dkw

Hi Everyone,

DH and I are heading to Tassie for 8-9 days over the Christmas Holiday and would love some input from you lovely folks. We love ourdoorsy types of things and DH is an avid photographer. We're planning on a good bit of hiking and are hoping to see some fantastic wildlife!

We have a partial itinerary based around a 4 night booking at Cradle Mountain Lodge that I made about 9 months ago. We are thinking of arriving (from Sydney) in Launceston, spening a couple of nights there, moving on to Cradle Mountain for either 3 or 4 nights (is 4 nights too many?) and then moving on to the North West for 2-3 nights before returning to Launceston for our return flight to Sydney.


Any suggestions for particular day hikes in the Cradle Mountain area?. It seems there are sooo many options to choose from. We also enjoy mountain biking and see that you can rent mountain bikes from Cradle Mountain Lodge. I'm just wondering if anyone has done this and what the trails are like. We would not be interested in technical /single track riding, but something a bit more tame. Don't want to break my neck at the beginning of our holiday

The North West is where I'm having some trouble making decisions. Are there any hidden gems up that way? We were thinking Stanley might be a good locale for a 2 night stay...any other suggestions? Any activities/sights in the Northwest that we shouldn't miss?

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!

ivenotbeeneverywhere

I would be looking into some of the walks in the Tarkine area which is absolutely lovely.
I am not a particular fan of Stanley but o/p find it lovely. However I do think that the area around 2 Sisters Beach is great and so is the Port Sorel and surrounding areas nice to visit.

Melnq8

We really enjoyed Stanley and Binalong Bay/Bay of Fires - there a nice walk to Dora Point from Binalong Bay.

I have two trip reports from TAS posted here on Fodor's. We're avid walkers, and they outline in detail the walks we took. If interested, just click on my screen name and scroll down through my trip reports.

peterSale

The Arthur River Cruise on the MV Robinson is well worth doing. The guide is incredibly knowledgable on a whole range of topics.

Anywhere in Tasmania is wonderful. The Alum cliffs near Chudleigh are worth a look but only a short walk. Chudley has over 50 types of honey as well as ice cream and nougat.

I loved walking around on the rocks at the base of The Nut at Stanley. Dip falls and surrounds are lovely.

Hellyer gorge and Leven Canyon are great. The Mole Creek cave are fascinating.

Hellyers road distillery near Burnie has yummy whiskey and a local version of Baileys.

The north west coast has a great geologic trail called Created from Chaos. There is also a book of the same name by Peter Mancester. Do a search for him. He sells the books personally or can can get a bookshop to order on in for you.

You could go south in stead and visit Mt Field National park and Hartz Mountain NP these are every bit as good (I think better) than Cradle and without the crowds.

From Launceston to a day trip to finish at low head at dusk. The penguin touris excellent and cheap. You will get within a metre or so of penguins. Go via the waterfalls near Scottsdale and the national parks.

I too, have a trip report.

Susan7

I think probably 3 nights might be enough in Cradle Mountain, I'd add an overnight in Strahan (south of Cradle Mountain) to go on the river cruise--totally sublime.

In terms of bushwalks at Cradle Moutain, we did the day walk to the top of Cradle Mountain. That is a stunning walk, but a bit of a scramble for the last hour going up over rocks. There's a very good guidebook for the bushwalks that you can get in the National Park Centre just inside the park.

dkw

Thanks everyone all for the great suggestions. I'm crazily googling everything and consulting my maps!! I should have things sorted and booked very soon.

JennaT

Hi dkw,

Just to confuse you even more I've got another suggestion for you! You should visit Beauty Point; its in the North-East of Tassie, by the Tamar River. It's got a lot going for it, like vineyards, farms and zoos, and the Narawntapu National Park, which is beautiful. It is also the home to the Australian Maritime College, if you're interested in that kinda thing! There is a fantastic article posted here - http://www.discovertasmania.com/laun...s/beauty_point, if you do wanna check it out

surprisealot

dkw,

planning a Tassie trip?, extremely envious! we love Tassie and have stayed at Cradle for three nights - could have easily taken in a fourth night. We completed walks and dined and rested whilst taking in the florna and forna of the park.

Depending on your interests (other than mountain bikes) there are horse rides and quad bikes etc within reach of the park. We took in the Tassie Devil sanctuary there also, patting a Devil.


We started our trip flying into Launceston (don't worry wont do a trip report here) staying at greens beach for three nights(north of Launceston on the beach) then stanley, etc etc.
Stanley has character - as most of Tassie does. we walked the nut, the nut is the attraction here, so really depends on individual tastes (and we dined on great food).

didn't venture to the tarkine (unfortunately) so can not comment. Although heard great comments from travellers.

Mole creek caves are unique and worth a visit! so 2nd that suggestion. as with mole creek and the Tassie Tiger shop.

I could go on, but that is the beauty of Tassie there are many facets to explore - great for the nature enthusiast.

oh and I hear the escorted walls of jerusalem walks are great as well.

happy planning!!

Susan7

Guys, this post is from last year, dkw went to Tasmania last Xmas.

samcat

I'll refer back to this later.