The place
The last thing between you and the Tasman Sea is a pane of glass.
Below the deck the dolerite drops two hundred and eighty metres, straight down, in columns the sea has been cutting for a hundred and six thousand years. The water at the bottom arrived here without touching land. The wind arrives with it, and stops at the glass.
Inside, you can still hear it. That is the whole idea.
- 3
- Bedrooms
- 6
- Sleeps
- 3
- Bathrooms
- 7years
- Serving
The house
Built to face one direction
The main room faces east. In summer the sun comes up out of the water a little after five, and there is no curtain in the house worth closing. Long timber, low furniture, and a fire that does most of the work from May onwards.
Three bedrooms, six beds made up. The principal room opens straight onto the deck. The other two look back into the blue gums, which is where you want to be when the weather comes in off the water — and it does.
Two chairs on the deck, turned at the water because there is nothing else worth facing. Most of the day goes here. Take a blanket out with you — the wind comes off the water even in February.
Orange lichen on the granite. Salt on the windows by Thursday. The house is cleaned between every stay and the salt comes back anyway.
The edge
Two hundred and eighty metres
Walk out past the deck and the ground stops. There is a fence, and past it a line of dolerite columns going down into water that is dark green at breakfast and black by four in the afternoon. Most guests spend the first hour of the stay standing at it. Most spend the last hour there too.
A day here
There is not a great deal to do, which is the point
Morning
Sun before six through the east glass. Coffee on the deck under a blanket, because it is colder out there than it looks from inside. The bay below is usually flat at this hour.
Afternoon
Wineglass Bay is about forty minutes south, Bicheno and its blowhole twenty minutes north. Or neither. Most people stop leaving after the second day.
Night
The fire, and then the sky. There is no town light for thirty kilometres, so on a clear night the Milky Way runs from one end of the deck to the other. In winter, if you are lucky and awake, the aurora australis.
The details
Everything you would otherwise have to ask
- Guests
- Six
- Bedrooms
- Three
- Bathrooms
- Three
- Beds
- One king, one queen, two singles
- Kitchen
- Full, with everything in it
- Heating
- Wood fire and hydronic
- Wi-Fi
- Yes, though you may not want it
- Parking
- Off street, two cars
- Check in
- From 3pm, by yourself
- Check out
- 10am
- Minimum stay
- Two nights
- Getting there
- 2h 40m from Hobart, 2h from Launceston
- Children
- Welcome, but mind the fence
- Pets
- No
Sea level
Book your stay
The Cliffs is listed on Airbnb. Dates, nightly rates, the house rules and the rest of the photographs are all there.
Minimum two nights · Self check-in from 3pm