Northern Tasmania

With just two or three days and within a relatively compact area you can easily experience some of the most diverse and spectacular scenery in Australia.

Forested mountains, including one of Tasmania’s highest Ben Lomond, 100-metre high white swamp gums.

Impenetrable wilderness gazes down across swathes of the world’s most fertile land.

For wildlife enthusiasts, the north is the passport to some of Tasmania’s most remarkable and unforgettable encounters in the wild including wild Tasmanian devils, quolls, and platypus. 

The north is also home to unquestionably the prettiest wine region in Australia — the Tamar Valley.  With a climate similar to Bordeaux and the gentle turning seasons, dozens of wineries produce some of the finest wines in the Southern Hemisphere. The Tamar River is nothing short of majestic - a wide, glittering, slow-moving stretch of brilliant blue water that snakes its way regally through endless valleys punctuated with names from the pages of a fairy tale  – Batman Bridge, Beauty Point, Grindelwald. 

An hour south lies the remote and desolately beautiful Central Plateau Conservation Area or The Land of Three Thousand Lakes.

With its lunar landscape, it is quite unlike anywhere else on earth, filled with wildlife and birds, lakes and rivers.

Just an hour west of the airport is the Great Western Tiers, where all households live off sustainable energy. This is arguably the best walking region in the island yet one of the least visited in Tasmania unlike Cradle Mountain, which at only two hours drive from Launceston, and with its iconic World Heritage status, is a magnet to tourists.

In the far north-west of Tasmania is the pretty coastal village of Stanley, where the true spirit of the early settlers becomes especially evident.

The CSIRO clean air testing station, which registers the cleanest air in the inhabited world, is close by.

From here it is possible to explore The Tarkine Rainforest, which covers 7% of Tasmania and is one of the world’s last major tracts of temperate rainforest.

Head east of Launceston through empty but beautiful green landscapes and come to the wild pure white sand beaches of the Bay of Fires, framed by massive orange granite rocks washed clean by crystal clear turquoise waters.

To the north the Bass Strait the sublimely beautiful and untouched Furneaux group of islands, 52 in total, the largest of which, Flinders Island, is nothing short of spiritual, another wildlife haven, and easily included on an itinerary to or from Melbourne.

Hop on a small plane from Launceston and you will find yourself on Flinders Island, another paradise — but that’s another story.


Photo Credits: Luke Tscharke