacrifice one must make.

Stanley is a pretty little town that makes its living mostly of tourist and opium poppies. Yes, that’s correct… opium. There are huge expanses of poppy fields, all carefully fenced and farmed complete with signs to say that you could DIE if you misuse the crop. Apparently it is used commercially for the manufacture of codeine and a few other pharmaceuticals and grows very successfully in the region.

The town has a folksy and historic main street with all the usual tourist suspects, but nicely done. Then we found it. I was almost beside myself.  Who knew that Joseph Lyons our tenth prime minister, and co-founder (along with Menzies) of the United Australia Party that later morphed into the current Liberal Party was born in Stanley? Not me, although I probably read it at one point somewhere. Well, I guess you are all just about as excited with that news as the rest of my family was.  The cottage he was born in was not open that day, but a volunteer happened to be onsite and let us in. She was a wealth of information and I spent a very happy half hour chatting while the rest of the family looked bored and restless. Bless them.

On the drive back, we stopped in at Rocky Cape National Park. It is a just a few kilometres from the Tavern.  The Park showcases some fascinating quartzite rock formations and caves once used by the Aboriginal people. We drove out to the lighthouse situated on the actual cape and then hiked out to one of the natural caves.  The National Parks won’t let you go in the caves as they are significant to the local culture but it was a very rugged and windswept coastline that proved most photogenic.

That night was New Year’s Eve.  Our neighbour, Bob in the RV adjacent had lit a fire in the BBQ area (it would not pass muster for neither food safety nor OHS) and we ended up sitting around it talking, laughing, drinking and furnacing marshmallows.  The wedding reception at the pub really got going at about 11.00pm and the kids made it to midnight.  Bob gave us a blow by blow account of every freecamping site in Tasmania, complete with instructions such as “ Go to the RSL at Jeeveston and talk to Dave, aka ‘Daisy’ and he’ll let ya stop out the back and leave the dunnies open for ya”. Priceless, but don’t think we will be visiting Jeeveston this time round.  We fell into bed at about 1:30am to the sounds the wedding reception cover band. Now, you wouldn’t get that at the Devonport Hilton.

Needless to say, we were all a bit dusty the next morning and took us a while to get going. In addition, it was sprinkling rain. We only set the bed flys if the weather looks inclement as they are a bit of a pain to put up and take down and fortunately had put then up when we arrived.

After the slow start we backtracked  east to meet up with the road heading inland to Cradle Mountain. Along the way, we stopped at Table Cape lighthouse. It is still operating today and is one of the few lighthouses that you can enter and look around.  It was built in 1888 and required a fulltime lighthouse keeper on site until the 1920’s. It is fully automated today but all the fittings are original except for the electrical cableing and the current lightbulb.  In fact, it’s not a lightbulb but one of those diode things, very similar to what you use for a car headlight.

Past more Poppy fields, a stop for petrol and then we turned south on the B18 and drove to Cradle Mountain National Park.  We arrived in time to have a good chat to one of the rangers and planned our walks for the next two days. The weather is holding for now, but it is FREEZING. I mean, really. The forecast minimum temp for tonight is 2. Apparently it is currently 6 degrees.   I would type more but my fingers are starting to seize up.

Next post will have, Lord willing, some breathtaking shots of Crater Lake and if I am uber lucky, the Aurora Australis.   Conditions have been right for the Aurora and there have been several sightings in the past week – although it does require one to be outside in the middle of the night. Lets pray for warmer weather.