A Short Trip to Stanley, Tasmania
- drawingsfromanna
- Jul 19, 2025
- 3 min read
I recently spent a few days doing a spot of sight seeing in Stanley, a small village on the north-west coast of Tasmania.
It's a place I've been wanting to return to since I last visited all the way back in 2019. But, like usual, life and other plans kept getting in the way, and only six years later have I finally been able to return.
One day, hopefully, my dream is to go back and stay for a week or two in one of the historic cottages right in the middle of the village. I imagine it would be kind of like a retreat where I would simply write and paint for that time. Hopefully that day won't be another six years away. I'll just have to wait and see, I guess.
On the first full day, a hike up The Nut was planned.
Well, when I say hike, the original plan was to take the chairlift up the mountain, walk the circuit, and then walk back down. Fate had other plans, however... The chairlift was undergoing maintenance and wouldn't be operating that day, so hiking up the mountain was the only option.
Now, The Nut is just under 500ft tall, which doesn't sound too bad in theory. But the angle of ascent is pretty damn steep in reality.
Suffice to say, my cardio should be more of a focus at the gym.
Just like I remember from last time, the views from The Nut were stunning. I took many photos as reference images for future paintings and later did a quick sketch of a photo I took of Highfield House.
This sketch was done using gouache paints. I'm currently working on developing my skills with gouache. For so long now, I've be solely using watercolour, but I've recently been craving a change of medium, so gouache it is!
I'm still getting used to the fact that some colours dry darker than others, but aside from that, the layering has been fun to play with. It's nice that I can paint over old layers without ending up with a muddy mess like I would if I attempted the same technique using watercolour.
Being a seaside village, there were of course so many sea gulls hanging about.
At one point, we made the mistake of parking the car next to a beach full of them. They must have thought we had brought lunch with us because the car quickly became inundated with a swarm of white and grey.
Eventually, they came to the conclusion that we had no food and flew off, but one persistent gull remained and claimed the car bonnet as his own.
On the following day, we traveled to Trowutta Arch, about 45 minutes south of Stanley.
It was a very eerie site to be in and a place I probably wouldn't want to visit alone because of that. The stillness and quietness of the area combined with the most vivid green algae that I've ever seen in the lake was definitely a sight worth seeing.
The walk to and back from the arch was through a rain forest with many different species of fungi to observe. Again, I took many more reference photos for future painting projects.
Finally, we visited Pitt Falls, another 45 minutes or so from Stanley. I do love a good waterfall and this one was definitely worth seeing. On the way back, we stopped by a local honey shop and purchased enough honey to last quite a while.
So that was my short but sweet trip to Stanley. I'm glad I got to return there after so many years, and can't wait to get back again someday soon.
Until next time!
-Anna
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