tripplanner001

Thank you so much for the wealth of information you've already provided to help us plan the Tasmania portion of our trip in my previous thread: http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...ack-please.cfm And special thanks to FromDC for her wonderful recent trip report that included the island.

With only 10 nights, we understand and appreciate that we will only be able to experience a small slice of the state and are content with it. We could easily spend our entire 3+ week trip to Australia on Tasmania, but there are other experiences we want to live and relive. We know we will be back to Tasmania, as we have returned to Australia.

For this first trip to Tasmania, we want to focus on history, hiking, wildlife, and good food. And we prefer not to always move around.

Please help us finalize our itinerary, which currently is as follows:

Hobart (4 nights) - 1.5 days to visit Hobart and 2 day trips, one to Port Arthur and the other to Bruny Island
Enroute from Hobart to Strahan, a stop over at Mt. Field National Park or Lake St. Claire
Strahan (1 to 2 nights) - Gordon River Cruise, Bonnet Island
Cradle Mountain (3 nights) - day hikes including the summiting of the Cradle itself plus visits with wildlife
Stanley (1 to 2 nights)

Between Strahan and Stanley, which of these two would you choose for a second night? Which town offers more?

I am posting our question on more than one forum (outside of Fodor's) so please excuse the multiple posts if you happen to come across it.

Thank you.

tripplanner001

Also want to add: What do you think of the itinerary overall? Other recommendations? (Freycinet and King Island both piqued our interest, but we are saving it for another trip.)

Melnq8

I think it's a good itinerary.

I preferred Stanley over Strahan. I'm not sure why exactly, but neither my spouse or myself cared for Strahan.

In Stanley we walked to the top of the Nut, took an evening penguin tour and basically explored the vicinity. I can't say it has more on offer than Strahan, we just happened to like it more for whatever reason.

We didn't do the river cruise in Strahan due to bad weather, but we did take a mine tour in nearby Queenstown, which was interesting and disturbing. What they've done to the landscape is depressing as hell.

marg

En route Hobart to Strahan, make sure you stop to look at the Wall in the Wilderness - it's on the highway near Derwent Bridge. The "wall" is a collection of fantastic wood carvings and seeing it was a highlight of our recent Tasmanian holiday. Well worth the time and the small entrance fee.

Mel - it's strange how different places affect different people. We really enjoyed wandering around Strahan but didn't like Stanley and drove onto another town for the night. As you say, you can't put a finger on why you like or don't like a place.

tripplanner001

Thanks Mel and Marg. We intend to visit both, but I understand how your opinions on the two places differ. It's part of the beauty of travel.

sartoric

Sorry I can't really help TP. As an Australian I'm embarrassed to say I've never been to Tassie. However, that will soon change. A good friend has just relocated to Hobart for her dream job. I'm planning to go in November 2016.

Don't miss MONA, and they apparently sponsor a lot of festivals and events throughout the year, check their website - www.mona.net.au
Salamanca markets will be another must do for me, as will Bruny Island where the seafood should be superb.

I hope you have pleasant weather, in January it could be 40 C, or it could be 15C.

aprillilacs

We didn't go to either Stanley or Strahan (spent 3 nights at Freycinet peninsula instead), but I do second Marg's recommendation of the Wall in the Wilderness--what a fascinating stop along the way to Cradle Mtn from Hobart. Entrance fee was $20 Australian but definitely worthwhile.

tripplanner001

Better late than never, Sartoric. There's plenty of places in my backyard here in the greater Washington, DC, that I haven't visited yet. Would love to hear about your impressions of Tassie as you will precede me by a couple of months.

Thanks Aprillilacs. Have the Wall on my list. We debated including Freycinet, especially after FromDC's report, but decided to save it for a future trip as we're more into mountains than beaches. Cannot do everything if I allocated all 22 nights of my trip to Tasmania, let alone 10.

FromDC

Have a fabulous time, maybe we can have a coffee and photo session when you return. My only 2 cents would be to go to Bruny Island on a weekday -- we had a long wait for the return ferry on a Sunday, but we had a car - - so maybe it's not even worth 2 cents!

tripplanner001

Thank you, FromDC. Our trip back to Australia is just under a year away. Would love to get together with you sometime.

FromDC

Wish Fodors would allow private messaging, I know it's been requested many times. I don't think any of us wants to post our email address here. But if you go on TA, I have a slightly different screen name: AmFromDC and you can send me a PM.

tripplanner001

Will do, FromDC.