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General Info Section
Location
Tasmania is an island off the South East corner of Australia. Originally called Van Diemans Land, it was a convict colony (much like the rest of Australia was).
It is a beautiful part of the world with large amounts of it being World Heritage Areas and anyone who likes interesting and contrasting scenery, this is the place to be.
Getting to Tassie
There are a couple of options for getting to Tassie:
You can fly in from most capitial cities in Australia to Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie within Tassie.
The Spirit of Tasmania has two ferries sailing once a day each. In peak periods there are two sailings per day. Their website includes availability and prices.
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When planning a trip to Tassie, don't let the size of the island on a map deceive you. You would not believe how many people visit Tassie and think that it only takes an hour to travel around the whole island! You need to allow at least eight days to experience the island. Even then you still miss a great part of it.
Not to miss
Any of the national parks, in particular Cradle Mountain and Freycinet Peninsula. Tassie is a bushwalkers dream, for the experienced - the Overland Track, for the inexperienced - there are a range of short, easy walks that still get some fantastic scenery.
For Tassie in it's rawest form, go to the West Coast (Queenstown, Strahan etc). Last year, Strahan was rated as the best little tourist town by the Chicago Tribune.
Tassie's East Coast has an array of white sand beaches and beautiful crystal clear water. If you're into diving, here and the Tasman Peninsula have some great areas.
White water rafting down the Franklin River. There are a couple of rafting companies in Tassie - Rafting Tasmania & Wild Rivers - that do a 5, 7 or 11 day rafting trip. They also do day trips to other rivers.
For history buffs, Port Arthur, Richmond Village and Ross are a couple of the towns that still have remains from convict days.
Warning!
The weather has a tendancy to be cold and 15 degrees here is T-shirt weather to Tasmanians. So rug up! Now that I've said that, no doubt that when anyone comes and visits there will be a big heat wave!
I was born and bred on the West and North West coasts of Tassie and love it. It doesn't matter how often I move away, I keep coming back. As well as this, I work in the travel industry, mostly dealing with inbound groups to Tassie. So if anyone wants to know anything, I can help (or at least ask someone who can).
I have also travelled around a fair bit of the rest of Australia and am heading over to USA in December this year. I'd love to hear from someone who has visited here before and get their opinions!
Questions?
If you want more information about this area you can email the author or check out our Pacific Insiders page.
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