The Nut and the wild west

Not far from Boat Harbour is the picturesque town of Stanley, nestling under the striking geological landmark that is known as The Nut. There is a walking track up its steep slopes, and also a simple chairlift, which was our route of choice today. Once up on top we went for a stroll around a 2km circuit track, admiring the views and a lovely little tract of bush nestled in a small valley that was riddled with pademelons (like wallabies, only smaller (and wallabies are like kangaroos, only smaller)).

On our way up The Nut on the chairlift.

View west towards Highfield on the hill at the other end of the beach, with Stanley below.

Pademelon in the dappled sunlight (the dark bar across its side is actually a shadow, not a body marking).

Fishing boat seen through rock outcrop on The Nut.

View of The Nut from Highfield house.

We then headed up to historic Highfield, one of the early settler properties dating back to the 1830s. They had a hard time turning the vast tracts of land that they had taken over into viable sheep-grazing country. The rooms of the house have been partly restored and one of the poignant finds was when the restorers peeled back the layers of wallpaper and found marks on the wall recording children’s heights. After exploring the house Dad and I found a nearby cache under the watchful gaze of a herd of cows.

The main house at Highfield.

Cow.

We then drove west, with plans to visit some interesting places along some forestry roads … but the roads were closed. So we continued further west, out to the rugged, wild and isolated west coast, where the Indian Ocean comes rolling in all the way from Africa. Big wave surfers often head out to here to catch some behemoths.

Wave breaking on the jagged rocks.

Slipway built up a rocky outcrop near one of the lonely clusters of fishing shacks.

Waves tumbling in along the coast.

Turbulent seas and rocky pinnacle.