It occurs to me that we haven’t really told you a lot about Sisters Beach yet so today I thought I would write a little about it.
Sisters Beach is a small community about twenty-two kilometres west of Wynyard on Tasmania’s north-west coast. It is surrounded by the Rocky Cape National Park and to reach it you must turn off the Bass Highway and take the road that leads to the coast, nearby is the pretty town of Boat Harbour. Probably to call either Boat Harbour or Sisters Beach towns would be being generous as they are both tiny. At the last census Sisters Beach had a population of about 450 people. There is just one shop that houses a cafe, takeaway food shop, general store and post office. Adjacent to the shop is a tiny bottle shop, the only place to buy alcohol. Until recently you could buy petrol at the shop too.
I will write more about the history of the area in a later post when I’ve had a chance to do more research. The township, the locals refer to it as the village, is part permanent residences and part semi-permanent homes used at weekends or as holiday rentals.
The houses are an eclectic mix of the original beach shacks, brick homes built in the sixties and seventies, newer homes including the ugly, blocky grey houses that everyone seems to build these days and a few more quirky designs like A-frames and hexagonally shaped homes.
Gardens hold a mixture of water tanks, garages, sheds made from odd materials and caravans. Lilies, Kangaroo Paw and Agapanthus grow almost wild on the verges.
Our own house was originally built in 1968. We believe that the lower level may originally have been a garage and storage area as the ceilings are quite low and there are the remains of a flight of stairs in a room which is currently configured as a bathroom. We plan to learn more about the history of our own house. So far we’ve learned that there have been at least three previous owners. At one stage it was divided into two flats. We plan to keep the downstairs kitchen operational as it will be handy to have extra space for baking or to prepare a meal when we are downstairs doing our hobbies.
The streets are sealed but narrow, there are few footpaths and the local speed limit is just 40kph. There are unpaved roads and pedestrian-only lanes as well, to get to the beach, the shop or to more isolated homes.
I took quite a lot of photos around the neighbourhood today and I know that Naomi has taken some as well so we’ll bring you another look at Sisters Beach another day.
References:
- https://parks.tas.gov.au/explore-our-parks/rocky-cape-national-park
- https://www.sistersbeach.org.au/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters_Beach,_Tasmania
Our Other Blog: Two Sisters and Two Points of View 
It looks idyllic, Vanda. Your house looks lovely. The blocky houses are frightening. Hows are you off for services though? Is there a bus that takes you into a bigger town for medical appointments, etc. And what is your bushfire plan!
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There isn’t a bus, at the moment I am relying on rides from neighbours when I need to go to Wynyard. Fires do worry me with one road in and out. That’s the downside of being surrounded by National Park of course. The emergency meeting place is at the beach and gives me visions of a Mallacoota like situation. My plan, as it was in Geeveston would be to leave as early as possible because I would not have a hope of defending the house myself and I would want to get the animals out.
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One road in and out is tricky. I imagine Mallacoota will be on everyone’s mind so there will be no shortage of lifts for an early evacuation. Nevertheless, it is really beautiful there. It is everything my heart desires. 🙂 I’m sure you will love it. Also, under climate change the west coast of Tassie is meant to get wetter and east dryer. You are closer to west than east.
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Yes I think that Wynyard might be right on the line where the weather changes. I have been to visit Stanley just west of here three or four times and without fail every time I’ve been there it has rained. On our first visit to the northwest coast David and I were staying in Devonport for a few days while we explored all the small towns to the west. The day we were at Stanley we drove back towards Devonport with the rain seemingly following us. We got past Wynyard and it stopped, In Devonport it didn’t seem to have rained at all that day. I remember
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How interesting.
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I remember that when we first came to Tasmania people on the west coast used to complain that Forestry Tasmania was seeding the clouds and making it rain more over there. Not sure if there was any truth in it. The west is always wetter. The east coast and Midlands are dry and in drought at the moment.
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It is tinder dry here in Oatlands. Although we have had a little rain it only touches the surface. There is hardly any green anywhere as you look around here. The lake is covered in brown weed and drying up. Such as shame as the district is so beautiful when the lake has more water and the hills are green.
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I remember 2009 when the lake filled up for the first time in years. People too boats out on it and it looked lovely.
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Yes there was even a pontoon on the lake and the lake was stocked with trout. People often went fishing. It was quite exciting to see the empty dust bowl filled with water. The drought lasted four years.
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I have a photo of a man fishing from that year.
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Cool photos of that area 🙂
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Thanks Dennis. I was hoping to be able to photograph the black cockatoos or kookaburras but they did not want to cooperate that day.
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Hehe. I know what you mean. I sometimes go out with a subject in my mind too, but then it doesn’t work and I photograph other things. Maybe you can photograph them another day 🙂
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