Tasmania . . . . Wowsers! What a Place!

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We recently returned from a Tasmanian touring holiday, got unpacked, and thought: 'Why not blog it?'.
It was such a great place to visit that we reckon it would be a sin to not advertise it. So here we go . . .

Here is some general information that we hope will be useful to anyone considering holidaying in Tasmania.

There is a bit of general guff, but we also have tried to include some reasonably important & helpful info, to make anyone's trip more enjoyable!

Please take on board our comments about weather and also booking ahead.

Included also are just a couple of photos of the lesser known places we visited - and enjoyed very much.
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We decided to travel during early March through to early April due mainly to the weather and to avoid the peak of the tourist season. Also, being keen photographers, autumn colours have great appeal in Tassie, but we were a few weeks too early for the maximum autumn colours. Bad planning on our behalf.
The weather is always a factor in the island state. We constantly experienced several ‘seasons’ in the one day. But to be fair it hardly rained on our parade! Generally the weather was very good with only limited and brief showers, and a lot of great (sometimes windy but generally sunny) days. Beware the wind! It blows and blows in many areas (east and west) but it didn’t blow away the tent, which is a plus.
Consider this when setting up, especially if you have a tent.
Speaking of tents - although we have a caravan we decided to tent it, with the option of staying in cabins or motels IF rain set in. No regrets with that decision. It proved to be a good alternative to dragging our van all the way from NSW and then cautiously and slowly around the notoriously windy roads of Tassie. It gave us a certain peace of mind by travelling light, although at the small cost of a few creature comforts. Plus by saving the cost of extra fuel, and taking a caravan across on the ferry we offset the cost of the cabins and motel rooms (ten nights in all during our 32 days in Tas). Not all ‘no tent’ days were due to rain . . . we chose at times to shout ourselves a bit of luxury. In fact we only packed a wet tent twice, and thankfully didn’t get wet at all in the process of packing up.
An important consideration was the extreme shortage of caravan sites at several of the places we went. If you hadn’t booked literally weeks ahead then you would not get to stay at key places like Stanley, Cradle Mountain, Strahan, and several others. Then of course, IF you have booked well ahead that makes it inconvenient and a hassle should you wish to stay an extra day, or leave early from a place due to miserable weather. (We heard from quite a few ‘unhappy campers’ who had arrived at (say) Cradle Mtn with the intention of staying three or four days, only to find it bleak (visibility zero), snowing and freezing cold. (The weather there and most west coast places can set in and this just wastes your precious holiday time).
Even unpowered tent sites were in short supply at Cradle Mtn - beware!
On the other hand we always got the best sites (- plenty of unpowered tent sites available) and could move on if the weather prevailed.
In contrast there were plenty of times that we decided on the spur of the moment to stay an extra day or three, and we could because we were in a tent. We were able to adapt to the circumstances by traveling light.
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So just how ‘good’ is Tasmania as a tourist destination? Would have to say it is absolutely excellent, and we would not say that lightly, having travelled quite extensively, and on lengthy ( sometimes 4 months duration) trips overseas and around Oz.
The island state has just about everything the demanding tourist would want to experience.
Something to take on board, which is a sort of ‘motherhood statement’: much of the time you are in Tassie it doesn’t seem anything like the mainland - it is often very different to the ‘typical’ Aussie scenery. For those who like something completely different, I say that you truly are in a ‘different country’.
This is partly due to the different landscape. And the often-times absence of the omnipresent and quintessential Australian gum tree. Sure, there are some Eucalypts in some areas, but generally speaking you’ll see dense forests of trees that are not generally encountered (or exist at all) on the mainland. What replace the typical mainland trees is a variety of beautiful trees such as Blackwood, King Billy pine, Sassafras, Huon pine, Leatherwood and others. To that basic difference add quaint ‘English’ villages, different wildlife, and countryside that is either pristine and original, or has been groomed in an English sort of a way (eg. Drystone walls, hedge-rows, etc). And much of it is very green!
So in my analytical way I’ll summarize what Tas has to offer:
- Scenery is varied, spectacular, interesting, and almost always very appealing. Couldn’t fault it, from the harsh devastated ‘lunar landscape’ of Queenstown through to the very beautiful and different types of rainforest and the beautiful towns and impressive ruins. Added bonus - nowhere is very far away!
- History pervades and is gripping stuff. You can only be amazed at the amount of history associated with such a small place. And we found that even the iconic Port Arthur was only a nose ahead of some other sites for history and beauty. You need to research reasonably deeply so you don’t miss out on seeing (and absorbing) the many other significant sites like the Coal Mines convict site, Sarah Island, Pillinger etc.
- General appeal is very high, with so much to see and do we couldn’t fit it all in on our one month plus trip there. And special interests are catered for very well. There is much that appeals to the train lovers, bird watchers, walkers, history buffs etc.
- And - finally, it needs to be said that the 'natives' and the tourists we met there were about as friendly and helpful as you could find anywhere. Hardly anyone asked us if they could borrow a quid, or anything unseemly like that! Seriously, we made some good friends and enjoyed the company of many campers.

