Australia: Tasmania

Welcome to the land that's way under, down under, the sky's always yellow in rain or shine . . . Down in Taz-Mania, come to Taz-Mania.

I never knew it until I started writing this but Looney Tunes had been telling me to come here for a long time.

Tasmania had been on our list of places to visit since we’d planned to come to Australia 3 years ago (yes, I can’t actually believe that either). Unfortunately the opportunity wasn’t quite there in our first year so we were determined to visit this time around, we just didn’t know when. After landing ourselves the job on King Island in October, we knew that we had to book a trip in after we finished with our work and so we booked our flights and a van shortly before Christmas to visit at the beginning of February. Finally, we would be travelling to somewhere in Australia in the right season.

As we flew into Hobart Airport, the land below us was actually yellow, not the sky, so perhaps there is an inaccuracy there in the lyrics; like the mainland, things were mostly very dry and had been for a while. I’d been checking the ‘fire forecasts’ for a while and there were a few blazes here and there that fortunately had fizzled out by the time we had arrived to those areas but even on the weekend we arrived, high fire warnings were in place due to the hot, windy conditions that meant some of the tracks we’d planned on visiting were closed as a precaution and only just reopened when we got there a few days later!

To get the full ‘road trip’ experience, we’d hired a 4 berth van for our two weeks stay. On pick-up, the ‘Voyager’ Britz van looked like it would be snug- especially considering that we’ve only even lived out of vans with just us two and it’d been a squeeze, let alone with two other tall lads. By the time we dropped it back off, we’d actually (and surprisingly) agreed that other than a handful of times that we’d gotten in each other’s way and having to rearrange the fridge and cupboards a few times, it actually provided ample space for us all (thankfully!). It also made a nice change that the van was actually in a good condition, unlike any of the vans that we’d hired previously.

We’d planned our trip to start in Hobart and follow the coast anticlockwise. I’d slapped together a google map to get a rough idea of the route we could take to get around. Generally it was pretty good but it wasn’t until we’d started to get to the more out of the way locations that Google’s flaws began to show- taking us (or trying to) on dirt roads that we’d wanted to avoid like the plague. It turns out that local maps from information points are much more useful at highlighting where not to go!

We stopped in many, many towns along the way- some more “writable” than others, so here is just an insight into some of our great Tasmanian adventure.

Hobart

As we arrived in late Saturday afternoon, we only had two days in Hobart itself. As a city, Hobart is beautiful. Crossing the Tasman Bridge over the river Derwent made for a very pretty entrance. We started with a trip to the waterfront at Sullivan’s Cove, which was great- it actually fondly reminded me of Plymouth waterfront on a sunny day. The quay is lined with quirky barges selling local seafood and icecream. We stayed at the Hobart Showgrounds for the first two nights, with cracking views of Mount Wellington behind us.

I’d seen a few blogs recommend a trip to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) so we spent our first morning at the museum. We parked at the bottom of the drive, which gave us plenty of opportunity to inspect each passive-aggressive notice board planted around the vineyards leading up to the entrance of the museum. Even just being in the outside grounds, we knew this place would be quirky, with its random tennis court, bell-playing trampoline and its…erm backside inspired indoor to outdoor speaking tubes. Inside, the museum tackled topics surrounding the growth of AI; turned mining into a board game; allowed us to view our heartbeats in the form of synchronised light flashes and housed a whole range of other weird, whacky and some quite dark materials.

You can’t come to Hobart and not visit Mount Wellington. The road to the top was long and narrow, with lots of sharp corners, which when having not driven in a van for a fair while was fun. At least the trees surrounding us gave us good protection from the gales that we arrived to at the summit. I’ve never felt anything like it. Our first parking choice was not a clever one, given our 3M height, the van was bouncing so rather than risk being side on to the wind, we re-parked to be head on and just had to hold to the door handles more tightly. We scrambled our way up the rocks to the ‘peak’. I was more than thankful that the metal frame was A) there, B) secure and C) had a bar around the middle because it was a battle to keep upright to the point where when I gave up and sat on the floor, the wind was propping me up like an armchair. The clouds came and went quickly, showering us briefly as they passed and leaving behind rainbows arching over the stunning city views below. We picked the best time to visit out of our opportunities- most of the time, you could barely view Wellington, or it was coated in a thick layer of cloud that would have stifled any chance of getting views below.

We have started visiting botanical gardens since we came to Australia. All major cities seem to have them as a bit of an oasis away from the skyscrapers. Hobart was no exception but as the surroundings of the city are just so pretty to look at, it didn’t actually feel completely necessary to visit. The gardens themselves are very nice (and free) and home to some nice ducks but really, that’s all I can say about it!

If Mount Wellington fails to give you the views you’re after, Mount Nelson Signal Station Lookout may be able to step up. It isn’t as high up but you still get some great views of Mt Direction, the Tasman Bridge and the immediate locations opposite the river, all the way to Bruny Island and as far as Eaglehawk Neck and Port Arthur on really clear days.

Tasman Peninsula

The Tasman Peninsula is listed as a must go location. The peninsula is lined with an array of interesting spots to visit, showing the power of the water around us- we stopped off at Eaglehawk Neck Blowhole, Devils Kitchen, Tasman Arch and the Tessellated Pavement!

