Tasmania

Tasmania is an island located 240 km off the south-east corner of mainland Australia. Next stop south is Antarctica, 2000 km away. Encircled by the Southern Ocean, Tasman Sea and Bass Strait, Tasmanians breathe the world’s cleanest air and rejoice in pure water and fertile soils – and their wine and food are acclaimed around the world.

Tasmania is a natural island – a land of dramatic coastlines, rugged mountains, tall forests and sparkling highland lakes. Over a third of the state is reserved in a network of National Parks and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, a refuge and habitat for rare plants and animals, including survivors of the ancient southern super continent, Gondwana.

European heritage dates back to the early 1800s, while Tasmanian Aboriginals first reached Tasmania 40,000 years ago.

Tasmania also has a vibrant cultural life, boasting one of the best small orchestras in the world and literary authors such as Richard Flanagan, winner of the 2002 Commonwealth Writer's Prize. Wilderness, heritage, art & culture, wine & food – they’re waiting for you in Tasmania.

According to experienced travellers who’ve crisscrossed the globe in search of excellence, Tasmania has one of the world’s 10 best beaches (Wineglass Bay, US-based Outside magazine), the world’s best little town (Strahan, Chicago Tribune) and was rated equal third, in the world, for wise land stewardship by National Geographic Traveler magazine’s Sustainable Tourism Initiative.

Climate
More than anywhere else in Australia, Tasmania enjoys four distinctly different seasons, each with its own special pleasures. Tasmanians and visitors alike enjoy the State’s temperate maritime climate.

Summer is the season of fun and festivities at the Launceston Festivale, the Hobart Summer Festival, where the Taste of Tasmania is a must, and the North-West’s athletic carnivals.

Autumn is a mellow season with calm, sunny days. It’s the time when the native deciduous beech blazes with colour. Not to be outdone, the European trees are also a riot of red, orange and gold.

Winter is a dusting of snow on highland peaks and toasting your toes by an open fire. In winter Tasmania has less daylight than the mainland states and territories. But that’s no reason not to come to Tassie in winter, visitors are often surprised to find that winter is characterised by crisp blue skies and sparkling sunshine. Bring a jumper and enjoy the freshest air in the world.

Spring is cool and fresh. Gardens around the State come to life and Tasmania celebrates with the Blooming Tasmania festival.

Galleries & Museums
Once a far-flung colonial outpost, Tasmania is rich in history and cultural diversity. You can sense it in the 10,000 year old stone carvings at Tiagarra, Devonport; view it on the outdoor walls of Sheffield’s murals; touch it in a Huon Valley wood turner’s studio; hear it in Australia’s largest collection of steam-driven relics at Pearn’s Steam World, Westbury and experience every aspect of our culture and heritage in the fine exhibitions at Launceston’s Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery or the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart.

Admission to most public galleries and museums is free. Local operators can advise on entry conditions and displays of special interest.

Markets
From the colour and bustle of a city market to the treasures waiting to be unearthed in an antique shop, there are plenty of surprises in store. Hobart’s saturday Salamanca Market is one of the nation’s brightest and busiest. Lemongrass and LPs, sandstone sculpture and salmon, buskers and baked spuds – you’ll find them all at Salamanca. In the antique shops of our country towns, look for colonial relics or furniture crafted from rare and fragrant Huon pine – sharp-eyed browsers find bargains!

Gardens
On a blooming oasis in the Southern Ocean, green-thumbed Tasmanians love to dig and dibble. Among other green and growing delights, you’ll find the world’s biggest hedge maze (Tasmazia, near Sheffield); heritage gardens gracing historic homes; a town of topiary (Railton); and the largest public collection of mature conifers in the Southern Hemisphere (Hobart’s Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens).

Blooming Tasmania’s varied program of statewide events and activities will excite garden lovers. Tasmania's Open Gardens program invites you into Tasmania’s best private gardens – and in wild places, there are nature’s alpine gardens to explore. Even our farms are gardens – look for fields of blooming poppies, tulips and spring bulbs.

Distinct seasons add special character – from the fresh emerald greens of spring to autumn’s reds and golds, you’ll find every shade under the sun.

History & Heritage
Tasmania’s historic past is no dead and dusty creature – it’s a living, breathing spirit that reaches out from its place in time, everywhere you tread. So step quietly around Port Arthur – listen to the clink of convict chains and the shuffle of feet. Wander along Launceston’s graceful Victorian streetscapes; sip a latte by the sun-warmed stone of a Salamanca warehouse; gaze over the Tamar Valley from Brady’s bushranging lair.

