Time Out in Tassie

By Lauren Howie, The University of Melbourne

Unlike the other Universities in Australia, Melbourne’s midterm break is a gruelling nine weeks into the academic term. By this point you will defo want a holiday, so take that time to plan a great trip away!

We decided to spend our holiday road tripping around Tasmania (or Tassie as known by locals). We booked flights to Hobart for around $200 dollars (roughly £100) and a 6-person motorhome for around $250 dollars each (for 6 days). I would definitely recommend getting a camper as it gave us way more flexibility to visit all the beaches along the coast. We spent a total of 8 days in Tasmania – I would say the longer the better as you want time to explore all the scenery but also to kick back and relax!

Here’s some of my top spots in Tassie to make planning your road trip a lil bit easier.

Freycinet National Park

Freycinet National Park is what you will see on almost every postcard of Tasmania. It’s an easy 3-hour drive from Hobart and home to the infamous wineglass bay. Once you get there you can walk to a viewing point and also laze around on incredible white-sand beaches.

It’s also a great place to spot some wild wallabies and pademelons! I would recommend doing the longer walk that also takes you to Hazards beach, it’s a really easy to get to and unlike wineglass bay is almost entirely secluded.

Bruny island – A MUST

Take the ferry to Bruny island and spend a couple of days exploring the incredible scenery. There’s lots to do on the island including visiting The Neck Lookout for sunset (see pic), Cape Bruny lighthouse, Cloudy bay and even a whisky distillery. If you are fortunate like us and have fantastic weather than Bruny island has numerous spots for swimming in the Tasman sea. It’s also the only place in the world you can see the rare white wallaby!

Cradle Mountain

Cradle mountain is a bit further away but is a definitely must see. You can do a relaxed 2 hour walk around its beautiful lake, with plenty of stop offs to eat snacks and chill. If you’re lucky you will also see some wombats and exotic birds mooching about!

Bay of Fires

This area of Tassie is a little slice of heaven with clear waters and weird but wonderful orange boulders. Take some time to scramble round the rocks and have a picnic on the sandy beaches. Chain of lagoons is also nearby and has some great camp sites for motorhomes.

Hobart

Hobart is the cute and fairly quiet capital of Tasmania. There’s not heaps to do here so I wouldn’t spend too long, but it is definitely worth a visit for the Saturday market! At the market there’s loads of funky nick knack stalls, live music, jewellery, sweat treats and meaty delights. While you are in Hobart you also need to visit to the MONA art gallery – it’s hard to put the experience into words – but let’s just say you will be blown away by the amazing, and highly strange, exhibitions.