Boat Harbour

Boat Harbour

The tiny beachside hamlet of Boat Harbour is one of Tasmania's hidden gems

The north coast of Tasmania is a place of rugged beauty, where fertile farmlands spill into the wild waters of Bass Strait. The spectacular Bass Highway follows the coast from Ulverstone in the east to Stanley in the west, Tasmania's own version of the Great Ocean Road. Cape Grim on the far-western tip has the world's cleanest air and at tiny Boat Harbour you'll find one of the country's most glorious beaches.

It's a place with few people and even fewer towns, and most visitors that do come to this magnificent corner of Tasmania tend to head straight to Stanley, around a 90-minute drive from Wynyard, which is also the location of Burnie airport.

Most well known for the distinctive 152-metre-high flat-topped circular headland called The Nut that looms above the town, Stanley is a pretty fishing community at the western end of Tasmania's north coast, and a popular place to base yourself for a few days to explore the wilderness and history of one of the country's most wild and rugged places.

The state's best kept secret

However, as attractive as the thought might be to drive straight there, to do so would mean missing out on one of the state's best kept secrets; Boat Harbour, a tiny collection of beach houses that march up the dune behind the white sandy beach. It's the type of place you can easily loose yourself for a week of sun, sand and sea, even if the water tends to be a little on the cold (read freezing) side.

Our accommodation for the duration is The Harbour House, a contemporary beach house perched above the beach with floor-to-ceiling windows and a huge deck with million-dollar water views.

In fact, the best view is to be had from the king-sized bed, up a couple of steps from the open-plan living room and kitchen and, when you peek over the covers all you can see is blue ocean and even bluer sky. When we do finally pull ourselves out of bed we spend our days picking through the driftwood and shells along the high-water mark of the beach below, before walking up along the sand to the kiosk-cum-restaurant Jolly Rogers, where tables spill out onto the sand and the views are just as good as the food and we watch with amazement as a group of hardy teenagers dive into the waves, despite the temperature being around 15°C - obviously locals.

Other days we head to nearby Rocky Cape National Park, where we follow coastal walking tracks that lead to caves filled with shells, bones and other remains from thousands of years of Aboriginal occupation. Other trails take us to Sisters Beach, where we climb the heath-covered hills to an extensive stand of saw banksias with spectacularly large cylindrical flowers, more caves set dramatically above the rocky shore and breathtaking views. 

The views along the coast in both directions are mesmerising

From Boat Harbour it's a quick 15-minute drive to Wynyard and the airport, but not quite ready to head home just yet, we drive out to Table Cape Lookout, perched above the ocean just a few kilometres from town. The cape is actually a volcanic plug which rises to about 190 metres above sea level, capped with a lighthouse, built in 1888. The views along the coast in both directions are mesmerising.

Fossil Bluff is nearby, where Australia's oldest marsupial fossil (it was a giant marsupial) was discovered and you can see fossilised shells caught in the rocks on the beach at low tide.

But as luck would have it, we're here right in the middle of the Wynyard Tulip Festival, and the centre of the action is the Table Cape to Wynyard Tulip Farm, where we wander through rows of stunning blooms all, apparently, the by-product of the farm's main business, growing the bulbs. The farm covers most of the flat-topped circular headland, and as we take off later that afternoon, the plane circles over Table Cape, a patchwork of brilliant red, yellow, pink and purple. The views are breathtaking and we wonder, not for the first time, how long this little patch of sleepy beach paradise will remain undiscovered. Forever, we hope.

Where to stay

• The Harbour Houses: contemporary beach houses right on the edge of the sand at Boat Harbour with million-dollar views. Port Road, Boat Harbour. Tel: (03) 6442 2135.

Where to eat

• Jolly Rogers Cafe and Restaurant: licensed and BYO restaurant on the beach next door to the surf club at Boat Harbour. Open all day serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tel: (03) 6445 1710.

Getting there

• Rex has five daily flights between Melbourne and Burnie (Wynyard), see Regional Express for more details.

More information

• Wynyard Tulip Festival, October 7-13, 2007.
• Stanley Visitors Centre, 45 Main Road
• Discover Tasmania.

By Lee Atkinson, April 2007.