Think you know Tasmania? Not until you've climbed this massif and met a pademelon

Have you even been to Stanley if you didn't climb The Nut?

From below the walking trail looks vertical and narrow. It's 143 metres to the summit, which - on paper - sounds doable. It isn't long before breathless, and with burning thighs, I discover it is indeed a steep ascent.

At the halfway point I turn to take in the view. It is dizzyingly pretty in the full autumn sunshine. Azure blue sea, golden sandy beaches and green rolling hills surround a picture-perfect town flecked with red roofs and bright whitewashed cottages.

Even the cemetery at the base looks delightful with its white picket fence, erect marble gravestones and perfectly triangular cypress trees. A town that can make a cemetery look inviting must surely have plenty to offer the living.

Stanley is a town in the shadow of this gigantic massif, affectionately known as The Nut. An ancient volcanic plug, it rises from Bass Strait like a massive prehistoric sea creature, integral to the town's history, charm and mysticism.

Breathing under control, I turn to complete the second steep burst of the climb.

While not for the faint-hearted, the hike up is quick and there is a chairlift, a great option if sharp inclines aren't your thing.

On top, The Nut Circuit Walk is just shy of three kilometres long and full of photo opportunities of Stanley below, the sublime countryside and Bass Strait. Enjoy the serenity.

I'd never heard of a pademelon before our paths cross on top of The Nut.

Smaller than a wallaby and as cute as its name suggests, pademelons are known for their robust derrieres making them the Kardashians of the marsupial world.

Curious creatures, they are quickly habituated to people, and although not as friendly as quokkas, the pademelons we meet are alert but not alarmed, giving us plenty of time for photos.

Climbing the bluestone front stairs of the Poet's Cottage, my home for the next three nights, I feel like I've stepped back in time and become the heroine of my own historic bodice-ripping novel.

Bright white with red roof and trim, the house is Georgian-style.

Legend has it the cottage was designed by John Lee Archer, responsible for the parliamentary buildings in Melbourne.

Its most interesting claim to fame, though, is it was originally built for one of King George IV's illegitimate sons. Although he never lived there, declaring it too small, it's a fascinating connection.

Hosts Geraldine and David Coy recently brought the Poet's Cottage back to life, and the makeover includes all the modern conveniences the savvy traveller demands while remaining sympathetic to history.

The most beautiful interior feature is the exposed stacked stone walls, painstakingly uncovered and restored.

I'm in the Sea View room where I relax and soak up the calm only a solid 175-year-old stone residence can bring.

Magnificent views back towards Stanley and The Nut are found at Highfield Historic Site, a remarkable living museum showcasing a gentleman's home circa 1830s.

It was built by convict labour to an elegant Regency style. Construction began in 1826 under the eagle eye of Edward Curr, chief agent of Van Diemen's Land Company, who lived there with his wife and 15 children.

Exploring the homestead I get a sense of what the lives of the inhabitants must have been like as displays and recorded monologues provide a rundown of its sometimes brutal history.

A reminder of the fragility of life here is the story of three-year-old Juliana, one of the Curr's children, who died as a result of terrible head injuries received while playing on the property.

Her grave and monument bring home how remote this place must have seemed to the newcomers.

While the gardens are beautiful and the view is to die for, there are definitely strong elements of darkness in this place of terrible beauty.

We pile into the immaculately clean Tall Timbers Adventure Tour four-wheel-drive for a day of rugged coastlines, mystical rainforests, powerful rivers, lichen-painted rocks and Tasmanian Aboriginal heritage.

Our driver and guide, Rob Saltmarsh, is a passionate expert in the takayna/Tarkine area, filling our imaginations with history and stories.

Rob has planned an extensive loop, taking in the Robbins Island crossing in the north down to the rainforests of Arthur Pieman Conservation area in the south, with plenty of coastline in between.

As we travel further south the scenery becomes more forbidding as the inhospitable waters of the Southern Ocean pound this isolated coast.

At the West Point State Reserve massive flame-orange-coloured lichen-stained boulders appear everywhere.

The Edge of the World, as it has been poetically dubbed, seems fitting for this rocky weather-beaten coast.

Wild and unpredictable, the cleanest wind in the world, as measured by nearby UN monitoring station, threatens to take my newly purchased spotted-quoll cap with it.

Unimpeded by any land between here and South America, currents known as the roaring forties sweep more than halfway around the planet to hit this point, cooking up a tempest offshore.

Adding to its windswept charm is an abundance of driftwood from giant myrtles spewed out by nearby Arthur River.

The weather is changeable - going from sunshine to rain in minutes. Rug up, get a good lung full of that air and enjoy this magical pocket of the world.

The history and heritage of Aboriginal Tasmanians is omnipresent in this part of the island with evidence and reminders of their thousands of years of occupation in the form of middens, hut depressions and petroglyphs.

Rob turns the 4WD on as we head off road to take in the Sundown Point Reserve near Nelson Bay to see ancient rock engravings, petroglyphs, on the beach.

Rob tells us these petroglyphs, largely of concentric and overlapping circles, have been dated anywhere between 3000 to 30,000 years old, making this a hugely significant cultural site for the west coast.

Moving from new-growth forest to old-growth is like going through the looking glass into wonderland.

Beige gives way to glorious technicolour, the temperature is cooler and the air tastes sweeter.

Under the canopy of these silent giants, space and calm reign as dappled light weaves through the understorey displaying a spectrum of green colourways.

Moss and ferns grow plentifully on the bases and trunks of these colossal wonders while colourful fungi abound, bright red and yellow against the forest floor.

I have a desire to lie down and absorb the place - forest bathing suddenly makes sense.

There's a fire roaring at Tall Timbers Hotel Kauri Bistro when we arrive back. After a big day exploring the Tarkine wilderness, and with the air filled with the smells of the grill, we're excited to eat.

If you're looking to try the local hand-selected, wholesome, grass-fed Cape Grim beef, then this is the place to do it.

Both the Cape Grim beef short rib and braised beef cheeks get the tick of approval at our table.

The bistro's newest edition, the Cape Grim Grill, also has the finest selection of steaks, sure to satisfy the fussiest meat connoisseur.

The last time I was in Tasmania, I was a 16-year-old on a school trip and - like the convicts - I couldn't wait to go home.

This time I didn't want to leave.

The writer was a guest of Circular Head Tourism Association and Tourism Tasmania.