The heart-shaped Australian state of Tasmania is just an hour’s flight from the mainland, but a visit to this island will uncover a place with its own distinct pulse circulating through the landscape, history and culture. Roughly the size of West Virginia with a population about equal to North Dakota’s, Tasmania seems wild and remote from just about any vantage. But once you disembark
on the largest landmass between Australia and Antarctica, you’ll be greeted by welcoming people; a pleasant, temperate climate; world-acclaimed wine and food and a laid-back island lifestyle no matter how you choose to explore the state.
AN ANCIENT ISLAND Because of the island’s geological ties to Antarctica and the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, Tasmania’s landscape is significantly different from the rest of Australia—and to the world. The unique terrain is an overachieving cartographer’s dream. Dramatic craggy coastlines, rugged mountains, tall forests and sparkling glacial lakes vibrantly color inside the state’s lines. Almost 40 percent of Tasmania’s land is preserved in a system of 20 national parks and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area refuge, where select animal and plant species dating back to Gondwana remain as
living relics in the 21st century. Despite the island’s relatively small acreage, each region has its own feature attractions. The best known of Tasmania’s natural landmarks, Cradle Mountain’s rugged profile is a focal point of Cradle Mountain-Lake St.
Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain
Clair National Park. The peak serves as an overstated northern trailhead for one
of the world’s top bush walks, the Overland Track. In the state’s west, long-gone
glaciers blazed trails for the ancient rainforest, rare birds and valleys
of Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park and Southwest National Park. Up north but under Earth’s surface, Mole Creek Karst National Park has a magnificent network of deep limestone caves.
Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park Photo: Tourism Tasmania/Geoffrey Lea
On the island’s east coast, Freycinet National Park has a granite mountain range and secluded bays and beaches along an ever-changing coastline. “Outdoors” magazine recently included one of those beaches, Wineglass Bay, in a ranking of the world’s Top 10 sandy spots. On Tasmania’s northeast coast, Forester kangaroos frolic in Mount William National Park, and Douglas Apsley National Park offers a rain forest hike to a gorge and swimming hole. Offshore, the east coast’s Maria Island National Park combines
Tasmania’s convict heritage with mountain and beach hikes. If you island-hop south, Bruny Island has the stunning South Bruny National Park, with wide surf beaches and untamed seascapes.
Back on land and due south,
Tasman National Park boasts spectacular coastal geologic formations like the Devils Kitchen and the
Tasman Blowhole. Mount Field has some of the tallest eucalyptus forests in the world. For yet another change in topography, Hartz Mountains National Park includes subalpine woods and alpine cliffs and lakes. The state’s varied scenery promises satisfaction to anyone who wants to find a way to go beyond
a passenger window’s view of the land. From moonlight penguin spotting to the subtle art of fishing for wild brown trout to sea kayaking, Tasmania has a wide range of adventure activities. The island is ideal for cycling, sailing, river cruising, animal and avian discovery tours, and encounters with dolphins, migrating whales and fur seals.
On the west coast, the new Abt Wilderness Railway travels through mountain passes and crosses wild rivers. Cycling Jacob's Ladder Whether on one of the coasts
or inland, the island is one of the world’s best destinations for walking. Tasmania has more than 900 miles of world-class walking tracks through its highland lakes, clean beaches, extensive underground caverns, satellite islands either remote or accessible and rocky mountain summits.
A PAST FULL OF CHARACTERS Tasmania’s distinctive character not only draws from its spectacular geography, but also from intense events staged here before and since it was colonized. First known to Westerners as Van Diemen’s Land, Tasmania was established in 1803 as a British penal colony. For the next half-century, 74,000 convicts were exiled to the other side of the globe for crimes ranging from minor offenses to questionable political activities. Today, the somber walls criminals took great pains to avoid are among Tasmania’s most famous sites. Repeat offenders, when caught, often enough landed in Port Arthur. Now among Australia’s leading historic sites, the location held convicts who were habitual offenders because the peninsula provided a natural penitentiary. The Port Arthur Site has been preserved but “rehabilitated” to include more than 30 historic buildings, ruins, gardens and an impressive visitors’ center.
While the men did time at Port Arthur, women convicted of crimes were sent to Cascades Female Factory in the city of Hobart. Until it closed in 1877, hundreds of women and children were jailed there. Many died from poor nutrition, unhygienic conditions and grueling labor.
