A Week in Tasmania

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Measuring just over half the size of England, offering rolling hills, quaint port towns and real pubs, Tasmania is a perfect holiday destination for the homesick English ex-pat. The option of Launceston airport to the north or Hobart to the south provide the more active tourist with the perfect road trip holiday. One can fly into Launceston, take in the awe-inspiring sites at various points on the island, and fly out of Hobart a week or a couple of weeks later, or vice versa. Our itinerary had to fit into seven days on the island, this was enough time but an extra seven would not have gone fallow.

Arriving in Launceston, you will be struck by the much cooler climate compared to main land Australia which in the height of summer is a welcome break but in winter can be quite severe. Launceston, Tasmania’s second city, is a quiet port city at the source of the Tamar River. Two days in Launceston is adequate, enabling you to have a wander around, taking in the seaport with it’s small selection of bars and restaurants, the city park with it’s free macaque monkey enclosure and the beautiful sites of the Cataract Gorge. All this is within walking distance from the city centre which makes for an enjoyable and relaxing visit and an apt introduction to Tasmania.

Around 3 hours drive from Launceston (your car journeys around this picturesque island will provide you with the most pleasurable moments of your holiday) is the Cradle Mt-Lake St Clair National park offering some of the best walking for all fitness levels. Staying in one of the lodge complexes gives you a pleasant mix of luxury without losing the feeling of a wilderness experience. Lush green forestry and misty romantic mountain ranges creates breath-taking views. There are hikes for all fitness levels. We chose a short 1hr 45 minute ramble on the path around Dove Lake. This proved the correct choice as the haze that only slightly hampered our view of the awesome Cradle Mountain at the beginning of our trek turned into unrelenting thick rain by the end.

The next day we travelled the width of the island to the highly-regarded east coast. A journey that took roughly five hours taking in countless wondrous sites and even more instances of road kill. Apparently, the proliferation of dead wombats, wallabies, kookaburras and possums smeared across the roads is due to the sad decrease in numbers of the iconic Tasmanian devil who would in the past relish such easy prey. We stayed in the small town of St Marys which is handily located in between Bay of Fires (our mission for that afternoon) and Freycinet National Park, at which we would stop on our journey southwards to Hobart.

Despite being named by travel guide Lonely Planet as 2009’s hottest travel destination, Bay of Fires still maintains its ‘castaway’ charms. With seas of the most majestic blue lapping at virgin white sands in the most tranquil of surroundings, this 27 kilometres of coastal perfection is a must-see (however, ‘must-sees’ seem to be commonplace in Tasmania).

As with Cradle Mt-Lake St Clair, Freycinet National Park offers walks of varying degrees of difficulty. The walk we chose took us up a manageable incline to give spectacular views of Coles Bay and Wineglass Bay. These two are excellent examples of the awesome green mountains bordered by winding white beaches and beautiful blue oceans present on the Freycinet peninsula. Views that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Having taken in all that Mother Nature chose to endow Tasmania with, we spent our remaining two days in the capital Hobart. Hobart is a pretty port town on the Southern coast of Tasmania, it has plenty to offer the tourist in the way of restaurants by the harbour, arts and crafts shops, art galleries and museums, historic sites and quaint little cafes. For those looking for the culinary pleasures of the state’s capital it is important to bear in mind that there are virtually no restaurants in the city centre, for eating establishments along with drinking establishments you will need to either head to North Hobart (a 20 minute walk from the centre) or down to the docks. The docks offer a range of trendy bars with live music, cocktails and restaurants with a range of cuisines.

At Hobart we stayed at the Central Café Bar hotel, which although was no frills, is very clean and provides a lovely breakfast. As we only had one full day in the city it was toss-up between Port Arthur the old prison colony and the MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) Gallery. For no other real reason apart from the fact it was closer we decided to take the chartered catamaran to the MONA. From the sleek operation of the catamaran at the harbour, to the iPods giving you all the information on the pieces on display (text panels are last century apparently) the MONA experience is a super modern, rather trendy and very enjoyable one. The collection itself is huge with art and historical artefacts to suit every taste including a Dignitas suicide machine (My Favourite Chair, Greg Taylor) a poo machine (Cloaca Professional, Wim Delvoye) sit beside statuettes and coins from ancient civilisations. The affect is very thought-provoking.

For a short break in which you want awesome scenery, back-to-basics living, the best driving and a cooler climate Tasmania has it all. I wrote this blog entry shortly after returning from this easter trip and I can see now it reads like it was written by the Tasmania tourist board. The problem is looking back I cannot think of anything critical to say about the place. I still believe it should be on anyone’s tour itinerary whilst visiting Australia.

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