Our first task today is to deliver a copy of Steve’s father, Ben’s memoirs to his sister, Pat, in Ulverstone, about half-an-hour from Shearwater. Lost to her brother, Ben, for 30 years, Steve has recently managed to locate Pat in Ulverstone whilst researching the family tree. Research that has also uncovered a cousin of ours in New South Wales. We’d talked a couple of weeks ago about delivering a letter and photos to Pat, but it wasn’t until last night that we got a message from my sister to ask if we would deliver the manuscript. As luck would have it, we are leaving Shearwater today and driving through Ulverstone today on our way to Stanley on the north-west coast. But life rarely runs smoothly; there aren’t any printing facilities at the house in Shearwater, so Andy goes to the local internet cafe to print the manuscript from the internet while I pack our stuff and tidy the house. But it takes two visits to the internet cafe and a couple of calls to Steve before the memoirs are located on the internet and the 68 pages printed. In the meantime Steve’s learned from an electrican working in Pat’s home that there has been a fire and she has had to move out temporarily to stay with friends leaving no contact address, so we’re unlikely to be able to deliver the manuscript to her in person. We find Pat’s house easily and leave the manuscript with the electrician. We’re shocked to discover the extent of the damage; apparently the fridge had caught fire during the night gutting the kitchen and causing smoke damage in the hall. The rest of the house seems intact, but Pat was lucky – it could easily have been much worse.
From Ulverstone we drive along the coast road, making a detour to Table Cape for some great views up and down the coast. Interestingly Alexander of the Alexander Technique fame was born close by and there is a plaque in his honour on the cliff top. The stretch of coastal hinterland between Ulverstone and Stanley is vibrant green pastures in contrast to the yellows and browns of the countryside between Hobart and Shearwater. The earth is a rich, rust red. and the air is reputedly the cleanest. The coast is dotted with small villages, rocky outcrops and sandy beaches. Stanley is a small fishing village of 600 people in the remote north-west dubbed the ‘edge of the world’. Sitting at the end of a 7km isthmus and tucked under the striking rocky outcrop known as the Nut, it faces a seemingly endless arc of white sandy beach on one side and a crescent beach on the other. The historic centre has many pretty colonial weatherboard houses with picket fences and wrought iron detailing. Almost all given over to providing accommodation for holidaymakers. It’s very windy today; the sea is full of white horses and the chair lift to the top of the Nut is closed. Too windy to make the climb to the top of the Nut an inviting prospect ….perhaps tomorrow.