Mid March 2021 Kristy and I did a day tour to Stanley from Ulverstone (Australia’s most homophobic town – and a place of big protests in the 1980’s and 1990’s, as Tasmania imposed the harshest penalties in the Western world for homosexual activity until 1997…isn’t it a wonderful place to be). So we walked up the stairs onto the Nut (munatrik). The cable car wasn’t operating, but for the few metres we also wouldn’t have spend any money. The Nut is a former volcanic plug and the famous landmark of the area. It has several lookouts along the circuit trail on top. To the East you might spot Rocky Cape (pinmatik) and Table Cape above Wynyard.
We continued our drive further to the Northwest, and drove through Smithton. Smithton was the terminus of the Far Western Railway line, but the tracks are lifted all the way to Wiltshire. Comedian Hannah Gadsby grew up as lesbian in Smithton and processed her experiences in Nanette (watch on netflix).
Cape Grim is the northernmost point of Tasmania. It’s the side of a massacre were four workers of the Van Diemen’s Land Company (that’s Tasmania called in early days) killed about 30 Aborigines and pushed them over the cliff. The access to Cape Grim is restricted as it’s part of the private owned Woolnorth farm. You have to make bookings and pay to get onto a tour. Beside the site of a massacre it’s also the site of the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station. As there is no land east of Tasmania until the southern part of Argentina, the most westerly winds, provide a good sample of average worldwide air quality. We stopped a few kilometres before the Woolnorth farm and had a look at the Woolnorth windfarm, which also takes advantage of the roaring forties.
B' on Tour 
4 thoughts on “The Nut and Cape Grim”