haggis supper

Mrs Haggis and I are considering heading over to Tasmania with the kids (4 and 6 years old) in late January for 10 days or so - probably taking the ferry from Melbourne, and taking our car.

We would greatly appreciate any suggestions, advice, tips etc on places to stay, things to do and see etc.

Many thanks.

Lord Pom Percy

Best part of OZ for scenery in my opinion, small state so great for driving around and can see most in 10 days, spectacular coastline, mountains rivers etc, don't miss wineglass bay on Freycinet peninsular, voted in top 10 most secenic places in world, l also liked Richmond and Launceston, January great time of year because its cold in winter and does'nt get too hot in summer.

Pollyana

Fantastic island with amazing scenery.
A good site to browse is http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/home/index.cfm

Has lots of links to places to stay as well as stuff to see. Port Arthur would be good - fascinating for the adults, and lots of space for the kids. Theres a Tassie Devil Park nearby which the kids would love too.
Good wildlife park too at Boonorong, near Brighton - just outside Hobart - they have bags of food so the kids can feed the wallabies.
Beaches on the east coast are childfriendly - Bicheno is a very popular one.
Good trips on the river from Strahan on the West Coast, and the scenery os mpre spectacular on the west side. A lot would depend how good your kids are at car travel, and whether they are the sort of children that can do views as well as beaches!

MrsDagboy

Don't agree with that, we've been there twice in the last couple of years for 8 days & then 10 days & havent been anywhere down the west coast or south of Hobart yet - those will have to be on the next trip .

Others may have mentioned them, but my suggestions are

Trip up the river at Launceston
The gorge at Launceston
Female Factory at Launceston
Cascade Brewery (there is another brewery (Boags?), but it doesnt allow children)
Cadbury Factory
Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm + plenty of other cheese & wineries around there, you can spend a whole day driving around the Tamar Valley & surrounds visiting wineries & farms that make their own produce
Ghost tour - we did one in Launceston but there are others around as well, not actually scary, our boys (8) enjoyed it.
Penguins at Bicheno (this is NOTHING like the penguin tours near Melb, sooooo much better!)
Richmond
Ross
Port Arthur
Tassie Devil Park at Tarrana

Plenty more if my brain would remember them!

Enjoy yourself, you'll have a ball, Im jealous .

Pollyana

Brilliant list the penguins are truly wonderful, Bruny Island Neck is another good place to see them Cadbury's is heaven with kids I should think
And the Raspberry Farm - god that place was heaven, I remember having a very gorgeous raspberry-based lunch there and then spending too much money on produce - must go back there. Cascade breweery is another good tour - lots of steps though, wonder if it might be too much for the kids, but theres a good park nearby so maybe you could work that in too!
There was a wonderful mini-Tasmania village at Richmond, the kids would love THIS

Like Mrs D, I'm deeply jealous

gedge

a must see place for me is Cradle Mountain
if you can stay there overnight and get down to the lake just after sunrise it's magical

Pollyana

The whole Lake St Clair, Cradle Mountain area is just enchanting -not sure how the kids would go though, depends if they like scenery, otherwsie they might be a bit young.

MrsDagboy

Ohhhhhhhh I forgot

Crackpot Village (is it lower or little? ) where they have mazes that you can spend the whole afternoon in - fun for big kids as well as little kids
Caves out the same way as the Maze place - really fascinating
Salamanca Markets - Saturdays in Hobart
Mt Wellington

Polly, our boys were OK doing the Cascade tour, we did it the first time we went & they were 5 or 6 at the time, if the littlest one got tired I guess you could always carry them, bribe him/her with the softdrinks at the end .

Actually that reminds me, we were at the pub the other day with the kids & C saw some premixed drinks (vodka cruisers etc) in the fridge behind the bar & started talking loudly about when he used to drink those types of drinks & could he have one now :scared: - after a couple of minutes we worked out that he meant the Cascade soft drinks in the glass bottles when we've been down in Tassie, but Im still not sure if all the people who overheard him asking for a vodka cruiser believed us or not .

Pollyana

Love the pub story!! You can get some of the raspberry and apple Cascade ones in Coles - they are lovely, but the kids are right, same bottles as the beer!

Don't mention Salamanca Market to The Bloke - I shall have to lock him up somewhere so I can browse properly when I get down there again - I always spend a fortune walking round there

haggis supper

Many many thanks to you all for your posts, very much appreciated - sounds awesome.

Fortunately the kids are great in the car and don't mind the odd bit of scenery so Tasmania sounds ideal.

I'll let you know how we get on...

Col

Pollyana

In that case definitely head for Strahan on the West Coast, via Lake St Clair and Cradle Mountain - plenty of places to stop and picnic and stretch the legs, and the best scenery you will ever see

JoandStuV

Just to add to other entries, Lake St Clair is stunning, if you are into camping stay at the Lake St Clair Wilderness Park, very back to nature but sooooo beautiful and there are a lot of amazing walks you can do if the kids are up to it. Strahan is nice enough with a great boat trip along the river which stops at Sarah Island (former penal colony).

Hobart is also lovely (check out Salamanca in particular) and Port Arthur is also well worth a visit, we did the Ghost Tour and it was great fun (although not sure about the kids)! There is also a cave system and thermal pool around an hour from Hobart to the West, can't rememer the name but it's on all the maps, we had a great time even though it as raining!

All in all Tas is stunning, you will have a great time.

Pollyana

Could be the caves at Hastings, to the south west? Wonderful stalagtites and stalagmites. There's another cave system at Mole Creek, further to the north, on the other side of the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.

possoms

try this website too

http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/home/index.cfm

have a good trip

Buzzy--Bee

This sounds like a great place!!!

Is it a bit like Stepford? :scared:



Buzzy