By RODERICK EIME
Often overlooked, Tasmania distills the Aussie Experience into one easily drivable drop.
“Careful,” guide, who thinks I’m about to pluck the tiny three-inch shoot. I’m not, but her concern is justified. She gestures to the massive trunks surrounding us. “These beauties were that high when Jesus was born.” That gets my attention.
Towering above us on the banks of Tasmania’s UNESCO World Heritage-listed Gordon River are some of the oldest trees on the planet. The superb Huon pine may grow painfully slow, but its highly prized wood was a treasured resource here in the remote western wilderness, one of the world’s last expanses of temperate rain forest.
I’m lucky to see it: Twenty-five years ago, parts of the Gordon and Franklin rivers were due to be flooded as part of a government-backed hydroelectric project, thwarted at the last minute by a tide
of environmental protest.
Today I’m on a Tasmanian road trip from Launceston, in the north, to the southeastern capital city of Hobart. I’ve come to hike and recharge from the metropolitan bustle of my home in Sydney. Mainland Australians often poke fun at the island as if it were the smallest child in the family of states, but we’re intensely protective and nurturing of it as well. Tasmania is a member of that elite geographic group of the world’s most southerly inhabited lands, a club that includes New Zealand’s South Island and Patagonia, and when it comes to solitude and majestic scenery, this end of Earth provides just the escape most of us need.
About the size of West Virginia, Tasmania is a concentrated model of Australia, with landscapes ranging from parched desert to drenched rain forest and nearly everything in between. Dominated by ancient dolerite outcrops, this densely wooded land draws air directly from Antarctica – making it, according to some scientists, the cleanest air in the world, though a little chilly and damp most of the time. The whole island can be traversed in a couple of days by car. A week will allow you to fully appreciate rare trees, such as myrtle beech and leatherwood, that have thrived here ever since being evicted from the mainland some 45 million years ago, as well as beaches where you can walk an entire day without seeing a single soul.
Walk on in
“This is Rebecca, our wombat,” says Troy, the nature guide at Cradle Mountain Lodge, where I join a small cosmopolitan group on the lookout for Australia’s most elusive wildlife. There’s a rustle in the long grass next to the path, and the hungry wombat comes plowing through like a push mower, seeking the juiciest shoots with a satisfied snuffle. “Bec is a male … don’t ask.”
The raw ridgelines of Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park have captivated the imagination of visitors for decades. Hikers from around the world come here for the Overland Track, a guided six-day trek through sassafras-laced scenery with nights in private eco-huts. But you don’t have to be a hard-core adventurer to enjoy its highlights.
Travelers with just a day or two in the park can follow the Dove Lake Circuit – a relaxed three-hour walk under the mountain’s towering spires, which are one of Australia’s most instantly recognizable vistas, next to Uluru and Sydney’s Harbour Bridge – or simply stick to the trails around the lodge. Opting for the latter, I stroll along the boardwalk to join the ranger and other guests, when suddenly something moves the leaves beside the path. It’s long and black and shiny, and it’s looking at me. Less than a yard from my left foot, a very active tiger snake is out for a hunt in the last glimmer of warm daylight. We face off for a few seconds before he slithers away in the other direction, and I make a note to tell the ranger when we meet up.
During the course of the 30-minute walk we sight a wombat, a wallaby, a platypus, a possum, and perhaps the island’s most legendary resident, a Tasmanian devil. Since the demise of the Tasmanian tiger in the 1930s, the devil has inherited the title of largest carnivorous marsupial in the world. Though they are protected by law, a rare disease now threatens the ferocious critters, earning them a spot on endangered species lists. For as long as anyone can remember, a family of devils has lived under the lodge’s veranda, and today three cute pups scamper around entertaining visitors with mock battles, growls, and wrestling.
Get Centered
The alpine lakes and craggy mountains that make for such great postcards fill the center of Tasmania. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint, the geography also makes for great hydroelectric dams. But after the dam is built, what do you do with a town sustained solely by its operation?
You turn it into an adventure destination, of course. When the government’s hydroelectric commission finished with Tarraleah, residents left the 1930s depot town en masse. Anything portable, including the houses, was shipped out. Plumb in the middle of the island and on the eastern border of the vast Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, what remains today is a delightful hamlet pared down to just core buildings and dedicated to natural pursuits such as trout fishing, mountain biking, and bird-watching. The town’s former schoolhouse is now a fancy hostel, and the supermarket is adventure HQ.
Tarraleah’s art deco chalet has undergone a great transformation to become a boutique lodge with cliffside hot tubs, a spa, and lauded dining. Guests can golf, kayak, and fish for trout and Atlantic salmon on more than 30 lakes and six streams nearby. As the only Loomis-endorsed lodge in the country, Tarraleah offers fly-casting lessons and guided outings, so I decide to try my hand with fishing master Robbie, who patiently demonstrates the black art of fly-fishing to me at the training pond.
“Ten to two … pause … flick,” he implores as I struggle with the provided rod and reel. Robbie’s fly obediently skitters back and forth over the surface as mine circles erratically, then dives pathetically a few feet from shore. Fly-fishing is a relaxing, almost transcendental pursuit, I’m told. Catching the fish is surely secondary to perfect casts. Still, I persist.
