Itinerary
Tasmania in Ten Days: Above is a map of our rough itinerary showing the locations where we stayed as we drove around the island. Some locations we stayed more than one night (hence the total of 10 nights but only 8 locations) and we did a few detours in between. But generally, that's the route. Below is a more detailed description of what we did on each of the days.
Arrive in LauncestonThurs 25 Dec: Fly Jet Star Airlines and arrive in Launceston (pronounced Lon-sess-ton) at 5:30pm on Christmas Day. Explore Cataract Gorge and have an Indian food Xmas dinner. No rest for the weary; we're off the next day! Launceston to Freycinet
Fri 26 Dec: Drive to Freycinet National Park on the east coast of Tassie. Hike a bit in the park and then off to Swansea for the night. |
Swansea to Hobart to Port Arthur
Sat 27 Dec: Off to Hobart for the famed Salamanca Market. Finish off the day with a further drive east of Hobart to the tiny town of Port Arthur, whose claim to fame is the 170 year old penal colony that still partially stands and is now a tourist site.
Port Arthur
Sat 27 Dec to Mon 29 Dec: Arrive in Port Arthur late Saturday night and take an after dark Ghost Tour of the Port Arthur Historic Site. Sunday, explore the Historic Site in the daylight and meet our first furry friends at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park in Taranna, only about 20km away. Monday, it's off to the south-east coast for some patented tourist attractions. |
South-East Coast
Mon 29 Dec and Tues 30 Dec: Drive back through Hobart and down the south-east coast for a night in the tiny town of Dover and visit a couple tourist attractions in the area: Hastings Caves and Tahune Air Walk (see Sights tab for more information).
HobartTues 30 Dec and Wed 31 Dec: Head back to Hobart to actually spend some quality time here and to enjoy the Taste Festival and New Year's Eve on the harbor. |
StrahanThurs 1 Jan: Begin the new year with a drive across the island over to Strahan, stopping at lots of places along the way and arriving rather late in the evening. The next morning head off to Cradle Mountain. |
Cradle Mtn/Sheffield
Fri 2 Jan: Drive to Cradle Mountain in the morning and then decide against an intended hike around Dove Lake due to insistently inclement weather. Continue on, instead, to Sheffield for the night. Around Sheffield
Sat 3 Jan: Spend the last full day exploring around the area between Cradle Mountain and Launceston. Enjoy Trowunna Wildlife Park in Mole Creek, which was a highlight of the trip, shoot up to Devonport for a few pictures, then back to Sheffield for dinner and our final night in Tassie. |
Launceston back to Melbourne
Sun 4 Jan: Make our way back to Launceston from Sheffield and drive around a bit before heading over to the tiny airport to catch our flight back to Melbourne. And that's the trip!