Stanley and the penguins.

Wed 20^th. Time to head across to Stanley. We stopped at the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm for lunch because it was so good the first time. On Cindy’s recommendation, I had a raspberry smoothie this time with my red lentil patties and roasted vegetable tabouli and Trevor had Chat Potatoes with bacon and onion. Both the small size serves, but they were still quite big. Good value. 

Back in the car and it was time to keep watch for the turnoff to Railton, home of the topiary, a bit over-hyped in the guide books, there were not as many topiaries as I expected, some quite clever  and some looking a bit untended. Maybe it’s the lack of rain?? From there we headed across to Sheffield, the town of murals. More narrow roads, I won’t be sorry to see the last of them!  We parked at one end of town and walked along one side of the road and then back down the other side. It’s a nice place and we probably could have spent more time there. Trevor spotted a  Tassie scenery DVD for sale in a shop window so we went in and found an interesting mix of goods for sale. Lots of clothes, so I finally bought the fleecy zip-up top I’d been looking for all trip. 

Back on the main road I saw a sign for Table Cape lighthouse, so, of course, we diverted. There’s usually always a good view from lighthouses. This one was further off the main road than expected so blew out our travel time a bit, but it was interesting, right next to the big tulip farm, which would be spectacular when the tulips are blossoming. We arrived in Stanley around 4.30, later than planned but the roads are a bit skinnier up here and the logging trucks are stressing me out! 

Our home for the next 2 nights is Abbey’s on the Terrace, located on Alexander Terrace, halfway between Moby Dick’s and Hursey’s Seafood Restaurant. House is old school and very cute, nestled under The Nut, with almost westerly views across Sawyer Bay towards Tatlows Beach and it has the best heater!! Took a short walk down the road to Hursey’s to book a table for dinner. You can’t miss the place, it’s got a massive red rock lobster out the front! By the time I walked back it was nearly time to go for dinner, but it was good to have a walk. 

Dinner was fresh Tassie scallops pan fried in garlic butter and baby abalone for entrée, never had abalone before, so it was a good chance to try it. And we were surprised to see how little they were. When they say ‘baby’, they mean ‘baby’! Half a crayfish cooked with garlic butter for me and seafood chowder for Trevor. Chowder not as good as the Drunken Admiral in Hobart though. Ghost Rock is a winery near Devonport and I hope to go there before we leave, and Hursey’s have some of their range on the wine list. Happy days! Ghost Rock Reisling is on the specials board, but they’re sold out, so we cheekily ask if we can have the Pinot Gris for the same price. Mike, our waiter agrees so we get a bottle and it’s very nice. We’ll definitely have to take some home with us! Andrew, the other waiter, turns out to be a Hursey and his mum is out in the kitchen washing dishes! The whole experience here was amazingly good, I think we’ll have to eat here again! 

I’d read that there was a place in Stanley that you could go and watch the penguins come ashore at night and waddle back to their nests, so after our amazing dinner, we went penguin spotting. We ducked back home and donned all our warmest clothes, preparing for the night cold. At least it wasn’t raining! We saw quite a few penguins, funny little things they are!! It was all very exciting, and apart from all the fantastic food and spending time with family and friends, it was the highlight of the trip.