Orphans of the Storm

Parked near The Nut. Stanley

Typical Stanley house and garden

Godfrey's Beach from The Nut

The Advocate, 3rd October 2013

Table Cape Tulip Farm, Sunday

It seems quite surreal, sitting here by beautiful Godfrey's beach on a clear Sunday morning that just 3 days ago we seriously thought we were either going to lose our back window, or be blown over!  

The storm which enveloped Tasmania last week was, even according to the locals, unprededented.  Wind gusts at Cape Grim (not far to the west of here) were recorded at 137 km/hr and with no shelter from the storm, we found that the back window was pumping in and out, and the force of the wind was sending water fountaining from the outside to the inside via the drain holes at the bottom of all our windows.  At one stage we were running round with towels trying to stem the tide, and not really having much success.  The back seat was wet, one of the cushions was drenched and we even had water seeping in next to our bed.  The only thing we could do was to seek shelter somewhere other than our exposed beachside camp.  We ended up on the eastern side of The Nut, just before the Harbour, facing into the wind so as to keep as much water as possible from the back of the van.  Someone later asked us if we weren't worried about falling rocks from The Nut itself - but at that stage I think we'd have taken rocks before the wind!  At a slight break in the weather we decided to walk around the corner to Hursey's Seafoods for fish and chips, but before we made it there, the rain had restarted and we were both like drowned rats.  No point going back at that stage - we had our fish and chips and walked back to the van, bedraggled as we were.  The wonderful diesel heater took care of our clothes, shoes and wet cushions, though we slept that night with beach towels at the head and foot of the bed, just in case.

We've had lots of sympathy and enquiries as to our welfare from locals, who all know we are free camping along the beach.  There doesn't seem to be any animosity whatsoever to our presence, although why would there be I guess, with our predilection for frequenting the local cafes and coffee shops, (and gift shops for Christmas presents).  They're a lovely bunch down here and if there was one place we'd consider moving to it would certainly be Stanley - though we're not; Ray wouldn't survive the cold winters.  Those who know me will also be surprised to learn that I never venture out of the van without 3 layers on - it really is cold here at the moment.

We were fascinated to learn from the owner of one of the cafes in town that she has penguins nesting under her front verandah (her house being just over the road from the beach).  Evidently they're noisy little creatures, according to Barb, and keep her awake at night!

Last night there was a concert on in the Town Hall to celebrate 5 years of teaching Acoustic Guitar building at Highfield House by Thomas Lloyd Guitars, showcasing some of the students' guitars, along with singers and other performers.  For a gold coin donation(!) we attended a wonderful evening of guitar playing and singing, along with tea and coffee and the usual fabulous country spread at interval.  The local women had all been baking, and there were wonderful cup cakes, scones, slices, sandwiches, quiches, pies, sausage rolls - far too many as is usually the case.  We filched a couple of cupcakes at the end of the night to sustain us on our 300 metre walk home!

Unfortunately we missed the exhibition during the day of all the guitars featured in the evening's entertainment, as we opted to drive to Wynyard for the day.  Next weekend is Tulip Festival at Wynyard (a week too early again) but we called in to the Table Cape Tulip Farm on our way back to Stanley, and you can see by the picture above, the rows and rows of coloured tulips, stretching to the horizon.  Evidently they're mainly grown for the bulbs, not the flowers and I was most impressed by the fact that there wasn't even one rogue tulip of a different colour growing out of place!  We visited the Table Cape Lighthouse, just a short distance from the tulip farm, which is normally also surrounded by fields and fields of tulips.  They were "on rotation" for the year, presumably allowing the soil to recover before next year's planting.  Even in Wynyard, there were rows of tulips planted all over town, even in the smallest patch of soil next to a row of shops.  Beautiful!  

Tonight is NRL Grand Final night so we're staying put where we know we can get the game on TV.

Tomorrow we'll head east, as most of the things we want to do and see on the west coast are still in their winter hibernation!  We rang Arthur River Cruises, which is a must-do on the west coast, but they say they have just had a mini cyclone (I suspect the same storm we had here) and some of their infrastructure along the river needs to be cleaned out and in some cases rebuilt.  So tomorrow, the adventure starts again.  If we stay too long here we won't be able to leave.

Penguin here we come.

Sally and Ray