• Hobart and the east
• North and central Tasmania and the Bass Strait
• West
HOBART AND THE EAST
From Lake St Clair in central Tasmania, the Derwent River flows past
Mount Field National Park , Tasmania's oldest and most popular national
park, through well-preserved New Norfolk , and towards Hobart ,
Tasmania's capital. Here, the river estuary widens to form a fine
harbour before flowing into the waters of Storm Bay and out to the
Tasman Sea. Hobart is Australia's most southerly city, battered by
winter winds roaring in from the Antarctic, while the coastline around
it is so jagged it looks as if someone has poured acid on a map of the
area. The hook-shaped South Arm , at the entrance to Storm Bay, is
echoed on a larger scale by the Tasman Peninsula , with its infamous
convict settlement at Port Arthur . To the south, the two tenuously
connected halves of Bruny Island protect the waters of the
D'Entrecasteaux Channel . On the mainland opposite Bruny Island is the
fertile and cultivated Huon Valley , but as you head further south the
coastline becomes increasingly wild: there are caves and thermal springs,
the Hartz Mountain National Park inland, and the Picton River , where
there's good rafting. The last settlement in this direction is Cockle
Creek , the starting point for the South Coast Track which takes you
towards the South West National Park, the great mass of wilderness
forming Tasmania's southwest corner.
North of Hobart, the east coast of Tasmania is the tamest and most
temperate part of the island, providing a popular cycling route past
numerous sandy and deserted beaches and some lovely national parks. The
Tasman Highway follows this coastline from Hobart to Launceston, heading
inland through the northeast at St Helens , the east coast's largest
town. The northeast corner is virtually unpopulated, and the Mount
William National Park here is a haven for the Forrester kangaroo. Inland
are some old tin-mining towns, and superb rainforest remnants and
mountain scenery at Weldborough Pass , beyond which you pass through
rich agricultural and forestry country to Launceston.
NORTH AND CENTRAL TASMANIA AND THE BASS STRAIT
The north of Tasmania is rich and settled agricultural country, and
the fertile soil of the Tamar Valley in particular made this a
prosperous area during the early colonial period. Launceston quickly
grew as a port and city, 30km inland at the confluence of the Tamar and
the North and South Esk rivers; gracious early houses and well-preserved
villages are still found around the area. Also settled early, due to its
fine and open land, was the mostly flat, gently undulating midlands area
between Launceston and Hobart; the Midland Highway more or less follows
the old coaching route between the two cities. With its stone walls,
hedgerows, haystacks and small villages and towns, this rural stretch
from the Tamar Valley to Hobart is softly appealing but not particularly
exciting. In contrast, the area around Deloraine , 45km west of
Launceston, is spectacular: the early colonial town is surrounded by
rich farmland and dramatically located in hilly country below the crest
of the Great Western Tiers - a mecca for bushwalkers. From Deloraine,
the Lake Highway heads steeply south up over the Western Tiers and on to
the Central Plateau , a sparsely populated lake-filled region dominated
by the Great Lake and its shambolic fishing shacks.
Lying off the northern coast, in Bass Strait, are two islands worth
visiting for their bushwalks and historic associations: Flinders Island
in the northeast, largest of the Furneaux Islands, and King Island to
the far northwest, part of the Hunter Island group. Both are reached by
plane only, with flights from Victoria or Tasmania.
WEST
Except for the rich beef, dairy and vegetable-growing land along the
northwest coast, the western half of Tasmania is an untamed area. The
wild west coast , densely forested and battered by the rough Southern
Ocean and the Roaring Forties, its shores strewn with huge dead trees
washed down from the southwest's many rivers, would probably still be
uninhabited if it weren't for the logging and mining industries. This
part of the island is very densely populated (by Tasmanian standards),
and the Bass Highway , which skirts the northwest coast, passes through
two unattractive industrial cities, Devonport and Burnie . Rocky Cape
National Park and the town of Stanley (originally built by the Van
Diemen's Land Company - VDL - which still owns the northwest corner of
the state) are the most interesting places for visitors.
Just south of Stanley the highway turns inland to Smithton , marking the
beginning of a thickly forested region and a logging heartland. The Bass
Highway ends at the tiny settlement of Marrawah , on the west coast
(popular with surfers), where it meets the Western Explorer road, which
runs south to sleepy Arthur River and then through the Arthur Pieman
Protected area to Corinna , where the road heads east via Savage River
and Waratah onto the A10 (Murchison Highway). Alternatively, you can
continue south wards, taking a barge across the Pieman River (daily
9am-7pm; $11 car, $5.50 bike; tel 03/6446 1170) and then heading on to
Zeehan (on the C249) and Strahan (on the B27), on the vast Macquarie
Harbour . To reach Strahan on sealed roads, you have to go back to
Marrawah and then to Somerset on the northwest coast, from where the
Murchison Highway heads south through a copper- and lead-mining
backwater. On the way you pass Queenstown , which has been subject to an
ecological disaster; its surrounding rainforest has been destroyed, and
in its place are bare and chalky hills.
Strahan sits on the edge of the southwest wilderness , an area of rugged
coastlines, wild rivers, open plains, thick rainforest and spectacular
peaks - the wettest part of Australia after the tropical lowlands of
north Queensland. It's mostly inaccessible, except to very experienced
and well-prepared bushwalkers, but cruises leave from Strahan to go up
the Gordon River , offering a glimpse of its magnificent scenery. Some
years ago, a plan to dam the Gordon River below the point where it joins
the Franklin River put Strahan at the centre of a struggle between
environmentalists and the state government. Eventually the federal
government stepped in, and, following a landmark High Court ruling in
1983, the whole of the southwest - including the South West National
Park , the Franklin Lower Gordon Wild Rivers National Park and the
adjoining heavily glaciated Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
- became a vast, protected World Heritage Area , occupying twenty
percent of the land area of the state. From Queenstown, en route east to
Hobart, the Lyell Highway provides limited access to the mainly
inaccessible Franklin Lower Gordon park, and to Lake St Clair at Derwent
Bridge .
It's worth finding a copy of the excellent and comprehensive booklet,
Tasmania's West Coast , from a tourist office before you head west.
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