Painting & Wandering: A Creative Guide to

the Rugged West Coast of Lutruwita

Welcome to the edge of Country—where mist moves like breath, rivers cut deep through rainforest, and old mining towns rest beneath cloud and story. This guide invites you to take your West Coast painting pad into one of lutruwita’s wildest and most unforgettable regions.

The West Coast is untamed. It's shaped by mineral, moss, water, and time. It’s a place of deep contradiction—devastation and regrowth, industry and wildness, silence and story.

Bring your West Coast pad, your travel brush, a raincoat, and your willingness to feel the weather and the weight of the land.

🪨 1. Meet the Places & Beings in Your Pad

Each artwork connects to a real place or creature found in this rugged corner of lutruwita:

• Giant Freshwater Crayfish (Nupinya) – Found in clean, slow-moving rivers like the Arthur, Leven, and Pieman. Old as the forest. Best encountered through stillness—or respectful guided experiences.

• Queenstown Hotel – A working pub full of laughter, heat, and history. Paint it from across the street or from your seat inside with a warm drink.

• Hells Gate Lighthouse (Towenric) – Standing at the mouth of Macquarie Harbour, this lighthouse faces the wild Southern Ocean. Brave the wind. Let your paint move like the tide.

• Mount Owen (Milaythina) – A mountain of scars and strength above Queenstown. Rust, rock, and green creeping back in. Capture it from a roadside pull-out or walking trail. Best seen from the Queenstown airport, ask a local for directions.

• Paragon Theatre – A Deco gem in the heart of Queenstown. Step inside for warmth and art. Let the building’s curves and echoes inspire your lines.

• Lovers Falls – A short trip by boat or walk from Corinna. A place of tumbling water, moss, and stillness. Perfect for watery layers and quiet marks.

• Waratah (Kiuntah) – Found blooming in great numbers around Waratah township in spring. Strong, red, and powerful—like fire on mist.

• West Coast Wilderness Railway – Ride between Queenstown and Strahan, watching the forest flick past. Sketch the windows, the steam, the sound of old travel.

🖌️ 2. Where to Sit, Paint & Feel the Wildness

You don’t need blue skies to paint. The West Coast is best experienced in layers—of cloud, of story, of time.

Painting Spots with Power:

• Horsetail Falls Boardwalk (Queenstown) – Mist drifting down stone. Let the lines of water guide your hand.

• Philosopher Falls (Waratah) – Fungi, roots, and green shadows. Soft light for slow painting.

• Pieman River (Corinna) – Sketch from the ferry or the riverbank. Tannin-stained water, slow flow.

• Strahan Foreshore – Paint fishing boats and weathered docks. Smell the salt. Hear the harbour.

• Paragon Theatre or Queenstown Hotel (on wild days) – When the wind howls and rain sweeps sideways, go inside. Sit with your sketchpad by the window or at a table. Order something warm. Talk to locals. Their stories will colour your painting more than any pigment ever could.

🎨 3. Tips for Painting with the West

• Use bold colours inspired by minerals—rust reds, deep greys, moss green, gold.

• Let the weather show up in your art—smudges, wet-on-wet drips, blurred edges.

• Don’t try to paint it all. Focus on one texture: the grain of old wood, the curve of a mountain, the light in a puddle.

• The West Coast holds old stories. Paint slowly. Let them rise.

🖤❤️💛 4. The Sacred Stop – toolanpunya / Alum Cliffs

Pallittorre Country

• High above the sea, the ochre-streaked cliffs of toolanpunya stand red with story.
  This is the oldest known ochre gathering site in lutruwita—a place of pigment, ceremony, and presence.
  The caves around this area hold hand stencils and markings made from this sacred red—each one a declaration:
  “I am here. I have always been here.”
  This is not just colour.
  This is bloodline, ritual, and remembrance.
  Treat this place with deep care. It is, and always will be, sacred.