One day, in the not too distant future, we hope to be able to travel overseas again. But in the meantime there is more than enough to see and appreciate here in our beautiful state!
Monday 13 December - sunny, cloudy skies, 18C
We left early for a leisurely drive to the north west coast. Our first stop was the Blue Hills Honey Farm at Mawbanna, 41kms east of Smithton. The impressive modern building houses a licensed café called The Colony where we enjoyed a delicious lunch, followed by a free honey tasting in the 'all things bee' shop.
On to Smithton for three nights at Tall Timbers, fabulous resort style accommodation set on acres of gardens, streams and a lake. There are also tennis courts and an indoor swimming pool - if only I'd known.
Our very comfortable apartment was on the edge of the lake which is a haven for birds including ducks and native hens. As soon as we arrived and opened the balcony door, four ducks swam towards us, climbed up the bank and stood quacking on the narrow grass strip between us and the lake. Obviously they wanted food, but I looked upon it as a welcome! During our stay we were visited by a pair of Welcome Swallows, sparrows and wattle birds. We felt right at home.
The resort began in 1989 and the region's pioneering timber families have been recognised in the names of the bistro, function areas and lounge bar. Dinner followed a drink in the comfortable Gunns Lounge Bar.
Following an early breakfast we took a stroll around the property and then left for our planned tour of Woolnorth. The 43kms drive to the meeting place, 16kms inside the main Woolnorth Gates, took us to a small information booth where we parked with three others cars. We were early, but a man on a quad bike opened the steel gate and the three men from the other cars followed him in. We did too, and drove several kilometres along a dirt road towards the Bluff Point Wind Farm.
It wasn't until they all veered off the road and up a hill that we realised we were probably in the wrong group. So we turned around and drove back to one of the maintenance buildings where we were told that those men were workers and had nothing to do with the tour. We then followed a somewhat bemused maintenance guy back to the information booth where he let us out! Within seconds the tour bus arrived and embarrassed, we told Laura, our friendly and knowledgeable guide, about our experience. She informed us that even the police are not allowed down the road we had just travelled, without permission!
We were the only tour guests that day so we boarded the 12-seater bus and Laura drove us first to the Studland Bay Wind Farm, the other wind farm on this 44,000 acres property. The two wind farms combined host 62 wind turbines which are 80 metres high. The props are 44 metres long and rotate at a wind velocity of between 10 and 100kph. The box at the top of the tower is called a Nacell and is the size of a 50-seater bus. The turbines turn into the wind using a giant lazy Susan device. Maintenance is conducted regularly via hydraulic lifts within the towers, and a cherry picker type box lift outside.
The wind farms are located on grazing land, which from the early 1800s was used for sheep. However, the land was given over to cattle in 2002 because the 1.5 metres of annual rainfall was far too wet for sheep who also don't like long grass. There are approximately 60,000 head of cattle on the property and a dozen dairies. Over 100 employees, many Indian, Pakistani and Pacific Islanders, and their families live in various accommodations on the property, with 32 children bused to school in Smithton each week day.
I asked about issues with birds of prey, and Laura said they have had no problems since 2014 because they cull the wallabies and without a food source, birds of prey don't come near the turbines. Living outside the fenced area are approximately 2,000 healthy Tasmanian Devils. There is no Facial Tumour Disease because they are isolated from the rest of their populations. The wallabies are used as feed for the Devils.
From the wind farm we drove to the main settlement which houses the old sheep shearing shed, now used for functions and weddings, etc. and to care for new-born calves.
Laura made us a cuppa and then we drove on to Cape Grim, so named to reflect a massacre of Aborigines. In December 1827, four of their young women were taken by Van Diemans Land Company shepherds and the Aborigines retaliated by killing 118 company sheep. They thought this would be the end of it, however, the shepherds thought otherwise and in early February 1828 they shot 30 Aborigines and threw their bodies down the cliff after firing upon their families camped on the beach.
The sheer beauty of the vista gives no indication that such a tragedy occurred 194 years ago. And from high on the cliffs, under a sparkling blue sky, we could see more than 180 degrees around what seemed to be the edge of the Earth. Stunning. We were privileged to be there on one of approximately four days each year when the weather is this good!
For more information go to: Woolnorth Tours
Our first stop for the day was at Moby Dick's Breakfast Bar at Stanley. On our walk through town we visited several arty-crafty stores and I discovered a delightful antiques & collectables shop, where I purchased two miniature urns and was serenaded by one of the owners whilst the other regaled me with the story of his dolls house...
We then headed out to follow the Tarkine Drive through this fabulous area that neither of us knew is also alive with sinkholes and underground caves! Our first stop was the Trowutta Arch, which was created by the collapse of a cave and the creation of two sinkholes, one of them filled with water which is about 20 metres deep. It is a spectacular sight!
