The Edge of the World: The West Coast of Tasmania

I stood breathless on the West Coast of Tasmania at a place aptly named The Edge of the World. When you look out across the ocean here, you won't see land until South America. The water churned, grey and silver under a soft sky, as an iridescent spray arced in the wind. Along the beach lay clumps of driftwood spat back by the ocean, limbs twisted, exteriors toughened in the constant wind. The light on the waves removed my preconceived notions of what beauty could be. I have seen sunrises and sunsets, but was impacted anew by the existence of a place so powerful and ethereal.

The majesty of the roaring sea and the interplay of the sun and horizon in the late afternoon daylight reinforced to me that we are so much closer to eternity than we understand. Just beyond that distant edge where the skin of the sky meets the earth lie memories, stories and hopes not fulfilled earthside. Time comes for all of us, and what we see around us is not all there is. 

The Edge of the World, West Coast of Tasmania (Photo credit: Sonia Morell)

The history of both people and place stalks Tasmania. The Arthur River, which spews into the ocean at the remote Edge of the World and powerfully stirs the currents, is named for Sir George Arthur, the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land between 1824 and 1836. He sought to administer Tasmania in the name of the British Crown. But the beauty of Tasmania's rugged north-west coastline cannot be captured, even as time passes. Whatever you call this place, in whoever’s name you claim it, its sky will still stretch beyond what the human eye can see. The ocean will still hold prisoner glimmers of sunshine as it tosses foam across its surface, rumbling and splitting its belly on the rocks.

I will never forget the day I spent here. Something about this place called to me, and inside my spirit I sensed a connection as I called back. The Edge of the World reminded me that there are places all over Australia steeped in majesty, which gift multiple generations a sense of awe and wonder. I carried such awe and wonder in my heart as I departed this location, my soul alive, as it is often an injection of the otherworldly that breathes renewal into our spirit.