There’s a place in Tasmania dubbed the edge of the world. It’s just down the road from the tiny town of Marrawah on the northwest coast.
When foodie and farmer Paul West arrives, he can see why.
Tormented by the Roaring Forties and pounded by huge swells, it’s a wild, isolated place. People are sculpted by the wind and the sea. The bent trees, a visual reminder of how punishing life can be.
Once it was mostly dairy farms, but now it’s famous for high-end beef…oh, and the incredible swell.
Some locals were drawn here by the legendary waves that batter the coast. Glenn ‘Salty’ Saltmarsh has a shack in Marrawah and has surfed here all his life. He’s also the driving force behind the West Coast Surfing Classic, an annual ‘all ages’ surfing event, where competitors battle Marrawah’s monster waves.
A few surfers Paul meets are also farmers, all too familiar with the force of Mother Nature, whose farms run straight up from the sea and whose cows, perched upon clifftops appear to walk on water.
Intergenerational farming family, the Heres, reckon the winters are the worst, that you must adapt and embrace the elements to survive and thrive. Paul discovers a community held together by such families – generations of folk who have fallen under Marrawah’s spell.
Production credit: An ABC Original Production. Executive Producer, Louise Turley.
