Marlene & Hofi Are Travelling the World: Tasmania

On Sunday, February 9th at 9am we boarded the 'Spirit of Tasmania', the ferry departing from Port Melbourne to Devonport on the North coast of Tasmania. A little scared by my previous experiences onboard the Kangaroo Island Ferry (which only took 45min!) I (Marlene) popped in a couple seasickness pills to make sure the 10 hour (!) ferry trip wouldn’t become a nightmare. I’m glad I did as the sea indeed was very rough and moving around on the ship was quite a challenge. Therefore we tried to stay where we were - very close to the ship’s main bar ;)

Tasmania's Coast Line

Tasmania’s written history starts in the early 1800’s when the first convicts were shipped to Van Diemen’s Land (as Tassie was known back then). The first prison was built on Sarah Island on the West Coast, which closed when Port Arthur prison opened. Van Diemen’s Land was the most feared destination for British prisoners; such a terrible place that once convict transports were stopped it changed its name to Tasmania to get rid of its bad reputation.

But enough history for now, what did we get up to first? Well, we started our island exploration counter-clockwise, first stop the Northwest Coast with Burnie, Wynward Bluff and The Nut in Stanley, an old volcano. The climb up there was VERY steep but the views from the top absolutely spectacular!

On top of The Nut

The next day we visited the so called Edge of the World near Arthur River, which apparently has the cleanest air on earth as the sea here stretches uninterruptedly all the way to Argentina.

Against the wind at the Edge of the World

Stoked by so much fresh air, we reached Cradle Mountain National Park in the early afternoon; Cradle Mountain National Park is Tasmania’s ‘alpine’ heart with its highest peak (1617m) and deepest lake (200m). The weather this day was just fantastic, warm and sunny, no cloud in the sky (see our blog cover photo as proof) which is very unusual for that area we got told. While in the Cradle Mountain region we did a few shorter walks, spent a day canyoning the Dove Creek Canyon (AWESOME fun!!) and we also climbed Marion’s Lookout (1200m – higher was physically not possible after the canyoning).

We then continued our journey West to Strahan where we boarded a cruise that took us out on the ocean where the Roaring Fourties blow, around Macquarie Harbour and up the Gordon River including Sarah Island (one of the first prisons built in Tasmania) and a rainforest walk. I did look very closely but despite the perfect conditions I couldn’t spot any mushrooms ;)

Stefan as Co-Captain on the Gordon River Cruise

On Saturday, we got up early to first visit Mount Field National Park, Hobart’s local National Park, with yet another walk through lush rainforests to some very scenic waterfalls (and again no mushrooms), and second to catch Hobart’s Salamanca Markets. These markets are only on each Saturday until 3pm and are one of the main attractions in Hobart. At over 300 stalls, you can buy some local produce (cheese, wine, bread, sausages, etc), handicraft but mostly lots of crap really (I’m not a big market fan, would've enjoyed more food less crap). What we did enjoy about the markets though was the nice cool cider in a cafe nearby and the people watching :) While in Hobart we of course also drove up Mt Wellington, ate some delicious seafood at the harbour (oysters, oysters, oysters...) and visited Cascade Brewery (which beers we actually didn’t like too much; we’re definitely Boag’s fans... but more of that in the next blog post).

Russell Falls in Mt Field National Park

Hobart's Harbour

Hobart from Mt Wellington

Sunday was a little highlight for us with a trip to Bruny Island. We took yet another ferry over to the island and then boarded a speedboat to take us around the coast to the most scenic points. Unfortunately the weather was less than ideal with quite a bit of showers and no sun at all – not great for photos :/ The trip itself was pretty bumpy (I did drug myself again, so all good) but good fun; the Bruny Island coast again is spectacular, and as a bonus we also saw lots of sealions and dolphins. We’ve seen so many dolphins in Perth but they’re always a delight, especially when they’re swimming and jumping alongside the boat. On our way back to the ferry we made sure we tasted (and bought some of) the local produce on Bruny, oysters, cheese, jams & chutneys, smoked trout, beer, cider... makes two happy Austrians :)