Before I ever set foot on Tasmania, the girl I was traveling with told me I needed to see the Nut. And before you think that it’s some place where there are a bunch of almond or cashew or walnut trees, no…there are trees, but it’s a mountain along the northeastern edge of Tasmania that is a wildlife reserve. Apparently one of the best times to go there, wildlife- and beauty- and amount of people-wise, is at dawn. So, one evening just a couple days before I was supposed to leave, we arranged to meet up at 5 am the next morning and drive the 30 minutes or so to the Nut.
(Need to catch up on the previous posts? Here are the links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.)
The Nut—the lights at the base are the little town of Stanley
I think we ended up leaving about 5:10 or 5:15, which was pretty good, since at least one person who ended up coming wasn’t even awake until 5! We had a beautiful, peaceful drive out there.
About two-thirds of the way up. I loved seeing the ocean coming in on both sides of the peninsula!
It really felt like we were climbing a mountain with this one! There were three (very) steep upgrades to get to the top (I believe we were climbing on the slightly more sloped face you can see in the first picture). I didn’t take it as slow as I should have, and well—let’s just say that I don’t recommend climbing a steep mountain at five in the morning without having had breakfast yet!
We are waiting for the dawning….
We waited at the first lookout for a while to see the sunrise. Eventually, when it became apparent that it wouldn’t be very spectacular, we moved on to the bushier part of the reserve, where we saw a bit more animal life.
There ended up being a layer of cloud just above the horizon, so this is about all we saw of dawn. It was a beautiful morning, anyway!
Mutton bird burrows—I saw several fields like this. (This is of particular significance to our family, since we love the book Castaway by Bill O’Brien.)
Likely my favorite picture from the Nut.
One of the first wild wallabies I saw, although I had already eaten some. I saw quite a few more before the trip was over!
Sun’s up!
The Nut from the west.
In all, though we were disappointed with the lack of a beautiful sunrise, it was a gorgeous morning anyway. I was really thankful to get to see a bit more of Tasmania’s scenery, and it was great to get to spend a bit more time with the folks there.
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