Northwest Tasmania

 The next place I would call home is black river Campground at Peg Beach. It’s on the north west coast of Tasmania a 30 minute drive from a tourist town called Stanley and about an hour drive from the West Coast known as the edge of the world. I got to the campground quite early the first day Easter in Australia is a five day weekend Good Friday the weekend Easter, Sunday, Easter, Monday and Easter Tuesday because it’s such a long weekend. It’s a common holiday getaway for Australians and since it’s the end of summer early fall for them, it usually means camping out. So this reason I got to the campground early, and I got lucky finding a solo spot which when people arrived I wouldn’t be crammed together with others, and I set up my little tent. the first day I mostly just hung around. The campground went to the beach ran to the town 30 minutes away to pick up some grocery and rested a bit. About an hour before sunset I headed out to the beach and was shocked that there was nobody else out there with me. I sat on the top of the dune and watch the sun go down, and then the two hours I spent sitting out there I only saw one other couple walk by. This is probably in part due to it being a little chilly and and so maybe people don’t wanna leave their tents I can get that, but also probably a large factor in how empty Tasmania is, has to do with the small population. The entire state/island only has 500,000 people which is quite small for the amount of area takes up. Especially the north west is the less occupied and less touristy area while the east coast is known for being quite touristy in comparison.

The next day I drove 30 minutes to the town of Stanley, which is in nearby tiny town mostly for tourists. It has this giant limestone rock sticking out on it and I can see this rock from my campground and the beach at my campground. It’s called the nut. It’s a wildlife reserve. It’s about a 15 minute Walk up the side during the busy season they have a chairlift that wasn’t open and it wasn’t too bad of a walk it is a 45° angle so so it’s pretty much just straight up and yeah then you get her to the top and it’s about a mile loop around the perimeter with some beautiful ocean views. The top, you could see the campgrounds in the crystal clear bluewater, and every direction it was gorgeous the nut is known for being a refuge for a number of migratory birds, including sea eagles, not seagulls, see eagles, and shearwaters. One interesting thing I read about the surewaters there is the parents will raise the share Waters to be Twice their size so they’ll raise a young and they’ll keep feeding it until double the weight of the parents and then they leave before it’s able to fly so in it’s in a month or two it has to learn how to fly on its own while losing the weight and by the time it’s able to fly it’s down to the height, the size of a normal adult and able to forage again which I just think is a really fascinating lifecycle.

The next day I mostly hung around, went to the beach and read and enjoyed the sunshine and tried to get some work done in the evening. I was sitting out and it was a really clear night and I looked up and I don’t know what I’ve ever seen so many stars in the sky you could see the Milky Way shining bright above, and just the entire sky was so that up there was no moon And no pollution it was just really incredible and really lovely.

On Easter I spent the day doing a big 2 hour loop of the far nw coast. I saw these magnificent Myrtle beech forests (nothofagus cunninghammii) with huge tree ferns (Dicksonia antartica) understory at Trowutta. There were these beautiful limestone sinks and caves and the tiny beach leaves, which look like small crinkly confetti carpeted the forest floor in greens, yellows , and browns. 

Next I visited Milkshake hills and climbed a small park overlooking these buttongrass prairies that were yellow with fall color.

I made my way to the coast where I saw the “edge of the world”, when you look out over the sea from there the next land is Argentina, all the way on the other side of the world. The ocean was churning a bright aqua blue with gusts of wind creating small whitecaps. 

I returned to Stanley, where I watched the calm protected ocean and made ramen watching the ocean. As the sun set I went to a fairy penguin observation point. It’s a long platform over the scrubby edge of the ocean where fairy penguins (the world’s smallest penguins) come up to sleep at night. Red lights are placed (most wildlife cant see the color red, but also, red doesn’t ruin night vision because it only activates the cones in your eyes not the rods, which preserves your ability to see in the dark) below the walkway where the penguins walk up. 

The penguins spend all day catching fish in the ocean and after sunset they return to their burrows to feed their babies. But they do so less going into winter so I heard the chances of seeing them were slim. I waiting with a crowd of 30 people, hopeful for the little 10-12 inch tall critters and they came! Slowly. Very. Slowly.  From the time we saw them emerge from the water until they walked 50 feet to their homes… 45 minutes passed. 7 would gather and stand staring at eachother for 10 minutes, then they would hop across 2-4 rocks, going maybe 5 ft, and then sit for a few more minutes, it was excruciating especially when they were just out of the light that you could see they weee there but not really see them. Nevermind the wind and the 40 degrees weather. But it was amazing. As I walked back to my car to head back to camp I saw many more and almost stepped on a few running across the parking lot. They were so precious. 

Next is APRIL 1st. *AIR HORN* *AIR HORN* *AIR HORN* the best day…. My birthday!!!!! Big 31. I made pancakes with cake mix (yum) and so much butter and passionfruit and raspberries. It was so yummy. Then I packed up camp and drove along the coast eastward. I went on a beautiful lighthouse walk where someone had planted thousands of dahlias just for my birthday and they were in full bloom. It was beautiful. Then I got myself a nice lunch in town and got some lamb steaks for dinner and went to my apartment I rented for a few days. I watched tv and ate delicious food and watched as a big storm pass through with torrential rains for a day and a half. (I had 2 birthdays cause when I woke up on the second it was still my birthday in America so I got to celebrate twice of course).