My Top 20 - To Do List can't possibly be prioritized into the best thing being number 1 and so on as I am still experiencing new things to see and do, places to go and people to meet. But, what I can do is to keep a list of the most prominent things that I've done in my time here. Things that stood out as having real impact on my existence here in Tasmania, the kinds of things that make you sit and think, 'Yes, it was all worth it!'. If I could recommend a 'To Do' list to people who had a short amount of time to spend in Tasmania, this is it!
1) Cradle Mountain and The Cradle Valley Boardwalk
2) Bruny Island
3) Salamanca Market
4) Binalong Bay - Bay of Fires
5) Fern Glade Track - Mount Wellington
6) Eaglehawk Neck & Port Arthur
7) Driving the 'Scenic Route' up the East Coast to Bicheno
8) Tamar Valley Winery Tour
9) Queenstown to Strahan - Scenic Wilderness Railway
10) Fishing at Blackmans Bay
11) Do an A-Z photographic treasure hunt
12) MONA (Museum of Old and New Art)
13) Go up Mount Wellington
14) Cascade Brewery
15) See Aurora Australis
Highly recommended by others:
- See the Sydney - Hobart Yacht Race
- Tahune Air Walk
- Female Factory - Cascades, Hobart
- Richmond
- Coles Bay
- Ben Lomond
- Cateract Gorge - Launceston
- The Nut - Stanley
- Mount Field NP
- Hartz Mountain NP
- The underwater trail - Tinderbox
14) Cascade Brewery
Cascade Brewery is the oldest brewery in Australia and is sited next to the Hobart Rivulet. Check it out on the map here.
It has an iconic building that is renown around Australia and the mere shape of its 'roof line' and the windows are distinct and I can't imagine any other breweries in the world look quite like this one. Now I have to say 'roof line' as actually its a facade created when the brewery was built to give it stature. Also the windows themselves have an interesting story. This is just one of the things that you could find out about on a brewery tour. The tours cost $25/$20 (adult/student or senior) run for about an hour and a half and ends up, of course, in the bar with a handful of bottle tops that can be exchanged for beers of your choice.
There is a pretty cool looking Thylacene (Tasmanian Tiger) there but when my buddy showed his Tassie Tiger tattoo to the bar tender and got a photo with the 'real' Thylacene, he got a shock to find out that its not actually real. You aren't allowed to buy or sell extinct species. Even so, if the bartender hadn't said, we'd have all been fooled - it looks real and anyone you show a pic to would believe it too.
You can sit in comfy sofas, stand at the bar and quiz the bartender or head outside on nice days, appreciate the gardens and get food to compliment your newly found love for Cascade beer. I haven't sampled the food yet, so i cant officially comment, but I assure you it looks and smells great.
If you're not a drinker (I don't know why you'd be on the tour) you can choose the very nice Cascade soft drinks instead. They are all there on offer and definitely worth a try if you're the designated driver. Please note, there are buses that run from Hobart bus mall up to Cascades so maybe noone has to drive after all. Its also worth mentioning that there is a Female Factory attraction nearby too, so its possible to do both in a single visit.
There is a gift shop where you can buy the usual kinds of brewery mechandise but its nothing radical, just a nice momento to remind you in the morning that you went to the brewery the afternoon before.
You can make bookings for the tour online: Book Now
General information on Cascades Brewery can be found on their website.
1) Cradle Mountain and the Cradle Valley Boardwalk
While at Cradle Mountain we were staying at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, near to the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre (mentioned here) so we left the car behind and headed off on the Cradle Valley Board Walk to Dove Lake, this takes about 2:30 in total but can take a bit longer in snowy or icy weather. The walk has three sections. These are:
1) Visitor Centre to Snake Hill (55 mins)
2) Snake Hill to Ronny Creek (40 mins)
3) Ronny Creek to Dove Lake via Lake Lilla (55 mins)
This entire track is board walk except part of the track from Ronny Creek to Dove Lake, it is extremely well maintained even though it undulates, has steps and lookouts. There are even a few well-placed benches, although we sat on the boardwalk itself a couple of times on route, just to take in the scenery. We went in winter, so snow was thick and there was a good layer of ice on much of the boardwalk that was in the shade, we were fine in our walking boots but you do need to be careful. The boards themselves are covered with mesh to give a little more grip.
We had fantastic weather up there and whilst there was snow on the ground, I stripped back to just T-shirt and trousers for the majority of the walk. This said, there is very strong advice at the visitors centre to make sure that your well equipped for cold and wet weather as weather in Tasmania can change very quickly, even more so in the Cradle Mountain National Park. We met a couple on the walk who we chatted to for about 20 minutes. They commented that they come to Cradle Mountain every year and it has a different but magical atmosphere at all times of the year.
Just before Snake Hill there is a mini detour loop that takes you 5 minute return to a small babbling river which is very pleasant, a nice place for a drink and a snack.
At the section just before and just after Ronny Creek there were lots of wombats, at times many could be seen from the same spot, we have photos with 2 or more in the same picture. They were pottering around, eating greens and minding their own business. This was our first wombat-spotting experience and was incredible.
Can you spot all three in this picture?
This was taken from the boardwalk! We were careful not to interrupt his lunch!
When we arrived at Dove Lake itself, this is where the obligatory and rather famous photo of Cradle Mountain can be taken.
We were tired after trekking in the snow and decided to utilise the shuttle bus back to the visitors centre.
5) Fern Glade Track - Mount Wellington
Fern Glade Track is located on Mt Wellington, and can be taken either from a drive up to the Springs and walking down for 10-15 minutes until you see Radfords Monument and turning right onto Fern Glade Track, shown in PINK below, or start from Huon Road at the bottom, just before Fern Tree, and walk up towards the springs. There is parking in both of these spots but needless to say, if you have the ability, a quick car shuffle, would be ideal so that you can drive to the top, walk down and still have your 2nd car available at the bottom to ferry you back to the top to pick up car number 1.
Fern Glade Track is part of the larger Fern Glade Circuit and is relatively easy if you want to do a circuit, it is shown in GREEN below. This loop leaves Fern Tree on the Pipeline track (as blogged here), head up to Silver Falls then onto the Silver Falls Track, then take a right onto Fern Glade Track, this then loops back down, eventually to the Fern Glade access on Huon Road at the bottom, or a minor detour will return you to Fern Tree (GREEN LOOP).
(I take no ownership of this map, it's just really good, find all of the Mount Wellington tracks map here, this one is the 'Eastern Face Map')
Either way, main Fern Glade section is short but magical. When starting the Fern Glade section you enter a dense fern forest. It looms over the track with banked sides in many places. You are essentially walking along a rivulet and as such are close to the water for the most part. There are lots of mini bridges that cross and re-cross the river, with many places inspiring talk of faries, pixies and trolls that live under bridges. Now I have to qualify that, whilst we walked on a rainy day, when we got to this point, there were golden shafts of light beaming down through the trees, lighting up fungi and ferns, glinting off the water and showing the way down. It really was fantastic.
...
(It was so wet out that our camera gave up on us, these are all we have...until next time!)
Taking this down hill route would be an excellent idea if you have younger kids as they could easily do it, but might also enjoy the things to be seen on the walk down. The bridges and windy path are sure to inspire some adventurous stories and conversations.
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