Scenery, Art and Unusual Wildlife

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Aside from its beautiful beaches, Australia isn’t known for breathtaking scenery—except for Tasmania, the island only 150 miles off the continent’s southern coast.

What makes Tasmania so special is the variety of geological features crammed into an area roughly the size of West Virginia. That means it’s a relatively short drive to see empty beaches, craggy mountains, rugged gorges, scenic rivers, pristine lakes and crescent bays. 

Since the island is relatively undeveloped, the drives from one stunning destination to another cross a countryside of rolling hills, quaint villages and fields of sheep and cattle. 

This past April, my wife, Katherine, and I toured the east coast and central plateau of Tasmania on an all-too-short weeklong drive through the Tasmanian countryside.

I adapted quickly to driving on the “wrong” side of the road and on the “wrong” side of the car. The absence of traffic helped. My biggest challenge was resisting the urge to sneak a peek at the views unfolding on both sides of the road. The fall colors made the views even more dazzling.

Our one-week tour took us to Hobart, the capital city; Cradle Mountain in Lake St. Clair National Park; Launceston, the second largest city in Tasmania; St. Helens, on the coast; and Freycinet National Park. It was a week of one highlight after another.

Walking, Hiking and Scenic Views

Tasmania’s main draw is its natural beauty. The best way to experience this is to get out of your car and go for a walk or hike.

My favorite hike was the 3.7-mile trail around Dove Lake at Cradle Mountain. It’s described in the park brochure as “moderate,” which means it’s not easy, but it is doable for a reasonably fit senior. 

Much of the trail follows a boardwalk winding through the rainforest on one side and lake views on the other.

The rainforest was thick with moss, ferns, grasses, reeds and Fagus trees. The Fagus, the only deciduous tree in Tasmania, had turned gold in the crisp, autumnal air.

Cradle Mountain and other crags loomed over the lake, as rainbows emerged from the mist, then faded away. 

Other hikes included a short but steep climb to a viewpoint overlooking the cerulean waters of Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park ringed by one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia. There is also a walk along an almost deserted beach on the Bay of Fire near St. Helens. 

In Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, and Launceston, one of Australia’s oldest cities, we wandered up and down narrow streets lined with well-preserved examples of 19th-century Victorian and Colonial architecture.

We especially enjoyed strolling through Salamanca Market and Battery Point in Hobart and the central business district in Launceston. 

Culture and History

Hobart is home to one of the most idiosyncratic museums in the world, the Museum of Old and New Art, or MONA, for short. It’s hard to reconcile the idea of a world-class avant-garde museum in a city as small and remote as Hobart. But there it is, on a scenic bluff overlooking the River Derwent.

The MONA was a passion project of David Walsh, a local boy who made good as a professional gambler. It is whimsical, disturbing, self-consciously outrageous, immersive, provocative, silly and futuristic.

Its wide-ranging collection includes a word waterfall, a lady’s lounge that only women can enter and a wall of decidedly un-erotic plaster cast vaginas.

One of my favorite pieces was a room of monitors displaying abstract, computer-generated images and word strings. It reminded me of the proverbial monkey typing at random for an infinite amount of time, eventually reproducing the complete works of Shakespeare.

Aside from their architectural significance, the walks in Hobart and Launceston also illuminated Tasmania’s colonial history and roots. For example, Battery Point was the site of an 1818 gun battery to protect the town from real and imagined nautical threats. 

Food, Wildlife and More

Tasmania is also renowned for its food and wine, and we took every opportunity to indulge. Most notable were the oysters, often only a couple of hours from the sea.

My wife, the wine expert in our household, raved about the wine she sampled and said it was among the best she had ever had.

In Launceston, we took a one-hour boat cruise (cataractgorgecruise.com) past the historical wharves and seaport along the Tamar River, then glided silently below the sheer cliffs of Cataract Gorge, just a short walk outside of the city.  

Tasmania won’t rival Africa or even the United States for wildlife, but most of the fauna that roam its hills, mountains, and forests are fascinating and unique. Most notable is the wallaby, a diminutive and cuter version of its cousin, the kangaroo. 

We also saw a couple of hedgehog-like wombats, which are even smaller and cuter than wallabies and lots of black swans, abundant in Tasmania.

Thankfully, we saw no snakes, which are as venomous in Tasmania as they are on the mainland. Apparently, they want as little to do with us as we do with them.

Encounters with Tasmanian devils are also rare. Primarily nocturnal, they are the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial. We could have seen them if we had signed up for the After Dark Feeding Tour at the Tasmanian Devil Sanctuary at Cradle Mountain (devilsatcradle.com). But to be frank, we were too pooped after our Dove Lake hike to venture out after dinner. 

If We Had More Time

Besides the After Dark Tasmanian Devil Feeding Tour, we would have also tried a couple of the easier hikes at Cradle Mountain. In Launceston, we might have taken the short walk into Cataract Gorge for a view of the gorge from the top of the cliffs. 

For a different perspective on Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park, and one that would have required far less effort, we could have taken a boat cruise (wineglassbaycruises.com.au), or, if we wanted to splurge, a helicopter tour (freycinetair.com.au).  

It is only 60 miles from Hobart to the Port Arthur Historic Site, the former penal colony on the coast where convicted British criminals arrived in Tasmania in the middle of the 19th century. The Convict Trail, as the route to Port Arthur is known, is both historic and scenic.

Bruny Island, where “dramatic landscapes are matched by great produce” (discovertasmania.com.au), is just a 30-minute drive and 20-minute ferry from Hobart.

One week was just not enough time to do Tasmania justice. I’m not sure I’ll get back there again, but if I do, it will be for at least a week and a half or two — enough time to take more hikes, eat more oysters, check out the Tasmanian devils, and just sit back and gaze at the spectacular scenery.

If You Go

Round trip airfare from San Francisco area airports to Hobart is about $1,000 on United and Qantas with one stop, in either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

We booked all our hotels on hotels.com and stayed in the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Hobart for $161 a night; Cradle Mountain Hotel for $249; Mantra Charles Hotel in Launceston for $124; Panorama Hotel in St. Helens for $124; and the Freycinet Resort for $272. 

We ate most of our breakfasts and dinners at the hotels, where the food was quite good to excellent. In Hobart, we had a first-rate breakfast at the Harbour Lights Café and snacked on oysters at Pearl and Co. on the waterfront at Victoria Dock 

For more information, visit Tourism Tasmania at tourismtasmania.com.au. Tourism Tasmania partially hosted Don and Katherine’s trip. 

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Author Bio: Don is an award-winning travel writer. After a 40+ year career as an organizational psychologist, consultant, and academic, he transitioned to travel writing with the publication of his National Geographic book, Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean: Fifty Extraordinary Adventures for the Seasoned Traveler (with Shannon Stowell, 2008). The Wall Street Journal called this book, “ One of the best travel books to cross our desk this year…A wonderful – and inspiring – read.” Don specializes in writing about transformational travel and adventure travel for 60+ travelers.