Have a taste
Two hours’ drive south, the port city of Hobart preserves its provincial character through the early nineteenth-century buildings lining the docks. Some 40 percent of the island’s population calls Hobart home, and it’s always been known as a good time.
“Hobart’s past was as bawdy as it was bloody,” says local food and wine writer Graham Phillips as we sip Frogmore Creek riesling with local oysters in the trophy room of the Real Tennis Club. “A wild, bare-knuckle time of convicts, sealers, whalers, and sailors; a time when women were no better than they needed to be! Things have changed a bit since then – some things at least.”
One thing that’s changed for the better is wine, as nearby farmers have switched from growing primarily fruits and vegetables to producing fine pinot noirs, rieslings, and sparkling varieties. The annual Wrest Point Royal Hobart International Wine Show now features vintages from over 100 Tasmanian wineries, most of which are easily reached from the city and offer settings for every connoisseur, from Moorilla’s architectural tasting rooms to more humble establishments such as Spring Vale, which serves sips in converted stables, and Frogmore Creek’s simple shed.
Thirty-five minutes south of Hobart at Panorama Vineyard, winemaker Michael Vishacki greets guests with a bushy handlebar moustache and vineyard views of the Huon River. “Before I came down here, I used to run a panel shop in Melbourne,” he confesses. “I learned everything on the job.” Michael, unpretentious and plain speaking, apparently paid attention. His prize pinots now sell for hundreds of dollars in Asia’s top hotels.
Back in the city, the old IXL Jam factory houses one of Australia’s most unusual hotels, the austere and unpretentious Henry Jones Art Hotel. Named after the jam and fruit magnate – in his day, the owner of the largest private company in the world – the dockside hotel contains over 250 pieces of original art throughout the guest rooms and common areas.
Settle in, then wander downstairs for a predinner tipple at any of the neighboring bars. One of the city’s best-known restaurants, the Drunken Admiral, is next door, so there’s time for a stroll around Constitution Dock for a nip as you fancy before tucking into the Admiral’s famous chowder, Tassie mussels, king prawns, and whatever else is fresh that day.
Despite Tasmanians’ overflowing pride in their produce and productivity, I’ll wager it’s the land – rugged and foreboding one minute, embracing and nurturing the next – that will leave a lasting impression. With the hurly-burly of the mainland’s cities and tourist towns a distinct contrast, Tasmania offers a refuge and the opportunity to experience a side of the country that even Australians find unusual.
BAY OF FIRES
If you love to hike, scoot over to the east coast for Tasmania’s signature trail, the Bay of Fires Walk (recently selected as the world’s number-one destination by Lonely Planet). The four-day coastal trek passes through the Mount William National Park and culminates in a sublime kayak along Ansons River, where you’re likely to spot sea eagles and platypuses. Groups are limited to no more than ten hikers at the Forester Beach Camp, while the Bay of Fires Lodge will accommodate two parties that size. The Abbotsbury Peninsula’s sweeping vistas are almost supernatural in their emptiness. On a clear day at Eddystone Point Lighthouse, the state’s easternmost point, you can just make out Cape Barren Island 30 miles north.
Make Time for Tassie
Find solitude and natural splendor in Australia’s most southerly state.
Getting There
Qantas Airways offers 30 nonstop flights a week between L.A. and Sydney or Melbourne, with numerous connections to Tasmania. The airline’s new Airbus A380 planes fly Mondays and Wednesdays to Melbourne, and Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays to Sydney.
Ways to Go
Feed wallabies and hike Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park trails during Swain Tours’ 11-day self-drive trip from Melbourne. Parties drive to Strahan – home to the Gordon River wilderness – and spend two nights at Hobart’s Henry Jones Art Hotel, followed by two more in both Freycinet and Melbourne. Departures: Any day through September 30, 2009; from $1,860, including airfare between Tasmania and Sydney or Melbourne.
Travel2’s nine-day escorted trip from Launceston includes winetasting in the Tamar Valley, a crawfish dinner, and a visit to a raspberry farm in Elizabeth Town. A wildlife cruise from Port Arthur and hikes amid the Gordon River’s Huon pines and Cradle Mountain’s Dove Lake add a taste of the outdoors. Departures: Multiple dates March 7 through December 26, 2009; from $2,347, including all meals.
Kayaking and beachcombing highlight Southern World’s nature-focused Tasmanian adventure. The four-day Bay of Fires hike caps off an 11-day, custom-tailored trip that features the Nelson Waterfalls, Cradle Mountain, and Lake Saint Clair (Australia’s deepest), as well as time at
Tarraleah. Departures: Any day October 1, 2009, through April 30, 2010;
from $5,409, including most meals.
Gain a bird’s-eye view of the Huon River landscape on a 120-foot-high canopy walk and get close to Tasmanian devils and koalas on Southern Crossings’ four-day glimpse of Tasmania. The trip includes an easy hike to Wineglass Bay and a chance to see penguins at Bicheno. Departures: Any day April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010; from $3,122 for two, including most meals.