Rehabilitated ruins, Port Arthur Site Photo: Tourism Tasmania/Tom Keating
Tasmania now links this chapter in its past into the Tasman Peninsula Convict Trail that comprises seven sites in the area where the state’s convict history is most concentrated. The trail includes Eaglehawk Neck, site of the famous Dog Line; the Coal Mines where prisoners labored and the Saltwater River and Wedge Bay. Along the coast of Tasman National Park, the trail includes spectacular land formations. Now striking vistas, the natural features once served as deterrents to escapees. More than 50,000 years before the British devised their plan to export the Empire’s outlaws, Tasmania had already been the home of Aboriginal tribes. Seasonal events dictated the movements of tribes and agreement between the tribes about access to certain areas. Archaeological evidence shows what the people ate (seals, fish, birds, small mammals, and more) and explains some of their migrations. In September, for example, tribes searched coastal lagoons for swans and duck eggs. Australia’s summer, October to March, meant collecting mutton-birds and the midsummer elephant seal hunt. The Aboriginal people made tools from stone and bone, using them to make spears, slice food, create clothes and drill holes in the cider gum tree bark to collect sweet sap. The northwest tribal bands’ base for thousands of years is now Rocky Cape National Park. The caves along the island’s northwest
coast show the lost Aboriginal lifestyle through nearly 20 feet of midden, or prehistoric mounds of relics. These indigenous records chronicle 8,000 years and impart Australia’s most complete record of the coastal Aboriginal way of life.
TASMANIAN TIDBITS Exploring the ruins of lost souls or lost cultures can naturally trigger serious reflection, but Tasmanian culture also has plenty of lighter—and sometimes tastier—tidbits to share. You know those rich, creme-filled chocolate eggs you just swore off until next spring? They’re Tasmanian in origin. Visitors can tour the world-famous Cadbury Chocolate Factory, sampling all the way. The plant is located in Claremont, a suburb 20 minutes north of Hobart. Perhaps not as accessible to palates as chocolate, the flesh of abalone still causes excitement on dinner plates
Aboriginal cave art depicting the lost Aboriginal lifestyle
anywhere. In Tasmania, diners who dive can experience the thrill of the chase for this sea-dwelling snail with the shiny shell. Visitors can snorkel off a rocky coastal outcrop in search of the highly prized mollusks. Inexpensive recreational licenses are readily available, with a daily bag limit of 10.
Russell Falls in Mount Field National Park Photo: Jim Miles
If you dive for abalone, you will work for your meal. Nabbing these snails is a lot harder than fishing out their miniscule aquarium-abiding cousins: abalone attach themselves to shady parts of rocks with a foot that can exert suction force more than 4,000 times the creature’s body weight. Of all Tasmania’s elusive creatures, none has more notoriety than the state’s namesake Devil. Thanks to Warner Brothers animators, the marsupial’s cartoon caricature supersedes its real personality and volume level. In real life “Taz” is
a relatively quiet creature the size of a small dog, but its bite—as strong as a crocodile’s—is much worse than its “bark.” You can look the Devil in the eye in one of the island’s wildlife parks, or place yourself in a national park habitat during the animal’s feeding time.
If you prefer to turn, rather than surf, pages, both “Tasmania: The Bradt Travel Guide” by Matthew Brace
and “Lonely Planet: Tasmania” by Carolyn Bain and Gina Tsarouhas, have earned recommendations on Amazon.com.
Town of Hobart
I really enjoy the Southwest Pacific, having traveled and explored Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. On my fourth trip Down Under, last year, I decided
to spend the first two weeks in
Tasmania. “Tazzie” (as the Aussies refer to it) is a precious, often spectacularly beautiful island that is home to a half-million friendly people, 250,000 of whom live in the state capital, Hobart. The Lonely Planet books—both “Australia,” and “Tasmania,”—are terrific pretrip resources; and using the “Tasmania” chapter of the “Australia” book, I had no difficulty generating a great two-week itinerary that allowed me to really see pretty much all the significant regions of the state. Tasmania is well south of the equator, and therefore much cooler than the rest of Australia, which lies to the north. I decided to go in February, when the weather would be at its warmest. This proved to be wise
I spent five days in and around Hobart, which sits astride a magnificent, stunning harbor on the southeast coast of the state, with Mount Wellington (about 4,000 feet elevation) forming an impressive backdrop to the city. Hobart is still quite British in flavor, with a great number of preserved buildings and historic sites from the early 1800s. It is hilly, like a small San Francisco, with pleasing neighborhoods, little evidence of poverty, beautiful parks and gardens, and impressive old churches. The annual Wooden Boat Festival was starting a three-day run the day after I arrived; and this event is really something to take in, if you go in early February. The State Museum and Art Gallery is a must, as is the
View from summit of Mount Wellington
Salamanca Saturday Market. You can drive to the top of Mount Wellington on
a paved road;
the view from the summit of the city and harbor below is breathtaking. Another spot not to be missed is Hobart’s Royal Botanic Gardens.
