The wind has dropped, the temperature is mild and there occasional bursts of sunshine. So we decide to tackle The Nut. Avoiding the chair lift as the wimpy option we climb the steep ascent surprisingly easily and quickly, discovering that it is less exerting to walk up the path backwards and doing so has the additional benefit of allowing us to take in the rather impressive view of the surrounding coastline as we go. It’s a 40-minute walk to circumnavigate the top of The Nut, which is a lava plug rising to 153m with sheer cliffs on three sides On our walk we come across several wallabies and even more remarkable a shearwater fledgling hunkered down in one of the many holes in the ground, which up that point Andy had been convinced were rabbit warrens. We follow this up with an hour’s walk along the ‘endless’ beach where there must be dozens of dead starfish and several dead fish including a ray. After lunch we drive south to Strahan on the west coast. The route takes us through some impressive indigenous forest, pine plantations and windy mountain roads as well as some areas that have been ruthlessly devastated by logging and left strewn with the unwanted detritus. The descent into Strahan gives a glimpse of the wild Southern Ocean. Strahan is a tiny village of 600 which caters for visitors who come to cruise the Macquarie Harbour and Gordon River or ride the scenic railway to Queenstown. And the prices are marked up accordingly.. Here a basic cabin with little more than a bed and a few sticks of furniture and no heating is $75 compared to Stanley where we had a cabin with cooking facilities for $55.
The caravan parks in Tasmania are rather shabby and dated in comparison with the big franchise operations like Top Ten and Kiwi in New Zealand and are far more expensive. Maybe we have been unlucky, but The Big 4 site in Strahan definitely could do with a facelift and there is no heating in the cabin.
In fact the cost of living here is quite a lot more expensive overall compared to New Zealand. Prices are higher dollar for dollar and the exchange rate against the pound is about 25% lower. All of which is puts our modest budget under pressure a bit of pressure..