Tassie Trip. " Advise please"

[Gee Cee]

Hi there. I am off to Tassie with one of my 9 yr old boys early March 2009.
We land in Hobart and stay for 6 nights before flying back from Hobart.

Any information or suggestions would be appreciated
I was thinking of hiring a campervan and travelling around. Are there plenty of nice van parks around. Or would we be better off hiring a car and staying in motels / cabins etc?
What areas would you suggest we visit? Any other advise appreciated

Thanks in advance.

Gee Cee

Greg.

 

[depreciator]

You have to go up Mt Wellington - behind Hobart.

It really is the most amazing view. Take a jacket - even in summer.

And find a way to get out on that river, too - from Mt Wellington you'll see why it's worth exploring.

I like the east coast - so would a nine year old boy I reckon.

On the Freycinet Penninsula I saw a place that does kayak tours - smooth water. That would be fun. It would have been a place called Coles Bay.

Scott

 

[Alabex]

i am sure some of the tasmania locals will give you tips... however

We honeymooned in Tassie last November and took our jeep and drove around. Some of the things we loved
* Strahan.Lovely little town and lots to do as far as tours etc... jet boating, cruises, railway etc. - it was a few hours from Hobart though.
* Salamanca Markets in hobart.. i think on a Saturday
* Port Arthur was fantastic... we were planning a couple of hours there and ended up being there the whol day... even though it was freezinf cold
* There is also lots of pretty lakes and bush walks around.
* The kids will love the Cadbury Factory!
* We stayed at a great little B & B about an hour out of Hobart in a place called Fentonbury... or something like that.... it is a bit of a hobby farm with a platypus dam inthe middle. It was great for a relax and walk around the countryside visiting the cows and goats. We were only talking about it last night.

We stayed in Bed and Breakfasts the whole time, because that is how we usually travel and love it. The roads can be a bit windy and the distances therefore take a lot longer to travel than you would think.

 

[Alabex]

You have to go up Mt Wellington - behind Hobart.

It really is the most amazing view. Take a jacket - even in summer.

And find a way to get out on that river, too - from Mt Wellington you'll see why it's worth exploring.

I like the east coast - so would a nine year old boy I reckon.

On the Freycinet Penninsula I saw a place that does kayak tours - smooth water. That would be fun. It would have been a place called Coles Bay.

Scott

Oh Yes mt wellington was great.. we were there early December and it snowed while we were up there. Later that day in hobart we were driving with the soft top on the jeep off in shorts and tees

 

[depreciator]

I was there Christmas day once and it snowed (or probably sleeted) up there. Crazy.

 

[battle on]

Yes it has snowed in Hobart a couple of times on Christmas Day, the weather can be a little crazy at times.

All suggestions so far are great and Port Arthur is a must, maybe try to do the ghost tour at night. There are some nice areas down the Huon Valley and the Tahune Airwalk at Geeveston is quite good for some lovely views of the Picton River.

Salamanca on Saturday mornings.
Cadbury tours were stopped last April.

Coles Bay is beautiful on the East Coast and St Helens if you enjoy a bit of fishing. Launceston is worth a look, there is some great architecture around the city.

A personal favorite of mine is the West Coast and Strahan has already been mentioned, many things to do there and the river cruise is excellent.

I think you will be struggling to do too many of these things in 6 days as there is quite a bit of windy road travelling in between them all. I would go the hire car and stay in cabins or motels, the campervan would be too slow if you want to travel any distance.

PM me if you want to have a chat, might even be able to have a beer when you get there.

 

[Minxdamanx]

Cradle Mountain was stunning.
Loved Mt Wellington (even though it was freezing)
Loved Richmond
Loved Port Arthur (especially cos we found a little shop on the way out there - Murdunna, I think - that sold the best fresh oysters ever)
Strahan was fun - they put on a little play there which was a great laugh. And the river cruise we did was expensive but worth every cent.
We also loved Stanley (top west).
You must try to be in Hobart for the Salamanca Market - it's amazing.
Had some great fishing days in the inland lakes (around Bronte Park).

We were there in January '07 and can't wait to go back.

We hired a small car and stayed in motel type accomodation. The driving is a bit of a killer if you are not used to mountainous, twisty, turny roads - we're from the flat West, so were glad we didn't have a camper to try and get around those roads. A manual was bad enough with all the hill starts!

Have a lot of fun

 

[LynnH]

We did the 'campervan' tour for our honeymoon ages ago - it was one of those campers on the back of a ute, so it wasn't much different from driving a large car. But I certainly wouldn't drive a camper trailer on those roads! And watch out for the timber trucks loaded with huuuge logs - it's fun meeting one of them on a narrow road.