Royal Botanical Gardens
From Hobart, I drove west to Mount Field National Park on a day trip,
to explore some terrific waterfalls, hiking trails, gem-like lakes, and to see the tallest eucalyptus trees (some more than 300 feet) on the planet. Another easy day trip out of Hobart is to drive south, along the east coast, through the pretty little villages of Huonville, Franklin, Geeveston, Dover and Southport. This is an area of fruit orchards, as well as some significant stands of timber. Dover and Southport are quaint fishing ports. I wanted to see several of Tazzie’s regions, so upon leaving Hobart, I visited the Tasman Peninsula, which juts south from the main body of Tasmania, across Storm Bay. This is where Port Arthur—the Brits’ convict colony for the really bad guys and recidivists—was established in 1830. Port Arthur is now a historic
site, and major tourist attraction. But, as much as I was intrigued by Port Arthur, I was utterly taken with the natural beauty—deep Prussian-blue waters, high cliffs, stunning coastal waterfalls, rugged coastlines, and
offshore rocks and islands—of the Tasman Peninsula itself.
Halfway up Tasmania’s east coast is another scenic peninsula, the Freycinet, again an area of beautiful water, bays, coves and great hiking. From there, I drove west to Campbell Town, where you can see remarkable old churches, as well as many convict-built structures. Among these was the Red Bridge (spanning the Elizabeth River), a must-see. Launceston, the third-
oldest city in Australia (behind
Sydney and Hobart), is on the
Tamar River in Tazzie’s
Red Bridge
northeast quadrant. It is smaller than Hobart, but has a vibrant downtown full of preserved historic buildings. I particularly enjoyed a walk up the Tamar River Gorge, as well as a special tour of Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral, a magnificent and inspiring sandstone, brick and carved-wood edifice.
This fourth-grade class from an Angelican school in Hobart said they often are asked to be photographed.
From Launceston, I drove west through idyllic agricultural districts and the precious little towns of Deloraine, Elizabeth Town, Railton, and Sheffield, before turning south into the Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park. This is one of Tasmania’s truly iconic spots, and I took a lot of pictures here. It is
a United Nations-designated World Heritage Area. One of the great things about travel is the interesting people you meet, both the locals and other foreigners. At Dove Lake I ran into a hiking club from Christchurch, New Zealand,
and I hiked with
them for a
couple of days—
a thoroughly memorable
part of my trip. From Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park, I proceeded south and west to Macquarie Harbour and the little
tourist town of Strahan, on Tazzie’s west coast. Macquarie Harbour, where
I did some sailing, is so large that several Sydney harbors would fit in it, I’m told. From Strahan,
I drove east across the great western high plateau of the state, through the old mining town of Queenstown, and past Nelson Falls. I stopped to hike at Lake St. Clair, which is a lovely gem about 55 miles south of Dove Lake in the
Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park. I drove through the Derwent River Valley’s rich agricultural areas, stopping to explore the little historic villages of Ouse and Hamilton, and then back into Hobart to complete my two-week introduction to Tasmania.
My main impressions are of areas of beautiful coastlines, protected bays and harbors, idyllic and prosperous agricultural regions, stunning waterfalls, scenic mountainous areas and wild rivers. Almost a quarter of this beautiful land has been set aside as national parks by the federal government in Canberra, protected for future generations. In addition to the exquisite natural beauty, I was also taken with the
Tasmania residents I met, who seemed uncommonly and unfailingly nice, interesting and helpful everywhere I went. I encourage any explorers to make their way to Australia and experience the
glories of Tazzie for themselves.
