Before we knew it we were queued up ready to board the Spirit of Tasmania car ferry over the Bass Strait and onto Tasmania. Not really knowing what to expect we got there fairly early and settled into our 9 hour overnight crossing in our chosen recliner seats. Safe to say we had probably our worst night sleep in 6 months due to the chairs not reclining far back enough for us to lay back and also a chap snoring rather loudly throughout the majority of the crossing. Great start to our Tassie adventure!
Things could only get better from there on in. Arriving in Devonport at 7 am that morning at the North of the island, we headed south to the city of Launceston. Still fairly knackered from the crossing the night before we found a park and had a mid-morning nap to recover before we continued our journey towards Hobart. Once refreshed we decided to head to the city park where we randomly found an enclosure of Japanese Macaque’s which kept us entertained for 15 minutes as we watched them chase each other and play in the sun. That afternoon we left Launceston to head to the small town of Kempton, which was 45 minutes north of Hobart and had a cheap camp with showers and toilets that we could stay at before we headed to Hobart for the weekend.
Saturday was upon us, which meant the market day in Hobart. The famous Salamanca Markets didn’t disappoint as we stumbled upon probably the largest market we had been to in Australia. Full of local crafts, beers, wine, and local produce, we were spoiled for choice when it came to lunchtime. We ended up treating ourselves to a few tasters of Tasmanian ginger beer, chocolate, and a cheeky jacket potato.
After a full day of exploring Hobart and spending some time down at the marina, we headed back to Kempton for another night before heading back to the Botanic gardens and down further south to a free camp in Gordon the following day. We got to Gordon mid-afternoon and were able to find a spot right on the waterside looking out to Bruny Island. It was honestly one of the best free camps we had found being so close to the sea, hearing the waves waking us up in the morning and overlooking Bruny Island. We couldn’t quite believe it was free!
Our next stop was Mount Wellington. Surprisingly Tasmania’s 51st highest mountain. From the summit, you can see the whole of Hobart and the views were insane. We were so high up we even saw our first glimpse of Australian snow. Not a great amount but still enough to get excited about. We grabbed a coffee on the way down as the temperature at the top was freezing and fairly gusty!
We drove down towards Port Arthur where we checked out Remarkable Cave and ended up camping down at a national park in the world heritage park of Lime Bay reserve. Another beautiful camp spot that overlooked the sea. We saw the sunset whilst the waves rolled in and watched the kookaburras eat some dinner along the beach.
Having explored as much of south side of the island as we could with the time we had on Tasmania, we decided to head back north along the west coast. We stopped off a Freycinet national park and took a small hike up to the top of a hill that overlooks both Wineglass Bay on one side and Sleepy Bay on the other. Again, another stunning view that was well worth the 30-minute hike up to the top of the lookout.
Continuing North we headed towards the town of St Helens and onto the Bay of Fires. This has to easily be our number one free camp of the whole trip. Again another beachside stop that enabled us to park on top of the dunes, watch the waves crash down as the sun set over us and we had a campfire to keep us warm!
Heading back inland we stopped off at Launceston again where the weather was a little better and we got the chance to explore the Penny Royal Village and do the Cataract Gorge walk which was pretty awesome!
With only a few days left before our ferry back, we really wanted to get over to Cradle Mountain but we were both apprehensive on whether the weather would allow it. We ended up camping at the base of Mount Roland in a place called Gowrie park for two nights whilst we waited out the rain. On our final morning in Tasmania, we braved the journey up towards Cradle Mountain and its safe to say we are glad we waited out. As we got closer we started to see a few cars pass us with about six inches of snow on their rooftops. We could only wonder where they had come from. The closer we got to Cradle Mountain national park, we started to see more and more snow. By the time we got there, it was unbelievable. It was snowing and laying quite thick!
Having already purchased a two national parks pass for the whole of Tasmania we were determined to get our money worth and we were lucky enough to find out that the park’s roads were getting snow ploughed as we got there. Determined to see as much as we could on foot, we decided to walk 3kms on the snow-covered boardwalk to the next shuttle bus stop in the hope that the roads had cleared up and we could eventually catch the bus to Lake Dove at the foot of Cradle Mountain. It was so surreal walking through the Australian countryside absolutely covered in snow! By the time we got to the end of the boardwalk we luckily saw a shuttle and managed to hop on towards Dove Lake.
When we got there, Cradle Mountain was still hidden behind the clouds but it didn’t take long for it to appear as the clouds began to clear. We took a short stroll to one of the lookouts, but the weather conditions weren’t in our favour to start heading up the mountain.
We were fortunate enough on our shuttle bus back to jump off at one of the stops and walk a small section of the Overland Track where we saw wallabies and wombats close up in the snow. It was such a surreal experience to be in what is considered as one of the hottest countries in the world but yet we were freezing our pants off in the snow.
We headed back down towards Devonport to catch our overnight ferry which was slightly better than our journey over. No snoring but the recliners are nothing to shout about. The whole of Tasmania was definitely a highlight of our trip, we compared it to a taster of what New Zealand might and a lot like Ireland but maybe more mountainous. We would definitely love to come back. Ten days is just not enough time to explore the whole island. We felt you could spend 6 months there and still not see everything. Back to the mainland and start our journey back towards Adelaide.
Tom.