Help with Tasmania Itinerary
 

We will be going to Tasmania in January and have 6 or 7 nights. I want to fit in 2 or 3 nights each at Cradle Mountain and Freycinet, with 1 or 2 nights in Stanley (to visit a friend). We will fly in and out of Launceston. Does anyone have a suggestion on where we should head first and where we should finish up? Should we sandwich Stanley in between the other two destinations? Any input would be appreciated, thank you.

Any chance you can arrive in Launceston and depart from Hobart or vice versa instead?

If not, how about something like this -

Arrive Launceston, drive to Cradle Mountain

Cradle Mountain to Stanley

Stanley to Freycinet

Freycinet to Launceston

I'm unsure of how long it takes to drive from Stanley to Freycinet though - I suspect it's a long drive. Maybe Lizzy can help. she lives in TAS.

The following time and distance calculator might help you with your plans:
http://www.rentforless.com.au/distances.htm

Thanks for the reply Melnq8. We spent 5 days in Hobart last January, so thought we'd concentrate on the northern part of Tassie this time. Also, our last night probably should be the shortest distance to drive back to Launceston. Hopefully Lizzy can help with this. Thanks again.

For your last night I would stay at the Country Club which is on the southern side of Launceston near the airport and which is very comfortable.
When driving to Freycinet make sure you take the top road from Launceston via Scottsdale as the midland roads are about as boring as you can get BUT why are you going to Freycinet - yes its nice and yes it has nice beaches but as you are really going to be on the western side of Tasmania perhaps you can compromise by going and seeing some of the sights that are just as nice in their own way and therefore you won't have to go from one side of the island to the other and back to the middle again.
Sisters Beach is lovely and Table Cape near Wynyard is lovely. Spend time in that area and have time to go to the Cheese factory, the raspberry Farm and the Chocolate factory. Perhaps a trip to Mole Creek to have a look at the caves - there are places around Stanley which I am sure you friend will suggest as well and if you have more time then a quick run down to Strachan would be fantastic. You might like to talk to your friend about Dismal Swamp too ( I have not been there and cannot comment on it but I am sure your friend will know about it. There is so much to see and so many places to go on the Western side that you will be able to make up for not going to Freycinet.

PS pardon the spelling mistakes above - just woke up from my Nanny nap and brain is not working yet.

Thanks Lizzy - it is interesting to hear your views, because it is only recently I thought of adding Freycinet to our trip. Before that I was thinking of perhaps doing a Gordon River trip from Strahan after or before Stanley,or spending more time in the Stanley area. That might suit us better and we can always go to Freycinet another time, as we live in Melbourne.