Tasmania

Before we came to Tasmania we had learnt that it was a beautiful island with friendly people, since being here we have travelled right around the country and we have found it to be far better than described. The people are very friendly and helpful and are very laid back, far more than we found in New Zealand.

Tasmania is Australia's only island state.

We arrived into Hobart the capital of Tasmania late afternoon on the 9th January. We checked into a hotel near the airport and soon settled in enjoying the local food, wine and beer. We found the Tasmanians very helpful and friendly from the start, offering advice on where to go and what to see. The next day we set out to sort a vehicle out, we were undecided as to camper or car, but as there were no campers available for 5 days we opted for the car. Costing evens out the same as you can cook in most hotel rooms. We set off heading to the West coast and the most wilderness side of Tasmania. The roads are in excellent condition and once out of Hobart you found yourself in lovely countryside, passing through small villages with just a shop, church and about 8 houses. When we called in a shop they were extremely friendly and wanted to chat and find out where you are from, again pointing out places of interest. We stopped in a little village called Tarraleah and bought fresh baked rolls and then carried on to Queenstown passing some beautiful lakes and scenery. The entry into Queenstown where we stayed our first night was over mountains of the west coastal range and these are coloured all reds and oranges from the Copper and looked like a lunar landscape. Queenstown is a mining community.

Travelling around the coast you come to Strahan, this is now a lovely little fishing town, but in the early 1800's this port ferried the prisoners from Britain to the tiny island of Sarah, this was Britain's elite banishment settlement for the worst convicts.  We headed North-West and visited Cradle Mountain national park. This is part of the Tasmanian wilderness area. The area has rainforests, heathlands, plains and glacial streams and lakes. We had a lovely walk through part of the park called Enchanted walk. We also visited a sanctuary for the Tasmanian Devil ( we all know who Taz is, well these are his relations). The Tasmanian Devil is native only to Tasmania and are in danger of becoming extinct in 15-20 years due to a facial cancer only dangerous to them. These Devils are bred in the sanctuary to try and raise the population as 60% have been wiped out due to this disease. (To learn more about them see Emilia's page).

We headed to Devonport which is on the Northern coast and is the port for the spirit of Tasmania ferries to come from the mainland. We also visited Burnie which is a commercial port, it is a typical large town with shops, restaurants etc but 5 mins out and you find Ferndale park and lovely walks along the river. We looked for the Platypus which are found in the river here, but they were all in hiding, we did see a small Wallaby in the bushes though. We visited a cheese factory to taste some of the famous Tasmanian cheeses. These were delicious and we had to buy some.

We left the North coast and headed inland a little, calling at a small village named Latrobe, we were told that this place had Paltypus in the river and was a lovely village to visit anyway.  We did not see any and I think it has to be dawn or dusk for the best sightings. we then headed across towards the East coast and the beautiful coastline. We stayed at St. Helens right on the East coast and spent some time on the beach at Binalong bay. The beaches are superb, they have very white fine sand and the sea is lovely and clear blue. The water is not so warm though, but ok once you get used to it. There was hardly anyone on the beaches which was lovely even though it is their summer. We then drove up to the Bay of fires which is a deserted stretch of coastline that is very beautiful again with white sand and is 35km long. It has recently been given Lonely planets seal as one of the hottest travel destinations for 2009.  The whole area was lovely to stay in and had some really good walks.  We followed the coast road and went inland a little to drive to see the White Knights. These were in the Evercreech Forest reserve and where found by a small walk after driving about 12km into the forest. They are over 90 metres tall and the tallest white gum trees in the world and known locally as the white knights as they are all together.  They are around 300 years old  and are Eucalyptus Viminalis trees. The drive to the Evercreech Forest reserve was through the Fingal valley and had some great scenery.

Following the East coast road again we travelled down to Bicheno and stayed there a couple of nights so we could visit the rugged beautiful Feycinet peninsular, this has Feycinet national park and is surrounded by granite mountains, azure bays and white sandy beaches. The most picturesque is the beautiful Wineglass bay, this is one of the top ten beaches in the world.  We had a very steep walk up through Mt.Amos and Mt.Mayson to the lookout above Wineglass bay, this took one and a half hours and it was very hot but when you got to the top the view was fantastic and well worth the walk.

We travelled on down the coast and to the Tasman Peninsula and followed the convict trail to Port Arthur. This is the best preserved convict settlement in Australia.  Between 1830 and 1877 there were about 12,500 sentences served in Port Arthur. It sits in a lovely harbour and is surrounded by dense forest.

We have really enjoyed our visit to Tasmania and had a lovely relaxing, but interesting time travelling around the whole island. We would reccomend it as a great getaway. The climate is lovely and warm and the people very friendly.