a black animal with long tail in grass

Trip Report: Tasmania!

I don’t normally post trip reports about my actual travel, because this is a blog dedicated to flights and hotels. However, my recent trip to Tasmania was absolutely amazing, and it’s a place most people don’t even have on their travel list.

(Want to travel for nearly free, in luxury? My award booking service, Awarding Canada, offers exceptional service for one of the lowest prices available)

After flying Ottawa-Washington-Tokyo-Bangkok-Melbourne-Launceston, I was a little exhausted, regardless of flying mostly first class on ANA and Thai. I landed in Launceston, the second biggest city in Tasmania, in the evening. I was staying at the Balmoral on York hotel, located in the CBD and rated among the best in the city. Although it was clean and comfortable, the hotel was built from cinder blocks, and felt a little like a hostel in terms of design, and definitely a departure from what I’m used to for modern hotels.

I crashed that night the moment I got to the hotel. The next morning, due to jet lag, I woke up at 4AM, and took an early-morning walk through the city. It’s pleasant enough, but definitely lacks things to do. It feels like a small English town.

At 7AM, I was picked up for the first day of my three day tour, offered by Tours Tasmania. I was going to Cradle Mountain, one of Tasmania’s main tourist sites. Once there, I hiked Marion’s Peak and did the Dove Lake Circuit. Although the Dove Circuit is a very easy walk, Marion’s Peak is quite challenging. It takes about two hours, and for a good portion of the hike, there’s a near-vertical incline. You have to use chains to pull yourself up the cliff. I was exhausted when I got up, but the view is absolutely stunning. I would highly recommend doing both walks, which both offer different views. I saw wombats, cool bugs, and a wallaby. Further, the area is filled with distinct microclimates. You’ll be in a rain forest for 100 meters, and then in a desert-like climate for the next 100 meters. Very cool! My tour guide said that less than 1/10 people do both walks (I knew I was special, like mommy always said!).

More views...
More views…
And more!
And more!

IMG_1151

More great views at Cradle Mountain
More great views at Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain
Wallaby!
Wallaby!

On the second day, again at 7AM, I did Wine Glass bay, another major Tasmanian tourist site. I have to say, after Cradle Mountain, Wine Glass Bay felt ‘meh.’ Wine Glass Bay is a “perfect” looking bay. However, the view that we got was from a far, and it was substantially less impressive than Cradle Mountain. Apparently you can go to the bay on a different hike and swim, but I didn’t have the opportunity to do that. I would say to give it a go if you have the time in Tasmania, however, if you’re short on time, do Cradle Mountain instead.

Wine Glass Bay
Wine Glass Bay
Very pretty beach
Very pretty beach

IMG_1239 IMG_1237

Later that day, I went to a Tasmanian Devil sanctuary. Tasmanian Devils are only found in Tasmania, having been killed off from the mainland. Unfortunately for the Devil, an infectious tumor disease has dramatically reduced the wild population, and sanctuaries like this one play an important role in preserving the species.

Tasmanian Devil eating a wallaby tail
Tasmanian Devil eating a wallaby tail
Kangaroo and her joey
Kangaroo and her joey

That evening, I went to Hobart and stayed at the Fountainside Hotel, located just off the CBD. It was perfectly located, and I had a very pleasant stay.

Hobart is quite a bit nicer than Launceston. It’s Tasmania’s largest city, has a beautiful waterfront, and a historic downtown. Salamanca, the main drag of the city, has a great market, where you can spend two hours walking around and trying out different foods (I had a wallaby burrito. Yum!). Note that Hobart is obscenely expensive, costing much more than mainland Australia. I’d say a budget of $150 per person, per day, not including hotels is reasonable.

On the third day, at a more reasonable 7:30AM pick-up time, I did a tour of Port Arthur. Port Arthur is an old prison complex near Hobart, and is one of Tasmania’s most significant historical sites. It’s a huge complex that takes four hours to do properly, with beautiful buildings and a nice park to stroll through. An interesting point of modern history: in 1996, Port Arthur was the scene of one of the world’s deadliest shooting sprees, killing 35 people. A gunman entered the tourist site and started shooting tourists in one of the cafeterias, and then went on a rampage through the rest of the complex. A beautiful and serene memorial was built with the old walls of the cafeteria. The management doesn’t like to talk about the massacre, and only a plaque off to the side of Port Arthur details what happened. This event dramatically changed Australia’s gun control laws… unlike the US, Australia learns from their disasters.

Would I go again? Probably not. My time there, three full days in total, was more than enough. If I could drive, there’s a lot more wilderness to see, and I’d recommend at least a week. However, I really enjoyed my time in Tasmania, and it was the best part of my Australian visit. I highly recommend it. To get there, you should fly to a major Australian city, and then fly Tiger Air or Jet Star (both discount airlines) to Launceston or Hobart. You can also take a ferry from Melbourne to Devonport.

Oldest bridge
Oldest bridge
Devil's Kitchen
Devil’s Kitchen
Hobart
Hobart

8 Comments

  1. Went there in October and really enjoyed it. You certainly did more than I! I rented a car at LST airport and it was a breeze. Stayed three nights in LST – one at the Balmoral, one at Best Western Plus and one at Hotel Charles (pretty new and the nicest, similar to a nicer Novotel). The Balmoral innkeeper is very proud of his place and his wife used to and perhaps still works at the Hyatt in MEL. Really enjoyed Trowunna Wildlife Park too — animals were too cute.

  2. Thanks for the post! I am going to Tasmania in a couple of months and was looking to do a 5 day tour from Tour Tasmania, sounds like it is well worth it.

  3. I personally don’t believe a knee-jerk reaction to a lunatic going on a shooting spree is “learning from your mistakes.” I acknowledge that we’ll probably have a difference of opinion on this. FYI, the US is safer now that it has been since the ’60s, despite the fact that there are more guns now than there have ever been.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

    I thought that this was a TRAVEL BLOG! Stick to you topic and knowledge area, you lose serious credibility when you weigh into things like this.

      1. Great post. Enjoying your blog. I was pleased to see your reference to the mass shooting and its significant impact on Australian gun laws. I would have been disappointed had it not been mentioned. Your succinct link to mass shootings in the USA was appropriate. How can caring people, travel bloggers included, watch the reports on the senseless loss of life through mass shootings in the US and not comment? Your credibility’s intact for doing so.

  4. That was a very long way to fly for 4or 5 days. You did a lot but Tasmania deserves a good week or 10 days for a full experience. Bruny Island should be on the list of things to do and MONA ( Museum of Old and New Art) is fantastic, as well as wonderful food, pristine wilderness ( maybe like parts of Canada and New Zealand). It’s expensive because so many Australians , Japanese and Chinese vacation there and have pushed up room rates.
    It’s a place rooted in (the best of) the fifties and sixties. I love it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *