Good morning everyone. I have some questions regarding Dark Mofo. We arriving to Tassie on June 10th-ish (maybe a day earlier) through June 23rd-ish.

We booked Tasmania this year to partake in and witness the Dark Mofo shenanigans as well as explore. We currently have a hotel secured downtown and tickets for Night Mass booked for the 13th.

My question is, can anyone give me a run down of events? Is this an all day thing during the festival or are most events starting in the evening? We thought about leaving the 15th (missing the final night) and then heading out to explore more of Tas before returning for the solstice swim in the 21st. Are the festival days jam packed with stuff to do or should I be looking at booking Bruny Island, UnZoo, MONA during the day and then at night the festival starts? Also thoughts on skipping the final night of the 15th?

In order to better shape my itinerary for non Dark Mofo days I'm hoping to get a bit more insight on Dark Mofo itself in terms of events/activities and if they are night time events or if this debauchery extends to daylight hours as well haha.

Thank you so much for your insights. I sincerely appreciate them! Apologies in advance in my if my questions or sentence structure don't make sense. I just got off working night shift so I have, arguably, like 3 brain cells at the moment.

Hello, we'll be travelling to tassie next week and are planning to snorkel around Binalong Bay and Freycinet (likely around coves). We can swim but are inexperienced at snorkeling.

Would this be advisable? I'm aware there aren't lifeguards around but we don't intend to go too deep and won't snorkel if the current is strong.

Also, are there washrooms around where we could clean up after? From my research, it seems that washrooms are sparse in those areas.

Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated.

Hello explorers,

Where do you think is the best place to go scuba diving in Tasmania??

I’m looking to go in mid-December and beyond excited to explore the unique underwater universe.

Bonus points if there’s:

• Magical Marine Life.
• Vibrant Views.
• Genius Guides.

Thank you in advance!

Hello,

I am planning on travelling to Tasmania for a little solo roadtrip in my car for a couple of days in late January (~4-5 days).

The Tarkine drive and natural parts of West Tasmania caught my attention so I thought I would look into doing that.

I would be stopping along the way for various sites and walks along the way.

I have drawn up a quick itinerary and just want to check what I'm thinking is suitable for a city hatchback car and I've not missed anything.

Any advice is much appreciated.

23rd Jan - 18:30 - Spirit of Tas from Geelong

24th Jan - 8:30 - Arrive in Devonport.

24th Jan - Drive to Cradle Mountain

24th Jan - Drive to Smithton

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25th Jan - Drive from Smithton to Strahan along part of the Tarkine drive and stop along the way for short walks/sights

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26th Jan - Gordon River cruise

26th Jan - Drive to Arthur River

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27th Jan - Arthur River cruise

27th Jan - Edge of the World

27th Jan - Drive to Smithon on Tarkine Drive

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28th Jan - Drive from Smithton to Devonport for Evening Spirit of Tas

Hi all, after lurking for a while I seem to be a little stuck on itinerary advice for my trip down end of this year (mid Dec) for a few nights (13th to the 17th)

Taking my girlfriend down to see the lavender fields as well as spend some time together as our anniversary and her birthday are within days of each other, and as it’s my first time ever planning something like this I’m struggling lol

Any advice on places to visit for dinners, drives, etc? Google keeps giving me wineries and neither of us drink and we know there are markets up north on the weekends but unsure of anything local Hobart wise. I have places like snug falls, visiting the MONA, Bruny island maybe?

I have so many tabs open I have started to struggle to put things together so any advice would be welcomed

Hi all, we will be in Hobart for a wedding in late February. We have booked flights from Saturday to Saturday, with the wedding happening on Wednesday in the middle.

We have two kids. The youngest will be in the carer for the trip, and the oldest is happy to walk and has done a few short hikes.

We want to be in nature and see Tasmania's unique animals. Below is my current back-of-an-envelope plan.

Saturday

• Land in Hobart at 12 pm
• Pick up the car
• Drive to the north coast somewhere to see the penguins. Multiple stops along the way to give the kids a break. Suggestions welcome.

Sunday

• See the penguins (I assume dawn or dusk is best for this?)
• Driver to cradle mountain.
• Orientate ourselves and some site seeing if time permits.

Monday

• Some family-friendly hikes
• Devels cradle
• Keeping an eye out for animals

Tuesday

• Take our time driving back to Hobart
• Multiple stops along the way try to do different stops to the way north.

Wednesday

• Wedding

Thursday

• Geeveston to see the platypus

Friday

• Maria Island (can we do this in a day from Hobart?)

Saturday

• Salamanca Market
• Drop off car
• Fly home.

All thoughts and recommendations welcome. We want to maximize or chances of seeing wildlife but I also feel like there is a lot of time in the car.

I am on 4-day (3 night) itinerary. I will stay a night in Hobert and visiting Port Arthur on the second day. I am thinking of White beach near Port Arthur for the second night. Any suggestion for a town to visit for the remaining two days. I am thinking of Devonport or Launceston.

Any feedback? Comments on the sequence/activities? Any activity recommendations for days with “???” / food recommendations most welcome too.

Thanks in advance!

I'm travelling to Tasmania next October and looking for where's best to base myself around Cradle Mountain. I've only for about a week and have got some ideas for Hobart, but would love to see Cradle Mountain at some point.
Is it better to base myself in Launceston, or another town like Corinna or Strahan? I'm looking to do a hike in Cradle, then I've got 2 days to do something local, like Kayak or Hike somewhere, or even see what there is to do around Launceston

What do you think or recommend?

Hi all,

Just looking for an advice on my itirenary and coming from NSW.

• January 13, 2025 - Monday - Launceston
  • Arrival
  • Pick up Car
  • Cataract George
  • Go around the city
• Tuesday
  • Bridestowe Lavender Estate
  • Bay of Fires
• Wednesday
  • Cradle Mountain (Day Trip)
• Thursday - Hobart
  • Drive to Hobart
  • Eaglehawk Neck
  • Tasman Arch
  • Port Arthur
  • Check-in somewhere in Hobart
• January 17, 2025 - Friday
  • MONA
  • Fly out at night

Notes

• Lavander farm is a must for my in-laws so happy to get suggestions on better lavender area. lol
• As I am with older relatives (60+), there's less walking and just hand-picked a few easier(?) vieweings.
• With Cradle Mountain, I read you have to park in the visitor centre and there's a paid shuttle. Where exactly does the shuttle bring you and do we have to pre-book?
• How does the boat ride to MONA work? Can we park near the boat area?
• Best place to rent a place for a group of 5. Still the city area?

Hi all!

I’m traveling to Melbourne for the holidays from the States to spend with family, and will be there for a month. My mom flies back 1 week before me, and instead of just hanging at my aunts, I want to explore somewhere I haven’t before!

It would be at the beginning of January. I really know NOTHING about Tasmania, and after looking at this sub Reddit and googling some, I did not realize how much there is to do and see there, and people spend weeks exploring it.

I’ll be traveling solo. I prefer to stay in hostels because it’s cheaper and to meet other solo travelers. I’d be fine renting a car for some days/all days if need be, but I can’t spend a ton of money on this little trip (around $1000USD excluding the flights is what I’m hoping for)

I love seeing beautiful places, and love animals. I don’t mind a little bit of hiking, but just can’t do hikes with a ton of elevation gain and generally prefer “nature walks” more anyways lol. Anything with water is my favorite (waterfalls and gorgeous beaches and coastline). I also am a big foodie, but not really a wine drinker. And I’m big on history and museums. I have no problem driving long distances to see amazing things, I’m used to long road trips.

So please help me come up with an itinerary, thanks!

Planning to cover these spots from Dover during X-Mas break. I am from NSW and travelling with kids.

Hartz Mountains National Park Cape Hauy Bruny Island Port Arthur Historic Site Mt Wellington Salamanca Market (Saturday Only) Wineglass Bay Tasman National Park Hobart Convict Penitentiary Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary Hastings Caves and Thermal Springs Mount Field National Park

Any suggestions?

Looking to come over to Tasmania for the first time for a family trip in 2025 for two weeks in January, any recommendations on which towns/areas to stay in for a bloke with no clue? (looking to book 2 different accom in different areas). Fishing, surfing, the lot!

Hello,

Two of us are travelling on standby and looking to get to Sydney on Sunday 10 Nov 24(but strongly considering to skip it and grab a flight straight to Tasmania.

What in your opinion would the best place to stay close to Wombats? I'm the biggest fan of them and an ideal place for me to stay for one or two nights would be a place where they live and drink a morning coffee around them.

We're also fans of nature and hiking. Are there any hikes that you particularly love?

Getting around - is car a must or can it be Dona via bus? Little bit afraid of left sided car movement but I think it's doable.

Can you recommend any good diving experience on Tasmania? We're beginners with PADI OWD certificate.

Finally I will appreciate any hints and tips regarding places to visit, accomodation, food and getting around your beautiful home island.

The decision was quite spontaneous, made during our existing travel, but we both wanted to see Tasmania and be close to wombats, and we're standby travellers.

Thank you

Hello! Would love some advice/feedback on our itinerary below and anything we might be missing! We are a family of 4 (kids ages 12 and 15) and will be visiting Tasmania in July...we know it will be cold! Our kids enjoy walking so hoping to enjoy lots of the outdoors. Also if anyone has recommendations on Airbnbs or other accommodations would love to hear them! Flight there is not booked yet so I'm open to flying into Launceston if that makes sense.

Day 1 - Arrive in Hobart early morning, hire car and drive to Freycinet area
Sleep in Coles Bay area

Day 2-3 spend time in Freycinet area
Sleep in Coles Bay area

Day 4 - Maria Island
Sleep in Triabunna area

Day 5 - Tasman NP
Sleep nearby?

Day 6 - Port Arthur then drive to Hobart
sleep in Hobart

Day 7 - visit Bonorong then MONA - is this doable/recommended in one day or should we do Bonorong on our first day?

Thank you!!

Looking for a place in Tassie in early April to propose to my partner! Was thinking to do it in Freycinet but is there anywhere with a killer view we can get a great photo besides Mt Amos (not confident about the hike)? Thanks in advance!

Thought I'd give a summary of our 7 trip to Tasmania, plus some ideas to make it shorter/longer.. in case it's useful to anyone planning.

• Day 0 - Arrive in the evening, collect hire car and head to air bnb in Hobart.
• Day 1 - Bruny Island and Platypus walk. We enjoyed this as a nice way to start the holiday. We made it all the way to the lighthouse - great views. We loved the rainforest road through to adventure bay, where we spotted albino wallabies. Bread fridge was a highlight, as was cheese, beer and bread company - we wished we'd bought more of the relishes from there. Get shucked was my first time enjoying oysters! Back on the mainland we went to Platypus walk 30 mins before sunset and spotted a platypus which we followed for about 20 mins.
• Day 2 - MONA. The original plan was MONA followed by Bonorong, but we loved MONA so much we stayed there. We caught the boat and paid extra for the posh pit because why not? MONA was fabulous, the only issue we had was trying to push our return boat back, because we'd booked the posh pit there was limited availability. My advice would be to book the latest boat home and bring it earlier if you want, rather than the other way around. We ate the the Source which was amazing food. 100% recommend MONA, and I'm not usually an art/museum person!
• Day 3 - Salamanca markets and whale watching. Salamanca markets were fine - we were looking for gifts for people but if we weren't I'd have spent much less time there / missed it altogether. Our favourite food was the lobster sliders. Didn't spot the wallaby pies, but the curried scallop pies deserve an honourable mention. If you do miss this, you can get some of the same market stuff from the MONA ferry exit area. Whale watching was spectacular; I think we got lucky but I also cannot recommend Wild Ocean Tasmania enough, Dano was fantastic.
• Day 4 - Maria Island. Loved Maria Island, the wombats were special! We hired bikes and made it to the isthmus beach before making our way back up again. Loved the wildlife and the history of the island. I wish we could have stayed overnight there but we didn't have sleeping bags etc with us. Drove up to Freycinet to stay overnight there after.
• Day 5 - Freycinet, and Devils@Cradle. We did an ocean kayak tour which wasn't quite what we booked due to weather conditions, and was a little disappointing as the other people in the group were very slow. Then we legged it up to the wine glass bay lookout - very pretty! Then we drove to Cradle Mountain and did the evening devil and quoll feed tour which was super interesting - we really loved it.
• Day 6 - Summit hike Cradle Mountain. We started at Ronny's creek and went up via Marion's Lookout, then to the (almost) summit. We returned via the face trail and caught the bus back from the Dove Lake drop off. This was fantastic and highly recommend. We got lucky with the weather, but it started grim which meant we started later than planned and had written off the summit. We stopped at the false summit - there was a lot of icy looking snow in the saddle, and very windy conditions; we didn't feel prepared to go over, but even walking poles may have boosted our confidence. The views from the false summit were great though. The rest was snow free. Whole thing took us about 6.5 hours.
• Day 7 - Cradle valley hike, Trowunna wildlife sanctuary. I'd originally thought we'd do the Dove Lake circuit, but seeing as we'd seen a lot of that via the face trail, we were recommended the valley hike, which we started at Dove Lake and made our way back to the national park centre - it was a different hike to what we'd done the previous day, much easier! And differing landscapes and vegetation en-route. Then we went to Trowunna and caught one of their free tours, which included devil and quoll feeding. Loved all the animals, including some we hadn't spotted in the wild yet. Then we went to the ferry terminal for the evening boat to the mainland.

Logistics:

• We booked one way car hire from Hobart Airport to Devonport Airport, then we took a taxi to the ferry terminal.
• 4 nights in West Hobart in an air bnb, 1 night in Cole's Bay in the Big 4, 2 nights in Cradle Mountain Discovery Parks. Hobart we didn't need to be in the centre as we had a car, and the location of the Discovery Parks at Cradle Mountain almost couldn't be beaten.
• Mid October

Shorter / Longer:

• If I had to choose, I would personally choose Maria Island over Bruny, as I'm more into nature and being active etc. But if you're more of a foodie then Bruny is a good choice
• I think it would be possible to do Bonorung on the same day as MONA but I'd do Bonorung in the morning and drive from Bonorung to MONA, arriving at MONA around 11 or 11:30. Would mean you'd miss out on the boat though.
• We failed at getting Mount Wellington in - we were aiming for a sunset up there but didn't manage it
• Salamanca markets - consider skipping if shopping isn't your thing
• Maria Island - consider staying overnight if you can
• Freycinet - I think I'd have enjoyed a longer hike here; we'd made a decision around kayaking though. We possibly could have stayed longer and skipped Devils@Cradle / pushed it to another day.
• Cradle Mountain - you may be reliant on the weather so have contingency plans. The Cradle Mountain side of the park was actually smaller than I was expecting though, we seemed to cover a lot of it in our one day.
• Devils@Cradle vs Trowunna (or other nature parks). Devils@Cradle is just Devils and Quolls (and a wombat that we didn't see, and a free roaming pademelon). Trowunna was devils, quolls, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, various birds, potoroos, bettungs, echidnas... The free tour at Trowunna included devil feeding. The information at Devils@Cradle was much more in depth and just about Devils and quolls, and it was better set up for viewing the devils while they were eating. But if you've only got time for one then I'd say Trowunna offers most of what you get at Devils@Cradle and more.

My partner and I are heading down to Hobart for a week and we looking for food recommendations.

We are on a fairly tight budget but would like to splurge for one dinner at somewhere fancy and special.

Are there any restaurants in Hobart that do great seafood? Or just a good steak?

Any other cuisine recommendations welcome as well.

I'll be visiting Hobart in late January for 8 days (I'm from NSW). Please give me your best recommendations for things to do and places to visit!

And I'll definitely need a good coffee spot to try!

Thanks guys :)

Hi all, I'm visiting from California and looking forward to spending time on your island! I know 6 days is not nearly enough, but hey, I'll take it. :)

I'll be there late November to early December. Here's my current itinerary:

Wednesday

• Pick up bike in Launceston early
• Launceston -> Ben Lomond (specifically, checking out Jacob's ladder, maybe hang out a bit)
• Ben Lomond -> Freycinet
• Hang out on the beach and camp near Cole's bay

Thursday

• Cole's bay -> Port Arthur
• Port Arthur -> Hobart
• Hang out in Hobart, get a room somewhere

Friday

• Hobart -> Bruny Island
• Camp on Bruny island

Saturday

• Bruny Island -> Mole creek via A5
• Stay at Mole creek, check out the caverns

Sunday

• Mole creek -> Cradle Mountain
• Cradle Mountain -> Stanley

Monday

• Stanley -> Arthur River

• Arthur River -> Launceston

• Stay in/near Launceston for early departure tomorrow

How does this look? Am I trying to fit too much in?

Given that motorcycling is a primary motivation for this trip, I expect to spend a lot of time riding, but I also want to limit it to under ~250km a day so I can enjoy other things too. I'm pretty flexible in finding things ways to pass the time, so I first want to see if this is feasible or if I'm off. Thanks! :)

Hey! I'm visiting Tasmania next December and thinking about renting a car for the whole week!