We started in Hobart and went clockwise around the whole island - but you won't have time for that with only 6 nights there. Almost any place you visit is Tassie is great - and there's so much to choose from. But Mt Wellington, Port Arthur, Richmond Gaol, Cataract Gorge just out of Launceston, Salamanca Place, the Shot Tower at ?can't remember the place but it's on the river south of Hobart?, St Helens ..... the list of 'not-to-be-missed' places is almost endless!!!

I love the place - lived there for 18 months years ago. Sounds like it might be time to re-visit, methinks.

Have fun, Gee Cee!

Cheers
LynnH

 

[PrimeCommercial]

Perfect timimng stumbling on this thread...We're off to Tassie in about 6 hours for 2 weeks of touring.
My brother and his family moved to Devonport mid year, his wife is originally from Burnie and her family is all there.
I'll definately be visiting a few places mentioned here.

 

[GreatPig]

I agree with Cradle Mountain being a stunning place, if you get good weather (it's highly variable). However, I don't know how much walking you could do there with a 9 year old. Nice around Dove Lake, which is easy walking, but it's a fairly long and at times steep walk to Cradle summit (mind you, I'm saying that on my experience of 25 years ago ).

GP

 

[ianvestor]

Some of the things we loved
* Strahan.Lovely little town and lots to do as far as tours etc... jet boating, cruises, railway etc. - it was a few hours from Hobart though.
* Salamanca Markets in hobart.. i think on a Saturday
* Port Arthur was fantastic... we were planning a couple of hours there and ended up being there the whol day... even though it was freezinf cold
* There is also lots of pretty lakes and bush walks around.
* The kids will love the Cadbury Factory!
* We stayed at a great little B & B about an hour out of Hobart in a place called Fentonbury... or something like that.... it is a bit of a hobby farm with a platypus dam inthe middle. It was great for a relax and walk around the countryside visiting the cows and goats. We were only talking about it last night.

I can second most of this.

Strahan (pronounced strawn) is beautiful and has some of the cleanest air in the entire world. Not sure if it would entertain a 9-year old though. Oh, and be aware that even Telstra coverage is weak with no other providers there at all.

On the drive to Strahan there are plenty of really nice rainforest tracks to stop at for breaks along the way. We hired a little Corolla for the 8 days we were in Tassie.

Oh, and I hope you like seafood, coz Tassie has some of the best I've tasted. (Actually there's a couple of good restaurants just near where Salamanca markets are held, although I can't remember the name of any, sorry!) The markets are surprisingly big for such a lowly populated city as Hobart.

Port Arthur, same with Alabex; thought we were going for a couple of hours and ended up staying most of the day. Plan it as a day trip.

The Cadbury tour was only so-so. Kind of interesting (maybe more so for kids) but we were told by the tour guide that basically it had only just become 'less fun' this year because of newly introduced H&S laws. For example, you can't actually see the chocolate getting made any more. You mostly just see finished chocolate getting packaged. The room where they make the chocolate is apparently very hot and humid and some visitors had fainted in the past! So anyway if you take your kid, make sure they don't think it's all going to look like Wonka's factory coz they'll be disappointed.

Oh and lastly I'll also mention Mt Wellington. Absolutely amazing views, and unbelievably freezing cold up there (and we went in February!). We would not have been too hot wearing thick ski jackets and pants.

Have fun!

 

[MichaelW]

Great thread!

We're off to Hobart at Christmas. Kay and Aden are flying in before me and I'm taking the slow way in some little yacht race out of Sydney that happens that time of year I hear...

She'll be there for a week and I'll get there for the last 3 days or so provided we make it past Eden. I'll email her a link to this thread so she can figure out what to do while she waits for me to arrive. At least she's already got the sailing on the river thing covered as friends of ours own a 42 footer which is going to sail down the Derwent to meet us as we arrive around the 30th.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[ianvestor]

I forgot to mention Hobart's botanic gardens. We had a really nice couple of hours there and found it to be of a high standard. Although a small section of it was under renewal when we were there which we couldn't access.

 

[tobe]

Tassie is beautiful, but my wife and I made the mistake of biting off more of the apple Isle than we could chew. The roads are windey, which is lovely, but slow.

I suggest just visiting/touring one small part of Tassie, rather than racing from launceston to Struan and back like we did. Just the bit underneath Hobart would take 2 weeks, or the east coast (which we did later on with the family), or straun and the north west coast for another 2 weeks.