So how long to spend there? We continually met people who complained they had allowed too little time, were surprised at having ‘overlooked’ too much and thereby had only allowed a week (or perhaps two weeks) because they thought they would have seen enough. For us a month was still too little time.
Some things worth considering before you travel would include the following:
1. There are day ferry crossings as well as ‘all night’ crossings. It’s useful to know that Taswegians don’t disallow the intrepid tourist pulling over with their van and staying in a parking area or reserve by the roadside almost anywhere. This is a pleasant change from many other destinations. And in Tas you can find toilets in many areas. There are numerous small towns which provide good clean facilities which will suit the ‘unplanned overnight stay’. Plus as mentioned, it is not (usually) very far to anywhere else. However you can’t easily judge travel times by road kms. Be aware that the winding roads (- we think the bends have been added deliberately!!). You cannot easily judge travel time purely by kms. If you ask a Taswegian just how far it is to a place they will invariably say: ‘About 45 minutes’. That could mean 20kms, or maybe 45kms. And there is a lot of vulnerable wildlife, so a slower trip is likely to spare the life of a Devil, or maybe a Pademelon.
2. If you are a hiker (or even if you aren’t!) take warm clothes as you’ll need them. The beautiful but rugged walks available all have an element of danger associated with them due to the extreme weather conditions and rapid changes. You might see the track easily on the way up a mountain, but even light snow that may fall can completely obliterate the track causing you to become totally lost and frozen solid within a few hours.
3. Quality of accommodation varies considerably, a few camping grounds are tired and grotty while others are modern and clean. One disappointment for us (in tent) was the variation of facilities available in Camp Kitchens around Tas. There were some crackers, like the Cradle Mtn NP&WS one, with everything including the kitchen sink (ha ha), a log fire, hot and cold running wildlife (including the occasional Tassie Devil running past just outside the windows (- what a buzz!). At the other end of the scale were inferior places in Hobart and Mt Field to mention two.
4. Another previously unseen problem was the ‘curfew’ that some parks placed on closing the kitchen - 9pm for example! This was a real hindrance to meeting and chatting with other travelers, or downloading your photos near a power-point. Suggest checking the closing time before settling on a place to stay. But worth mentioning are the great and very good camps - like Stanley (5 Stars from us!!), Cradle Mtn (also 5 stars), and St Helens (ditto). And quality was not usually dictated by cost.
5. A real gripe from us is the (dare we mention it?) absolutely terrible toilet paper that is now commonly used in most parks. We reckon campers everywhere should write to whoever they possibly can and complain about the demise of the quality ‘date rolls’ which are being replaced by useless rubbish. (Enclose some in your letter and pose the question as to whether they would be pleased to use it themselves! Enclose rubber glove as a gentle prompt . . .). No different in Tas, so take your own. At least a couple of parks provided a choice but most have gone over to the Dark Side. Bet the proprietors don’t use the same inferior garbage in their own home . . . Oh no, not bloody likely! Shame on the greed involved here because for just a few cents more your normally enjoyable few minutes in the Dunny could be preserved!
Sorry about that . . . I'm over it now . . .
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In summary, Tassie is a great holiday destination, you need to ensure that you don’t consider it to be a place that can be seen properly in a week. There is some great information on walks and other pastimes. But the careful researcher will also dig deeper with their research, and will be rewarded with some true gems (- as well as tired eyes of course). Check out the track to Bird River and Pillinger ruins, and also the Blue Tier with its Goblin Walk, to name just two destinations not usually included in the itinerary. Pics below (we hope - if they stuck to the blog ok . . .).

All we can say is . . . . don’t miss Tassie!

Lee and Marilyn (from Bathurst, NSW).

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Photos

Blue Tier Trees
Trees at The Blue Tier sporting age-old lichen on their trunks.

Blue Tier View
Site of the tin mining town of Poimena, at The Blue Tier.

Queenstown Desolation
The environment is kaput! at Queenstown

Easement - Old North Lyell Railway
The old North Mt Lyell Mine railway line easement on the trip to Bird River and Pillinger ruins.

Bird River Rapids 1
The remote and beautiful Bird River, Macquarie Harbour World Heritage Area (WHA).

Bird River Colours_1
The Bird River's 'Whisky water' colour contrasts with the verdant green of the moss that covers everything . . . Keep moving!!

Beauty of the Remote West Coast
Here spectacular colours form a beautiful contrast with the ocean, near Sarah Ann Rocks, south of Marrawah.

Misty Cradle Mountain
Grey weather at Cradle Mountain . . . (not unusual!).
A cloudy, dull day fails in its attempt to reduce the beauty of the scenery at Dove Lake.

Comments

[alibut cheek]

Thanks!
We're rank beginners but are getting the hang of it. Hopefully given time we can improve our blogging skills! Thoroughly enjoy reading yours, thanks for inspiring us to start one ourselves. So nice to recollect the Tassie 'adventures' with you guys. Love from us.