Tasmania
An island at the end of the world where half the land is wilderness, wombats graze beside the trails and deserted beaches rival the Seychelles — cooler and emptier.
Suggested stay — 7 to 10 nights
Tasmania is Australia condensed and softened: in ten days by van you go from the pinnacles of Cradle Mountain — grazing wombats guaranteed around Ronny Creek at dusk — to the perfect curve of Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park, then the orange lichen-covered boulders of the Bay of Fires, before diving into history at Port Arthur and into the food scene in Hobart, whose Salamanca Market (Saturdays) and MONA museum justify the trip on their own.
You arrive by air into Hobart or Launceston, or by the Spirit of Tasmania ferry from Geelong (9-11 hours at sea, van on board — book months ahead for summer). Distances become human again, but the winding roads keep averages low and the wildlife is denser than anywhere else: at dusk, wallabies, wombats and Tasmanian devils turn every kilometre into a slalom — the "no driving after dark" rule is absolute here.
Don't miss
- Cradle Mountain: the Dove Lake circuit and the Ronny Creek wombats late in the day
- The Wineglass Bay lookout then the descent to the beach, in Freycinet
- The Bay of Fires and its orange boulders between Binalong Bay and The Gardens
- Hobart: Salamanca Market on Saturday, MONA, and Mount Wellington above it all
Our tips on the ground
- Book the Spirit of Tasmania ferry and the Cradle Mountain campsite several months ahead for December-February: the island is small and the austral summer is popular.
- Pack genuinely warm layers even in January: at Cradle Mountain it can be 5 °C and snowing in midsummer — four seasons in one day is the local speciality.
- For wombats, park at Ronny Creek an hour before sunset: they come out to graze along the boardwalks, unbothered, at lens height.
Our flagship guide — €29
Guide available“Australia on Your Own”, the complete edition, is out
10 chapters: day-by-day itineraries, driving and transport, a costed budget and checklists — the same method as our Namibia guide.
The guide is currently written in French — an English edition is in the works.
Before you go
Readers' questions about Tasmania
Ferry or plane to come with a van?
If you rent the van on the mainland, the ferry from Geelong takes the vehicle (allow AUD 400-600 each way depending on season and cabin); but most travellers fly into Hobart or Launceston and rent locally — Tasmanian rental firms are plentiful and it saves two crossings. The ferry keeps one advantage: arriving in Devonport at daybreak, with Cradle Mountain two hours away.
Will we see Tasmanian devils in the wild?
It has become rare: nocturnal, secretive and decimated by facial tumour disease, they seldom show themselves. Sanctuaries such as Devils @ Cradle or Bonorong (which treats and releases) let you see them up close while funding conservation programmes — the evening feeding at Cradle Mountain, to the raucous screams that earned them their name, is a highlight.