There is heaps to see and do, and you will thank yourself you dont spend the whole time in a car.

 

[depreciator]

A 9 year old won't want to spend too much time in a car looking at scenery. I agree that there is heaps to do just in the south east corner - and maybe a little bit up the coast.

 

[Alabex]

I can second most of this.

Strahan (pronounced strawn) is beautiful and has some of the cleanest air in the entire world. Not sure if it would entertain a 9-year old though. Oh, and be aware that even Telstra coverage is weak with no other providers there at all.

On the drive to Strahan there are plenty of really nice rainforest tracks to stop at for breaks along the way. We hired a little Corolla for the 8 days we were in Tassie.

Oh, and I hope you like seafood, coz Tassie has some of the best I've tasted. (Actually there's a couple of good restaurants just near where Salamanca markets are held, although I can't remember the name of any, sorry!) The markets are surprisingly big for such a lowly populated city as Hobart.

Port Arthur, same with Alabex; thought we were going for a couple of hours and ended up staying most of the day. Plan it as a day trip.

The Cadbury tour was only so-so. Kind of interesting (maybe more so for kids) but we were told by the tour guide that basically it had only just become 'less fun' this year because of newly introduced H&S laws. For example, you can't actually see the chocolate getting made any more. You mostly just see finished chocolate getting packaged. The room where they make the chocolate is apparently very hot and humid and some visitors had fainted in the past! So anyway if you take your kid, make sure they don't think it's all going to look like Wonka's factory coz they'll be disappointed.

Oh and lastly I'll also mention Mt Wellington. Absolutely amazing views, and unbelievably freezing cold up there (and we went in February!). We would not have been too hot wearing thick ski jackets and pants.

Have fun!

Also on the seafood note... i am not a big seafood eater.. but tassie changed me!!! We were hanging around in Strahan and were told by some locals that a cray boat had just unloaded at this dodgy looking takeaway at the end of the row of shops and we should go get one. Neither of us were that fussed on them previously... but thought what the hey.. we acted on the advise and went and got one with a light salad. It was one of the best things i have ever tasted.... sitting on the verandah of the old house where we were staying (ormiston House) with a glass of wine eating this cray fish is one of the fondest memories we have!!!

Actually all the food we had was pretty awesome.. the fine dining at the chateau at cradel where we stayed was of an excellent standard and the rotating restaurant at the hobart casino was also very good.. and the views amazing.

 

[marg4000]

At Port Arthur if you buy your ticket after a certain time in the afternoon it is valid for the following day as well.

We found that really good - walked around for a couple of hours the first day then went back next day.

It would be great for a 9 year old - lots of history, a boat trip included, also a walking tour.

Allow at least a full day, preferably stretch it over two half days as we did.
Marg

 

[battle on]

Just thought of a couple of other things around Hobart to do.

Hastings Caves is worth a trip very interesting and could be combined with the Airwalk in the same day. Hastings also has a thermal springs pool for the 9yr old.
There is a fast boat ride around Bruny Island which takes in some magnificent scenery and lasts maybe a couple of hours.

The Shot Tower mentioned is at Taroona, about 15 min drive out of Hobart and is where they droped the lead to form shot for the muzzle-loading guns back in the 1870's.

Seafood restaurants mentioned probably are Mures restaurant and "The Drunken Admiral" both located in the city. The "rotating restaurant" lol (never heard it called that) is actually the Revolving restaurant
with excellent night time views of the river Derwent, about 5 min drive from the city.

Cheers

 

[Minxdamanx]

Seafood restaurants mentioned probably are Mures restaurant and "The Drunken Admiral" both located in the city. The "rotating restaurant" lol (never heard it called that) is actually the Revolving restaurant
with excellent night time views of the river Derwent, about 5 min drive from the city.
Cheers

and those little boats at the wharf with beautiful blue eye and chips or scallops and chips for next to nothing! Scallop pies hmmmmmmm

We had a beautiful meal (expensive though) at Mures too. The seafood in Tasmania was wonderful - worth a trip back for that alone.

 

[battle on]

and those little boats at the wharf with beautiful blue eye and chips or scallops and chips for next to nothing! Scallop pies hmmmmmmm

We had a beautiful meal (expensive though) at Mures too. The seafood in Tasmania was wonderful - worth a trip back for that alone.

Yes!! The fish punts have good meals for a quick feed. Mures actually has 2 levels, the upper deck (expensive bit) and the lower deck which is more cafe style.

Minxdamanx, I see you went to Murdunna you would have driven past the place most of us say we have our honeymoon "the Forcett Inn".