jad n rich

Given the extremely cheap airfares from melb to tasmania, ( under 100 return ! )

Any amazing places, secret eats, special drives, to do see.

Cool places to stay without spending a fortune. ( last trip to NZ we stayed in jail, cheap, clean, interesting, that sort of thing. )

We have driven round tassie twice in a campervan but weekends over there will focus more on one place. Either Hobart or Launceston.

Pollyana

I'm a southerner, definitely Hobart (there's a real north/south split over there!)

Plenty of pubs offer accommodation, also lots of backpackers hostels.

Its so small that you can base yourself in Hobart and drive to most places. Port Arthur is a favourite of mine, with a stop off on the way for the Tessallated Pavement, Blowhole, etc at Eaglehawk Neck. Also drive up the Derwent Valley, and up to Mt Field National Park and Russell Falls. Bruny Island - go over on the ferry from Kettering and stay overnight to see the penguins.
Bit further out - drive up to Strahan and Queenstown, west coast - rugged, wild and beautiful.

Hobart is full of fab pubs - Hope and Anchor near the Waterfront- one of Australia's oldest - ask to see the museum upstairs. Knopwoods in Salamanca is a fave of mine too, sit there on a Saturday and have a beer in between wandering round the market stalls. And the Lark Distillery has some superb whiskeys and other spirits and is a lovely place to watch the world go by.

jad n rich

Thanks, great info

I want to see the penguins, we saw the ones south of melbourne when the kids were little and it was amazing.

Rugged wild, makes my heart melt, that's my sort of country.

Hope and Anchor just the name has you sitting there in winter.

Cant wait

Pollyana

Bruny is absolutely the best place for penguins in the wild. The Neck - the strip of land between north and south Bruny - is where they come out of the sea and wander across the beach to their burrows. Great place to sit and watch them.
There are loads of other places to see them, several on the north coast, and there are a lot around Bicheno on the east coast, but the Bruny ones are the wildest, and you don't need to be on a tour to see them.

If you drive out to the west coast, you go through Queenstown, which is a rugged mining town, the landscape s like the surface of the moon as all the soil has been washed away and the nutrients leached out by mining. The vegetation is slowly growing back but its still a weird sight. Then you drive on to Strahan on the coast, absolutely beautiful, stunning scenery along the beaches and rocky outcrops,and then you can get a boat or a plane into the wilderness - unspoilt forests and rivers. nowhere else quite like it Staying in Strahan can be more expensive as the boat trips are very popular but there are some little places around - book in advance for the trips and the accommodation. Regatta Point Tavern is a good bet

Lots of good places to eat in Hobart too - established restaurants like the Drunken Admiral, Ball and Chain (steakhouse) and Mures Upper Deck (fish) but there's also loads of little places - just wander up the lanes and around Salamanca Square and you'll find loads of treasures. You just have to do a Saturday in Hobart to do Salamanca Market too

Kim67

If you head to Launceston, The Penny Royal is a great place to stay. Old English style place, dirt cheap and built into the bottom of the gorge.