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View will stop you in your tracks

EMERGING from Rocky Cape National Park in the sunny mid-afternoon, I'm looking for a place to eat. So far, the day has been all about the coast. Lookouts, beaches, shacks, lighthouses ... my aspirational lunch menu is zeroing in on seafood. Even random conversations with fellow travellers through the day have turned to the crucial topic of lunch, more precisely the search for fish and chips. With  appetite at the wheel, fully in control of the expedition, the car finds its way to the junction of  the Rocky Cape road and Bass Highway.   Here the Two Fat Ladies of the Cape Cafe wins the battle for  heart, mind and stomach. I savour battered fish and enjoy an ice-cream enhanced chocolate milkshake before saddling up for the final 29 kilometres to Stanley.  Signs such as Crayfish Creek and Brickmakers Beach flash past as Port Latta's 1.6-kilometre pier stretches into the broad bay guarded by Circular Head to the north-west and Rocky Cape to the east. Descriptions such as distinctive hardly seem to do justice to The Nut. It's the exclamation mark on the curve of Circular Head and one of the key reasons that Stanley has become such a revered destination for travellers. It punctuates the seascape and the landscape, and is irresistible for photographers. I'm staying at the Stanley Seaview Inn and reckon that I'll find it by not looking for it; that by mooching about the town looking at other stuff, the accommodation will crop up of its own accord. This is a late winter visit, blessed by glorious weather. Even so, it's slipped to 10 degrees at 4.41pm when I pull over at Godfreys Beach beneath The Nut. This journey is now 30 hours old and 353.3 kilometres long, and has been a marvellous rediscovery of the North-West Coast, even if my ramblings around Stanley have failed to dislodge my lodgings. Many things are closed but you expect that in winter. Signs on The Nut chairlift, seal tours and the Seaquarium promise a livelier September. I surrender to the tedium of commonsense and slip along to a tourism map outside the visitor information centre. My digs are just out of town and used to be called the Dovecote Motel. Owner Clint Walker offers a welcome and upgrades me to one of two luxury accommodations further up the hill. The Horizon Deluxe Apartments are the bees' knees. Named after the beaches flanking The Nut, Godfreys and Tatlow are delightful examples of Tasmania's sparkling high-end tourism market. I put off a close examination of the apartment because I want to climb The Nut before nightfall. Despite my intended haste, the view stops me in my tracks. The sun has left the hills behind Stanley but continues to bathe the 140-metre high volcanic plug that dominates the town. Full-length wardrobe mirrors seem to put the view everywhere. What an exquisite winter's day, what a superb space to check out that view; what a place. IF YOU GO Visit www.mytassiebreak.com for North-West activities and places to stay or  www.stanleyseaviewinn.com.au and www.horizonapartments.com.au. NEXT WEEK: Nuts about Stanley. The writer was assisted by the Cradle Coast Authority tourism unit. David Scott's travel ramblings can be viewed online at www.travelways.com.au/my-travel _ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it qr