Food, food and more food 07 Feb 2017

I'm going to have to go on a diet when I leave Northern Tasmania. Breakfast was a wonderful spread and included poached eggs, fresh baby tomatoes, snow peas, fresh raspberries, strawberries and peaches. The fresh coffee was deliciously excellent too.

We eventually managed to drag ourselves away from the breakfast table and headed out to Dip Falls about 40km away. We actually drove past the falls to the 'Big Tree'. This is a 60m high Stringy Eucalyptus, which is big enough, but the girth is 16m, which is huge! There were quite a few huge trees in this area, including one that had died and had fallen, it was quite a sight laid out on the ground.

We drove back to the falls which I imagine in mid winter would be very impressive but still had a reasonable amount flowing. The falls are basalt columns which looks like the Giants Causeway.

From there, we headed 26km back to the main road and then headed west to the town of Stanley. The town is overshadowed by 'The Nut', a huge table headland, an old volcanic plug. The town itself is a delightful collection of old houses and shops. There are several nice cafes and arty shops and a chairlift to get up the Nut.

Despite our huge breakfast, we visited the Touchwood cafe and Gallery and had lunch. It was very good and the staff friendly. After having a wander round town, the urge to walk off lunch was very strong! We drove to the car park at the foot of the chairlift and I headed up the zig-zag path to the top of the Nut. If you've climbed Steep Hill in Lincoln, you can imagine the path except it is steeper and longer, for quite a stretch it's impossible to walk on anything other the front part of your feet.

At the top, there is a 2km circular path around the cliff tops with tremendous views in every direction. Once again, the flies were out in force. It seems they love to be near the sea and especially love being up close to humans!

We drove back to Eagles Roost after making a dinner reservation at Hursey's a fish restaurant in Stanley. Everything they sell comes straight from the sea via the fishing boats in the small harbour.

We arrived back in Stanley for dinner at 6-o-clock and got a window seat overlooking the sea. We both chose 'Val's Seafood Basket' which was Prawns, Scallops, Squid and Gummy Shark with fries and salad. Gummy Shark is a kind of dogfish related to shark. My goodness, it was so good!

Now I'm sitting back a Eagles Roost supping Chardonnay absolutely stuffed! It's be great here, but it's probably as well we will be leaving in the morning, or like 'Hotel California' we can check out when we like, but will never leave!