Stanley and the Nut, TAS

Stanley and the Nut wasn’t technically a day trip – we arrived at around 6pm and left at just before 9pm. We stopped here after our second day visiting the Tarkine wilderness area, as it was on the way home.

Stanley is a pretty tourist town on the north coast of Tasmania, and the Nut is a volcanic rock formation that sits just behind it and is 150m high. It is a pretty impressive looking rock. We wanted to go to the top of the Nut the last time we were in Tasmania back in January 2014, but it was pouring with rain and there was zero visibility. So we had been waiting for 9 years to climb the Nut!

One of the advantages (in our opinion…) of visiting the Nut after 6pm is that the cable car to the top is closed, and so you have to walk up and most of the other tourists have already left – YES!

It only takes about 30 minutes up a VERY steep trail and you are at the top. On top of the Nut is a 2km loop trail that goes through forest and grassland and passes several great viewpoints. It looks just like a big rock from down below – but it’s quite large and full of vegetation on the top. We had a great walk and saw a lot of pademelons hopping around.

After we came down we found a pub and tried a local speciality – Tasmanian Scallop Pie.