tasmania australia
Australia’s island offers a rugged landscape, befitting its storied past.
Every day, the Spirit of Tasmania whisks visitors from Melbourne to Tasmania’s northern coastal city of Devonport. The city offers a hearty welcome, with a casual beachside stroll to the red and white Mersey Lighthouse. By the bluff, Aboriginal rock carvings hint at the region’s indigenous heritage, dating back tens of thousands of years before its more recent colonisation and influx of convicts.
After a day of fishing, rowing and sailing, and a trip to the stunning Tasmanian Arboretum, Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park calls. Here, the epic week-long Overland Track takes hikers through the bushland, where glacial water drips down mountainsides into steady lakes, and cold waterfalls spit into thick rainforests. Its trees date back thousands of years, providing shade to the park’s platypus, echidna and, of course, Tasmanian devils.
To the west, the coastal town of Strahan is true frontier territory a Wild West, where convicts and settlers pushed themselves to their natural limits. Though rife with on-trend restaurants and quaint shops, it sits just south of the soaring Henty Dunes, shaped by winds roaring all the way from South America. The West Coast Wilderness Railway, meanwhile, is a comfortable way to explore the region’s extremely uncomfortable past complete with a rainforest stroll, gold panning and honey tasting.
On the opposite coast lies Hobart, the state capital, and a hub of art, food and culture. Framed by mountains and sea, and an hour from the stunning Mount Field National Park, the city overflows with fresh food and artisanal markets. Mona (Museum of Old and New Art) curates a striking blend of modern art and ancient heritage, set within a deliciously contemporary building, driven into the cliffs.
An hour and a half away, originally built as a timber station, Port Arthur grew into one of the country’s most notorious prisons. Dubbed ‘inescapable’, despite its beautiful surroundings, it was the bane of 12,500 convicts’ lives from 1830 and 1877. Fittingly, the World Heritage Site has its own Ghost Tour, for those who dare to explore its ruins by lantern light.
After a short stop at the state’s second city of Launceston, with its colonial and Victorian cityscapes and parks, the Tamar River flows through vineyards, orchards, forested hills and scores of riverside villages. In Tasmania’s far northeast, the Bay of Fires spans 50 kilometres (31 miles) of coastline, from Eddystone Point to Binalong Bay. Multi-day hikes traverse sandy beaches and heathland, over boulders and through eucalyptus forests, with plenty of time for snorkelling and birdwatching.
Further south, Freycinet National Park features pink cliffs and empty white beaches, with only exotic birds to keep visitors company. A short ramble away, at Wineglass Bay, white sand gives way turquoise sea. With lagoons to explore, along with wallabies and black swans to spot, it will have visitors unpacking their tents, and digging their feet in for the long haul.