But I'm on a budget, just thinking of renting a (relatively) very cheap one.

Do you recommend any agency/website/other unconventional way?

Thank you so much!

So much to do, so little time!!

How does this look for a Tassie itinerary?

• day 0 - arrive 7pm, stay in Hobart
• day 1 - Hobart, mt wellington, Bonorong
• day 2 - Bruny Island
• day 3 - whale watching, eagle hawk neck
• day 4 - Maria Island
• day 5 - wine glass bay and surrounding
• day 6 - bay of fires, travel to Launceston to stay overnight
• day 7 - flight out of Launceston in the morning

We love outdoors, wildlife, cheese.. would love to do cradle mountain but I think we've decided we'd be packing too much in. We'd need to do some rejigging of the earlier days to get MONA or Salamanca market in - would there be space for either of those on day 3? (Bearing in mind whale watching is 2-3 hours and would finish at 1 or 2pm I think). Or day 1 would need to be moved to day 3 to get the Salamanca market there (Salamanca market being a Saturday only?)

Is there anything we're missing or you'd recommend we do instead?

Day 0 is tomorrow so departure imminent 😂

Edit: possible tweaks to include cradle mountain:

• skip Maria island
• combine whale watching with Bruny or is there another day it could be combined with?
• skip bay of fires altogether?

(Dec 14) Day 1: Fly into Hobart in AM, check out Salamanca market and MONA. Dinner at Sonny

Day 2: Farm gate market, day trip to Bruney Island (check out Mt Wellington if time permits)

Day 3: Drive to Freycinet National Park. Stay in Coles Bay. Check out Wineglass bay. Visit a winery

Day 4: Cape Tourville lighthouse in AM. Drive to Bicheno and check out the area. Blowhole, Douglas Aspley NP. Visit a whisky distillery (Waubs Harbour) time permitting

Day 5: Drive to St Helens and Bay of Fires. Stay in St Helens

Day 6: Leave early and drive to Little Blue Lake and on to Floating Sauna. Then drive to Bridestowe Lavender and on to Launceston. Stay in Launceston

Day 7: Explore Tamar Valley wineries. See penguins at sunset

Day 8: Go to airport, return car. Fly home

Any thoughts/input would be appreciated!

Hello!

I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations for camper van companies for a 4 night rental in mid-December. I'm also wondering if any companies provide bedding for rent or if they are included in the rentals, the companies I've looked at so far don't mention bedding and I don't want to bring sheets for such a short part of a 3.5 week trip.

Thanks!

Hi all,

I am getting married to the love of my life next year and I was wondering if anyone has any experience or recommendations for things to do on a 7day trip around Tasmania (this would be during winter).

I would appreciate any advice, even breath taking places you visited in longer or shorter trips :)

Thanks everyone!

Hello Everyone!

I was hoping to get some advice on my first solo trip to Tasmania around the end of this month. I wanted to know some tips and advice to make my trip smoother and exciting for me. Is tasmania easy to drive? Like the route and everything is good for a not really confident driving person. I know how to drive but it different side on my country and Tasmania it on the other side, so it abit tricky and I’m nervous.

Should I consider booking a tour instead? Or drive around myself? If I wanted to go cradle mountain, do hiking, soghtseeing, should I travel to Launceston or Hobart? Which place is easier to get to the attractions places?

Thank heaps.

its a bit dodge but my only way to get home from launceston is to bus. ive been looking it up but i was wondering if anyone would know what busses i would need to catch to get back to hobart or glenorchy and what money theyed take? thanks

Hi! I’m travelling to Tasmania this December for ~10 days.

Interests:

• I’d like to do things on a budget.
• I’m all into nature hikes and sightseeings - I’m an “intermediate-level” hiker but unfortunately it’ll be hard to take a tent with me (so I’m thinking about renting a car and sleeping on it - btw, is this illegal / frowned upon?)
• I like to meet locals who are willing to trade life stories and give further travel advice usually inaccessible to the typical tourist

What would you recommend? Travel hacks, safety tips, social hotspots, nature must-see sites, low-budget options… I would appreciate any kind of help in this regard.

I’m taking care of vaccines, health insurance and travel visa. Anything else I should prepare before hand (such as car rental)?

Thank you so much!