7D6N Tasmania’s Parks & Nature

The Tasmanian capital packs a lot of punch into such a small perimeter, from restaurants that garner global praise to moody wine bars, eye opening galleries, waterside walks and character-filled historic precincts. Explore at your leisure before meeting the adventurous souls who will keep you company over the next week.

Hotel
Grand Chancellor, (2 nights).

Three hundred – that’s the number of stalls you’ll navigate this morning at Hobart’s mighty Salamanca Market. Get your heart started sampling gin and whisky, or order a coffee and bulging burger and pick up made in Tasmania arts and crafts. The precinct, amid historic sandstone buildings, is almost as pretty as the produce. This afternoon you’ll see what makes Hobart tick, from the leafy Botanical Gardens to historic Battery Point and Cascade Brewery. It all fits neatly together when you get some perspective from the lofty Mt. Nelson Lookout, gazing over the River Derwent, all the way to Bruny Island in the south.

The West Coast of Tassie is wild – in the best possible way. The air seems cleaner, the lakes cooler, the colours brighter, the waterfalls larger… as you’ll discover when the mist envelops you at tiered Russell Falls. This is part of Mt. Field National Park, the state’s most diverse nature reserve. Speaking of breaking records, Lake St. Clair is the deepest of its kind in Australia, carved by ice during glaciations over the last two million years. Pausing here puts life into perspective. Skirt the World Heritage listed Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, characterised by soaring Huon pines, before arriving in Strahan. Small in population but big in personality, the town overlooks the immense Macquarie Harbour. Did you know it’s seven times the size of Sydney Harbour?

Hotel
Strahan Village.

Today’s watery welcome is the deep, dark Gordon River, its expanse coloured by tannins from button grass. Soak up the silence of this untouched wilderness area on a cruise out to Sarah Island, a former penal settlement – Tassie’s oldest – where convicts laboured under harsh conditions felling pines for boat-building. The haunting ruins that remain have been reclaimed by the rainforest, telling a chilling story of life on the land. As do mining towns Rosebery and Tullah, enveloped by dense forest and volcanic mountains. This is your backdrop en route to immense Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park, a mecca for some of Australia’s most elusive wildlife: keep watch for Tasmanian devils and platypuses.

Hotel
Cradle Mountain, (2 nights).

Cradle Mountain has not always been pristine – it owes much of its protected status to early settlers Gustav and Kate Weindorfer, who were pivotal in championing the conservation of the area. Their efforts are remembered at Waldheim Chalet, their former home, set among myrtles and King Billy pines that gradually give way to moss covered ancient rainforests and deep river gorges, snow-tipped peaks and wild alpine moorlands. This is the heart of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, carved by glacial waterways like Dove Lake. You can see why Bennetts wallabies, echidnas, wombats and pademelons live here – you, too, will find it hard to tear yourself away. If you’re a night person, consider enlisting to spot Tassie’s nocturnal animals, whether at a devil sanctuary or in the wild.

Bring your appetite – today you’ll try some of the state’s standout produce. First stop is Hellyers Road Whisky Distillery. Tasmanian tipples – whether whisky or gin – take home global awards for good reason. Steel yourself for the ciders fermented at Mount Gnomon Farm, in the hills overlooking the petite town of Penguin. If there’s an Australian destination with a cuter name, we’re yet to find it. Here, passionate farmer Guy Robertson will pour brews made from apples grown in his orchard, before you sit down to a farm-to-table Be My Guest lunch. Then you’re on your way to quirky Sheffield, the ‘Town of Murals’, before travelling through the Meander Valley to Launceston.

Hotel
Grand Chancellor.

Your final day ends on a high in Cataract Gorge, a rare natural phenomenon on the outskirts of Launceston. There’s bushland on one side, and a Victorian garden replete with ferns and exotic plants on the other. Get a different perspective of the green cavern on the scenic chairlift, zipping you over the water to a lofty lookout. You can’t leave Tassie without sipping a few of its cool-climate wines, perhaps a pinot noir or flute of sparkling enjoyed overlooking the manicured grounds of the Josef Chromy Estate. Sample the range, then settle in with your favourite drop enjoyed over lunch. This afternoon is yours: if you’re not heading home yet, we recommend extending your adventure with an optional cruise along the Tamar River. A fitting end to a week of wonderment.