Travel the Heritage Highway and feel echoes of the past in every bridge and cottage, their sandstone blocks chipped by convict chisels. For a fascinating insight into the heritage of Tasmania, visit Found & Made in Tasmania, a wonderful resource containing information on shell necklaces, wood design and maritime history, as well as heritage trail itineraries and links to an array of other heritage sites.

Wilderness & Wildlife
Walk quietly and observe carefully – the swirl of a swimming platypus, quoll tracks along the tideline, wombats and wallabies rustling in the bush. Our oceans and coasts teem with life – seals and penguins, shearwaters and sea eagles, dolphins and whales. On land or sea, specialist wildlife tours take you where you’re most likely to see rare and unusual fauna. In many national parks, animals are often easier to observe close-up, especially at dusk. Bring your flashlight, camera and binoculars!

Macquarie Island, a Tasmanian dependency, is the gateway to Antarctica. It is home to four million penguins and thousands of elephant seals. Tourists can visit during summer.

Must See Destinations

Cradle Mountain
In 1827 Joseph Fossey, a surveyor with the Van Diemen's Land Company, saw a dramatic mountain peak at the northern end of what is now the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, in the World Heritage Area. He immediately named the peak Cradle Mountain, and as soon as you see it you will know why he chose the name.

Launceston
Launceston is Tasmania’s second largest city and sits at the junction of the North and South Esk Rivers. From here, the broad Tamar River valley opens north to Bass Strait 50 kilometres (31 miles) away.

Flinders Island
Flinders Island is off the northeast tip of Tasmania, the biggest of a group of islands that thousands of years ago were part of a landbridge connecting Tasmania to mainland Australia. The main town is Whitemark, on the west coast. This is an island of dramatic landscapes, from the granite cliffs of the Strzelecki National Park in the south to the farmland in the north.

King Island
King Island is off the north-west tip of Tasmania, about halfway across Bass Strait. Wild seas surround the rocky coast - there are more than 70 submerged shipwrecks and four lighthouses, one on each coast. From the northern one at Cape Wickham, if the day is clear, you’ll see mainland Australia.

Port Arthur Historic Site
Between 1830 and 1877 about 12,500 transported convicts were imprisoned at Port Arthur, on the shores of a beautiful bay and set against the tranquil hills and forest of the Tasman Peninsula. Many of the sandstone prison buildings remain and have been preserved. Archaeologists and historians have pieced together the history of the prison and the sad story is told in an excellent display in the visitors’ centre.

Richmond
Twenty-five kilometres of country road and 100 years from Hobart City is the historic town of Richmond, with its fine Georgian architecture impressively intact with memories of days gone by. It’s an original village of slate and cobbles, handmade brick and mellow stone, cottages and manors.

Hobart
Tasmania’s capital lies in the south-east of the state, near the mouth of the Derwent River at the foot of Mount Wellington. Hobart is warm sandstone, bright spinnakers on the water, fish punts at the docks, the slap of halyards on masts, coffee under the striped sun umbrellas of Salamanca, an occasional frosting of snow on Mt Wellington, bush tracks and birdsong.

Salamanca Place
Salamanca Place, in Sullivans Cove, Hobart’s historic waterfront, is a long row of stylish Georgian sandstone warehouses built in the 1830s. The buildings now house boutiques, bars, bookshops, restaurants, outdoor cafes, art studios, craft galleries and jewellers.

Strahan
Strahan – for many this name evokes a place with the true spirit of independence, of 19th century piners and miners, and 20th century protesters who stopped the damming of the wild Franklin River.

The Nut
As you drive westwards along the north coast and approach the historic town of Stanley you’ll see The Nut, a huge flat-topped circular headland that dominates the town. It’s 152 metres high, with a path and a chairlift to the top. Up there you can take a bracing walk around the edge and enjoy the wind in your face, the sun on your back and wonderful views up and down the coast.

Wineglass Bay and Freycinet Peninsula
Wineglass Bay is a wonderful surprise when you climb over the saddle in the Hazards - the jagged range of pink and grey granite peaks on the east coast peninsula that is the Freycinet National Park. The bay’s perfect curve of white sand, and the blue sea and skies form a stunning picture.