To the very south of the Tasman Peninsula lies Port Arthur. The port has a complicated history, being the location of one of Australia’s most feared penal colonies for mostly English convicts who were shipped over to serve out their punishments in the 1800s. We spent a day being guided around the remains of the buildings (many of which were burned twice by bush fires!), taking a trip on their ferry around the nearby islands, one used as a cemetery, another used to contain imprisoned boys. Being on a budget, the visit is quite pricey but we enjoyed it so it was well worth the trip

Freycinet National Park

As I mentioned at the start, the threat of fire had closed some tracks the weekend that we flew to Tasmania, with the walking tracks to view Wineglass Bay in the Freycinet NP being some of them. Fortunately, they had reopened when we visited and we’d picked a stunning day. The air was warm, the sky was cloudless and in reality, it wasn’t even that busy. Of the routes offered, we chose to walk to the Wineglass Bay lookout, which gave us the chance to walk the 1000 steps (hold on, that sounds familiar) down to the beach itself. The lookout view was about as good as we could have hoped for and we didn’t have to fight the crowds to get a good snap. The steps down the beach were going to be punishing on the return (which they absolutely were) but the bay was beautiful and well worth the buckets of sweat to get back.

Bay of Fires

We hadn’t been quite as fortunate with the weather on the day that we visited the bay of fires. We started with a quick trip to Pyengana Cheese Factory, as we’d actually stayed in Pyengana showgrounds to save some money on parking for the night. Being seasoned cheese professionals and with the factory 2 minutes from us, we were a little bit intrigued. The samples were pretty good and the boys purchased some flavoured milk so it was not a wasted trip.

Before making our way to the fiery bay itself, I’d asked Kjel to make a small detour to Akaroa outside of St Helen’s. It was on the map I’d made but as we drove past the waterfront, I actually couldn’t figure out why. There were no obvious stops as we drove through small residential streets and my list of blogs on Pinterest were not helping me out. After driving way too far, we stopped outside a sign for the Peron Dunes and took a wander. If you’ve got a sandboard or anything similar, the dunes are great! Carrier bags don’t work unfortunately so we couldn’t make the most of them.

Finally driving towards our intended destination, we stopped at Binalong Bay to see the rocks themselves. As described, they are a wonderful bright orange from the lichen that grows on the granite so abundantly. On a sunnier day, the area would have been picture-postcard worthy. Binalong also has a beautiful beach but it just wasn’t warm enough to make the most of that day.

Our final stop of the day was a recommendation from Kjel to visit the Little Blue Lake. Nestled away near the Cameron Regional Reserve, the lake is the remains of a previous mine, that gets its amazing colour from the white clay lining the bottom. It’s not a swimming destination though, the water is apparently far too toxic from the heavy metals mined here.

Tamar Valley

Sometimes you visit somewhere and you feel right at home, sometimes you visit somewhere that is exactly home. To be driving next to the Tamar river and crossing the Tamar (Batman) Bridge was very odd given that that was my daily driving route at home but it certainly made me feel a strange sense of belonging, even though I’d never been here before. Seeing signs for Devonport, Exeter and Launceston was amusing (although they pronounce it Laun-sess-ton, sorry Cornish friends).

We spent our day at Cataract Gorge. The gorge has some nice walks along the edges of the rock faces that take you along the river. They don’t take very long to get around but on hot days, the basin makes for pleasant swimming and on not so hot days, the pool next to it is plenty good enough.

Cradle Mountain

Cradle did not disappoint. 17 kilometres of walking across, up and down some stunning scenery. We opted to start at Dove Lake, making a gentle stroll around the blue waters. Once we’d looped around, Kjel and I walked the Wombat Pool Track past the Crater Lake, which featured a lot of staircases, ambling up rock faces and lead to the real secret stairs up to Marions Lookout. It was exhausting but the views from the top were pretty amazing. We took the route back down with a little more caution, given that our legs felt like jelly (that horrible feeling of having no control over them when you finish a legs session at the gym). We took the Overland Track to get back to the bus, giving us the chance to encounter upon a hungry wombat and an echidna on the way.

Strathgordon

Once you’ve weaved your way around Tasmania’s hilly and mostly uncomfortable roads, the prospect of spending another few hours to make the journey to Strathgordon and the Gordon Dam probably isn’t particularly alluring. We really only decided to make the trek out as we’d arrived back towards Hobart ever so slightly too soon and without anything else planned on our trip, it was the next best place to see. The views across the water from the dam are beautiful and its very peaceful given that only a handful of people are ever prepared to visit. If you have a head for heights, you can pay an eye-wateringly expensive fee to be lowered slowly near the dam wall but we weren’t feeling it!

Bruny Island

Our last full day was spent on Bruny Island. Catching the ferry over was a little exciting and on a better day, the view of the neck would be amazing and if we’d stayed until dusk, we’d have probably been able to catch the penguins coming home from the water but alas, we didn’t (as we’d got our days in a muddle and thought we could attend an evening food market and realised off of the island that it was the next day!). I’d also really wanted to try to catch a glimpse of an albino wallaby but it just wasn’t to be. The island itself was (in my opinion) nothing to rave about- especially being in a van, we were limited to where we could visit as many of the roads were unpaved, which was a shame.

All in all, we had a thoroughly enjoyable time in Tasmania. It was like travelling around a tiny, condensed version of Australia- every five minutes there was something new to see and having some wonderful weather and great company really was the cherry on the cake.

For our full tour, check out our map below!