phishears

My wife and I are going to be in Tasmania for 5 nights in February 2006. We're mid 40's and fairly active.

I'm looking at the "Great Itineraries" for 5 days that is suggested in the Fodor's Austailia Book.

They suggest 2 nights in Hobart, taking day trips to Cadbury Chocalate Factory, seeing Richmond, driving the Huon Valley.

3rd night in Port Arthur
4th night iin Freycinet
Make our way back to Hobart.

Do you all think this is a good plan, or is there someting we're not including that we should.

We will need to get back to Hobart on night 5 as we have an early flight out the next day.

So far we're spending our 1st 2 nights in Hobart at Corindas Cottages. Other accomodation recommendations would be great.

Thanks for your help.

Tassietwister

I have been twice this year, as you can tell from my name .

Once was for ten days, a loop around the island ..Hobart to Hobart.

Our second trip was for five nights and we opted for Hobart arrival and Launceston Departure.

Do you need to arrive and leave from Hobart?

Also what is your main interest...history, nature or agriculture....ie cheese, wine, strawberries etc? Or beer lol, we enjoyed The Cascade Brewery.

If you can arrive one port and leave the other you have a choice of going east or west or right up the middle.

The west is wilderness with a cruise on the Gordon River a great experience.

The East is drop dead gorgeous coastline.

The middle is steeped in history.

Depends if you can arrange your flights that way.

The Huon Valley for me was nothing special after summer but after winter it was so much greener and it showed it's true beauty. You are arriving summer so maybe dry.

Freycinet to me is one of the greatest places on earth but this is only my opinion. We took a visitor this last time who did not share my passion for this place so depends on what floats your boat.

I think Mt Field National Park is worth a visit as it is on the egde of the wilderness and shows the enormous beauty of the forests so many activists have tried so hard to save. It makes you almost want to become a greeny lol.

We went a bit further to the Styx valley where the tallest trees in Australia now exist (the originals were logged). You drive down an unsealed road and see the destruction of the forests then come across an area preserved so you can see what it was all like before they logged it for woodchips. It does make you think. I am fairly middle ground on this issue but loving the wilderness makes it hard for me to balanced sometimes but I try!

You need to scratch the surface imho in Tasmania, it does hide some of it's treasure.

phishears

Thanks for the quick reply. Right now I have arranged Air in and out of Hobart, was thinking about Launceston departure.

We're into Nature, Wine, history being last on the list.

Where did you stay in Freycinet? The are looks wonderful, maybe we should give it 2 nights.

Looks like if and when we go to OZ again we'll devote more time to Tasmania.

Mark

Tassietwister

Maybe stay one night at Freycinet, we stayed at Iluka Holiday Village in a 2 bedroom self catering cabin, more upmarket accommodation available though in the Coles Bay area. Then perhaps spend a night at Bicheno to take the evening fairy penguin tour. This is the same area so not a lot of driving gives plenty of time to do some nature stuff. I loved the Friendly Beaches, very deserted beautiful beach off the road into Freycinet. Legend has it two aboriginal tribes agreed to share this beach where there was a "no fighting policy" hence it's name. Apparently away from this beach they were at each others throats lol.

If you drive down past the visitors centre there is an awesome lookout and of course various hikes. Keep an eye out for wallabies and kangaroos. There is quite a number!

On your way to Freycinet you can stop at Richmond. They have an old convict jail and a very English setting with old bridge and ducks. So you can get a dose of history in a very quaint town.

If you are headed back to Hobart there is another road that is unsealed that follows closer to the coast down to Tasman peninsular. Fine with 2 wheel drive just don't expect to be travelling fast. You can see a bit without going all the way to Port Arthur which demands a lot of time and is purely history and may not be the best way to spend your time if history is not your main criteria. They have some walks in this area, Waterfall Bay? some requisite lookouts at Devils Kitchen, Tasman Arch etc. Look out for an old holiday home town called Doo Town on the way to Devils Kitchen. All the houses have names including doo or do lol. One funny one was on a house falling down, it was named doomeup.now.ok

Also recommend lunch at the Lufra Hotel in this area and also watch out for a general store that sells oysters for $7 a dozen. They are the best. If you like oysters of course! Just can't quite remember the name of the town except it is on the right headed south!

This still leaves plenty of time in Hobart to choose between Huon Valley, Mt Field, Mt Wellington or whatever appeals.

You will enjoy!

fuzzylogic

Another vote for Mt Field Nat Park - after Freycinet and Stanley it was my favourite place in Tassie - with the proviso that I didn't go deep into the wilderness - not having the time or the stamina!

But then you won't have the time either.
If you have a car, then Bruny Island is also gorgeous.