Stanley

Our first taste of the nature of the Tarkine. We spent a few hours at the Tarkine Wilderness Lodge and explored an enchanted temperate rainforest, the first of many on this trip. The temperature drops as soon as you walk into the thick canopy of trees soaring into the sky.

We saw fungus of every colour, shape and size. The trees are more than 200 years old and you half expect to see an ancient creature crash through the undergrowth to greet you.

Our first stop for the night was the town of Stanley - a collection of beautiful well-restored old homes, many of them holiday cottages. This is where "The Light between Oceans" was filmed.

It's the home of a rather special rock called The Nut which of course yours truly had to climb. There is a cable car but I chose to walk at 450 metre steep zigzag trail which takes you to the top. The rest is relatively flat until you loop back and walk down again. The day was sunny so the view was spectacular in every direction. There's even a small forest up there providing a bit of shade towards the end of the walk.Read more