The Best Way to See Tasmania

If you ever plan on visiting Tasmania - which you should! - I can't recommend bringing your or at least a car, enough. Completely and utterly the best thing. And unless you are hiring from the airport - which means you can't bring all the camping and fishing gear you want (plus, baggage weight restrictions...) - the only good way to start a road trip of this magical state of Australia is on the Spirit of Tasmania.

Drive on from Port Melbourne, drive off at Devonport and you're on your way. Changing scenery, winding roads, wildlife and feelings of gratitude and awe are abundant!

My small but biggest secret for making the most of your overnight trip on the Spirit - wake up before dawn, explore the decks, go outside, and watch the sun rise from well below the horizon. Wandering the ship in the early morning light and air is the most gorgeous sight and sensation. Plus, if you're up and ready to go, you won't see any likely bathroom rush when the wake-up announcement comes on (we stayed in the recliner seat section which faces the back of the ship).

There are enough things on board to occupy your evening, here are a couple of things I did:

01 | Take advantage of the tourist info shop, there's plenty of pamphlets to more than likely get you all the way around Tassie, plus they sell National Park passes here, get one, you'll need it.

02 | Watch a movie in the cinema - there are two movies each night and they're a good way to fill in a couple of hours.

03 | Look around the souvenir shop, because souvenir shops are fun!

04 | Sit down and enjoy your mini-cruise! After all, if you've never been on a ship before it's an exciting experience, have a couple of drinks, watch the city lights as you depart, and relax for the evening.

I cannot wait to go back to Tasmania for another road trip, one of the best things I've done in my life so far. Have you been to Tassie before or been on the Spirit of Tasmania? If you have a post I'd love to see! Or if you've got any questions, go ahead and I'll do my best, I've got a couple of tips for the trip.

Tasmania | Enchanted Walk

The day we arrived at Cradle Mountain National Park we had patches of rain in the morning, but we managed to squeeze in the short walk at the entrance of the park which is fittingly named. Moss and lichen covered rocks, trees which made you feel like you were walking in an enchanted forest, and a stream with waterfalls. When you're made to feel like you could be in the Lord of the Rings, you know you've experienced something good. We got through without it raining on us and spent the other hours of the day looking at the videos and installations at the park centre, the afternoon involved relaxing in the ute at our camp site (where a wallaby came to say hello), and we went to the Tasmanian Devil Sanctuary to watch the feeding as it got dark. We finished the night with dinner at Pepper's and a drive to check out what wildlife we could find - with an outcome of something like 11 wombats (!) and countless other animals.

Tasmania | Dove Lake

I was pretty bummed about the weather this day as it was something I had been looking forward to the most on our trip to Tasmania. This is where we were supposed to see Cradle Mountain, but we basically saw cloud instead (not the first time we've managed to do this!) - aside from my disappointment, it was still a view you can't complain about, in the patches where the rain stopped, everything was golden, and we sat and watched the yellows and greys, the choppy Dove Lake, spotted patches of snow and daring hikers on the mountains. We were going to take the 2 hours walk around the lake, but all I can say is, better luck next time. I'm sure one day I will be back again.