The northwest coast of Tasmania is one of the least spoiled areas on earth. The air is so clean there, that its rainwater is said to be the purest in the world and is actually bottled and sold as drinking water because of its purity. If you’re thinking of visiting “the edge of the world,” as this part of Tasmania is called, Stanley will be your “base of operations.”
Stanley is a very old town. It was first established in 1825 and by 1845, Stanley had a school and a post office. Fishing has always been a primary industry in Stanley, but today, fishing vies with tourism as its major industry. What’s the attraction of Stanley to tourists? Aside from the many local attractions, Stanley is your jumping off point to the Tarkine Wilderness and the unsurpassed natural beauty of the rugged northwest coast of Tasmania.
The best known landmark in Stanley is the Nut. The Nut is a volcanic plug that juts skyward some 143 metres (almost 470 feet) out at the tip of the peninsula around which Stanley was built. There are two ways to get to the top of the Nut: the hard way and the easy way. The hard way is to climb to the top. The easy way is to take the chairlift up. Once there, you are greeted by breathtaking vistas, all the way “to the edge of the world” and beyond.
The attractions you will find in Stanley are primarily of the natural variety and primarily aquatic. The most popular tours in town are the platypus, seal and penguin tours and at the Seaquarium, you can get to see and even touch many exotic sea creatures you may never have the opportunity to see elsewhere.
The Tarkine Wilderness emcompasses 350,000 hectares of some of the most breathtaking and often inaccessible landscape you will ever see. Because of its inaccessibility, the Tarkine remains home to many species of wildlife that face extinction elsewhere. Some of them, like the graceful Wedge-tail eagle, you can see soaring in the skies. Others you may be lucky enough to stumble across as you hike on trails in the more accessible regions of the wilderness.
One way you can see a portion of the Tarkine Wilderness that would otherwise be impossible for most of us to see is to go to Dismal Swamp. As uninviting as its name sounds, Dismal Swamp, a natural sinkhole, is anything but a dismal experience. You can get to it on foot on the trail provided for visitors or you can take the safe but thrilling enclosed slide to the base. Once there, you explore the wilderness without doing it any environmental damage as you walk out the cantilevered walkway at the Visitor Center and look down at the magnificent Blackwood trees beneath you.
Back in Stanley, you settle down in your comfortable Stanley accommodation in preparation for your next day’s adventures. These run the gamut from lovely rooms in stately hotels to cozy self-contained cottages. Once you get to Stanley, you will want to stay longer than anticipated, so bear that in mind before you book your accommodation.
