teatravel

The trip to my niece’s wedding will be in November. I will be taking the 2.5 hours Tamar River cruise with the wedding party. There are 3 cruises in my “to do” list, but I need to cut 2 out due to timing. I know they are all different and worth visiting. Please tell me which 2 below should I cut out from my itinerary:

Freycinet Pen. Cruise
Isle of the Death Cruise
Gordon River Cruise

My itinerary looks like this:

Leaving Launceston on Sunday afternoon, stop along the way and arrive Bicheno in the evening. I have 5 full days, Mon-Fri to cover:

Wineglass Bay
Freycinet Nat’l Park/Cruise
Ross
MONA
Eaglehawk Neck
Port Arthur
Hobart
Isle of the Dead Cruise
Russell Falls
Lake St. Clair
Queenstown
Strahan
Gordon River Cruise
Cradle Mtn

Back to Launceston either Friday night or drive straight from wherever we will be to Launceston Sat. morning to catch the 7:00am flight for Melbourne.

I haven’t made any hotel reservation for any of the locations because I don’t know exactly where I should spend the night and for how long.

Please do not tell me I should stay longer. When I booked the plane tickets, I didn’t think through until I started to put the itinerary together then I realize I do not have enough time to see what I really wanted to see.

Any suggestions and advice are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Susan7

Teatravel, I'm trying to think of how you could fit some of this into 5 days. Just mapping it out, it would be incredibly rushed. I'd think about dropping out a couple of things. Here's my mapping of what your itinerary would look like.

Day 1 travel Launceston to Wineglass Bay (stop-over in Ross on the way. Overnight Swansea or Bicheno

Day 2 Wineglass Bay at Freycinet, then travel to Port Arthur (Eaglehawk Neck) on way to Hobart (overnight Hobart)

Day 3 MONA (overnight Hobart)

Day 4 Hobart to Strahan (stop at Lake St Clair and Queenstown on way) overnight Strahn

Day 5 cruise at Strahan, drive to Launceston stopping at Cradle Mountain on the way)

teatravel

Hello Susan: Thank you very much for your input. I just need to prioritize what to eliminate and what to see. Your itinerary sounds great. I am sure I will ask more questions for my Melbourne, Cairns and Sydney trips after I start to put it together from my reading all those great trip reports from the nice Fodorites.

Thanks again.

Susan7

Does the five days include the wedding, i.e. will you have already explored Launceston and environs? If not this is what I would suggest for 5 days, it's still pretty fast paced, but if you don't mind that it takes in what I think are some of the most beautiful parts of Tassie:

Day 1: Launceston: Cataract Gorge, Tamar Bird Sanctuary and drive to Narawntapu National Park (great place to see wombats). (overnight Launceston)

Day 2 drive to Cradle Mountain (overnight at Cradle Mountain)

Day 3 drive to Strahan, afternoon river cruise (overnight Strahan)

Day 4 drive to Lake St Clair, Queenstown on way (overnight Lake St Clair)

Day 5 Lake St Clair (return drive to Launceston)

teatravel

Hello Susan7:

Thank you for your itinerary. I am able to add an extra day in Tasmania. I’ll leave on Sunday at 10am instead of Sat. at 7am. This allows me to do the loop withou being too rush.

Here is my tentative itinerary:

We will arrive in Launceston on Thursday afternoon. Walk off the jet lag. Take the Tiger Bus around town.

Fri. Tamar River cruise with some out of town friends. Visit the Cataract Gorge, walk the suspension bridge and may ride the chair lift.

Sat. am. Visit harvest market, City park to see the Macaque monkeys and Victoria museum if time allows. Wedding is in late afternoon.

Sun. am Brunch with family members. Pick up a rental car in town. We plan to leave Launceston around 14:00pm, stop by the Swiss village if time allows. Drive through Weldborough Pass onto St. Helens to stretch our legs. Arrive Bicheno around 18:00 pm. Spend the night at Bicheno.

Mon.: Visit Wineglass Bay & Freycinet Nat'l Park. Walk the park or if possible will take a tour with the ranger to Cape Tourville Lookout. We will skip the Freycinet cruise. After lunch, we will visit MONA. Spend the night in Hobart.

Tues.: Visit Eaglehawk Neck and Port Arthur. Back to Hobart and visit the Capital of Tasmania. Spend the night in Hobart.

Wed.: Hobart to Strahan, a very long 4-5 hour drive today We will stop at Russell Falls for a short break then onto Lake St Clair and Queenstown. Overnight at Strahan.

Thurs.: Take the 4-hour Gordon River cruise to relax. Overnight at Strhan

Fri.: Do the West Coast wilderness Railway Train or just do nothing! Drive to Cradle Mountain late afternoon and spend the night.

Sat.: To Waldheim and Dove Lake to visit Cradle Mountain.

Sun.: Get up real early and drive from Cradle Mountain straight to the LST airport. Drop off the car at the airport and catch the 10am flight to Melbourne.

I really appreciate for taking time to give me some great ideas. We just have to skip the Narawntapu Park.