Thread: Thinking Tasmania Holiday - Must See's

We had a fly/drive holiday a few years ago. Great place.

I'll let the locals have a go first.

How long are you gong to be here and which areas are you looking at seeing (central plateau, west coast, north coast, east coast, west coast etc etc) ??

Thinking about flying into Launceston and taking 7 days to get to Hobart and then flying out of Hobart. Would do it in about 3 weeks time. Just want to chill out.

BrdaM

Will fly into Launceston spend 7 days in Tassie, end up in Hobart and fly out from there. Thinking Tamar valley and Cradle mountain at this stage.

BradM

One week you could either go down the middle, or down the west or east coast. I'd recommend taking one of the coastal routes.

West coast is very rugged and bleak with a lot of mining and pioneer heritage. Queenstown, strahan and zeehan are the main centers down that way worth visiting. Zeehan has an excellent museum, Queenstown has a museum, and the abt railway as well as tours of the mines and a few other bits and pieces. Strahan is the tourist center of the west coast. Cruises out to devils gate, the salmon farms and the gordon river are worth the trip. The abt railway is good, but expensive. Plenty of history about the place and things to do and see.

On the east coast you have St hellens which really started off as a fishing town but is a great place to stay and see some parts of the state. The Freycenet peninsula is a beautiful place to see as well, the walk over to wineglass bay is worth it, as is a drive up to the lighthouse. Coles bay is the place to stay in that area. Bicheno is nice, the beach is close, the blowhole is only around the corner. You are actually able to walk out to diamond island at low tide to see the penguins. The douglas appsley national park is also very close and worth a visit and a walk if you are energetic. Heading towards hobart from the east coast Richmond is also well worth a visit. it's a very historic town with a lot of old buildings and a few things to do and see.

Launceston has a few things to see. The Gorge is well worth a visit, and a drive up ben lomond (about 2 hours return) is nice if you don't mind the rough road. Plenty of places to stay and see.

Hobart again has a plethora of things to do and see. Salamanca market is worth a visit if you are there on the right day. A drive up Mt Wellington is well worth the drive (sealed the whole way) and if you have the time, a trip down to port authur is well worth it, but really it is a while day trip.

There is plenty of things to do and see in between like vinyards, chocolate makers, orchards etc. Same for resteraunts and other things to see. Just allow plenty of time between stops. The roads are reasonably windy. The east coast isn't too bad (apart from the sidling, elephant pass and st marys pass), but the west coast roads are very windy.

The discover tasmania website has a lot of things to do and see as well. It's usually a good point of reference.
http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/home/index.cfm

Originally Posted by BradM

Will fly into Launceston spend 7 days in Tassie, end up in Hobart and fly out from there. Thinking Tamar valley and Cradle mountain at this stage.

BradM

I saw this after my mamoth last post. If you are going to do that, head up and stop at sheffield for a while (the town of murals), and staying at cradle mountain is worth it. Some of the best scenery is on some of the short walks about the place. Dove lake is magnificent on a good day, but expect anything from snow (there was some last week) to high 20's temperatures. From there head down the west coast and on to hobart. Derwent bridge pub on the way to hobart does some great food, and is a nice spot, and lake st clair is lovely as well. if you are going to go to a few parks, a week parks pass for all parks is the cheapest way to do it as there are a lot of national parks about the place (Cradle, lake stclair etc etc). Probably go through tarraleah, on to new norfolk and then hobart.

East coast is nice, good way to go from launceston to Hobart. I live in the farnorwest, little bias really because its always green and olenty to do and see. What a lot of people that come to Tassie dont realise is there is something different to do every 10 minutes of traveling unlike a lot of the main land where you can drive a day between destinations.
Launceston to Hobart will see you close to lots of touristy type things, If you went via the west coast (cradle mt, strahan, queenstown, down the lyle highway to hobart) it is a lot less touristy (best wood carvings you will ever see at derwent bridge) and takes you through the lakes country.
You really need a minumum of 6 weeks

Pheonix has it on the money... but for 7 days I would:

Get out of Launceston ASAP

Head out down the east coast, go to Maria Isld if your camping it. The head further south until you hit Hobart. Hobart has Mt Wellington, then head a little further south to Brunny Isd. I think 7 days youll just end up rushing to see too much. Your better off taking your time, and seeing less IMO. Theres always another trip in the future