Taswegians and recent visitors!

I haven't lived there for 15 years now, but can give you some advice!

Just a word of warning however, this is a very, very popular time of year in tassie, so you will have to book in advance.

Hobart area: Don't stay in Hobart or close to! The nicer areas are out of Hobart, and you can go there during the day. Think areas like Kingston, Cremorne, and other areas down towards the mouth of the river.

Port Arthur: Some lovely areas down there, and some nice caravan parks to

East Coast: Great spots all up the East Coast - especially, Orford, Swansea and Coles Bay

Launceston: Again NOT in Launceston, but head north towards the mouth of the river for some great parks

NW: Stanley is stunning and some nice parks there too - DON'T stay in Burnie!!

West Coast: DON'T stay in Queenstown, there is nothing there! Go out to the coast to Strahan, there is a beautiful caravan park there!

DON'T miss Cradle Mt, one of the best bits of Tassie!!

Hope this helps!

Jo

G'day Bundy - I am not local - have only lived here 25 years, I will give you some insight into the area and will even show you some of the "unwritten-unacknowledged sites" but as the saying goes "if I tell you then I have to kill you" - can't let on to the other north islanders all the good spots. Please feel free to email me and I'll clue you in on some spots REALLY worth visiting-not just the tourist stuff. Let me know if you are into fishing salt/fresh water, diving, swimming, surfing, kayaking - any of that sort of stuff and I'll try to work out an "ideal" itinerary. Ages of the rug rats - mine are 19 and 16, that kind of thing.

I am an avid fisher - both fresh and salt water (14' tinnie), kayaker, bush camping (Campomatic trailer) and usually FAR FAR FAR away from everyone else, do a spot of deer hunting - don't like civilisation much myself but it's a necessary evil - helps me get to do the things I like the most. Bit of a camp fire yarn goes does pretty well with me - won't be much help with where to find a shower but I will gladly share this states delights with like minded people.
Cheers
John E

Id base myself around these areas-Stanley to cover the Nth coast,Strahan for the West coast,Tomahawk for the Nth east coast and not sure bout down south,we usually referred to down south as in jail(thats where the jail is).
My favorite area is up around the Nth east,anywhere from Bridport down to around St helens.Tomahawk is a great little spot and central to the area,lots of one dayers to do from here,Mount Willaim National Park is only a few hours away,Musselroe bay the same,Ansons bay and policemans point the same heading south then Bay of fires and St helens.Also Eddystone light house which is the most easterly point of Tassie.Heading west from Tomahawk you have the Waterhouse cons area with lots of camping and beach acsess(good fishing),massive sand dunes near Bridport.
Up around Stanley you have the "Nut" of coarse,there's Dismall swamp with its tree top walk and slide down,then explore down to Arthur river.
Always planned to spend more time down around Strahan but never did(well not yet anyway) but the dunes are nice,can hire 4 wheeler bikes and tour around the dunes on them.Worth a call into Queenstown,from memory there is a cable chair ride somewhere there,lots of mining history.Oh yeah the ABT railway is a great look/ride.
Have fun and in four weeks you will only wet your appetite to return again.
Might be summer but can still get really cold,often used to get snow on the highlands around christmas.

We spent 7 weeks touring Feb-March, and saw a cross section of the island. We set our trip to miss most of the holiday crowds. We free camped most of the time, and did lots of days trips from key spots. Many of the designated free camps have only pit toilets. We never ever book in CPs (except in Melbourne for the night before the day ferry), and had no trouble getting a place in the few we stayed at in Tassie, but it will be very different during school/summer holidays. If you are prepared to free camp, you will need Camps Australia Wide 3 available from the ExplorOz bookshop. So many highlights! Some of the walks are quite long or strenuous, although we met people on the famed Wineglass Bay loop walk (12 kms) with little ones in tow. Mountains, Cradle Mountain (my daughter saw heavy snow there some years back - in December), mountain lakes - all expanded and interlinked to the grid of hydro power stations, many lovely waterfalls, lush green rain forests, fresh water everywhere, amazing vistas, rugged coasts, deep canyons, trickling streams of beautiful fresh water (we filled our tanks from a farmer's supply pumped from a little river and it was the freshest we had). Waddamanna Hydro Power museum is well worth a visit. Highest waterfall - Montezuma (quite a long but flat walk), so called prettiest Russell Falls, my prettiest Halls Falls out from St Helens. Most awesome experience - looking into the deep Devil's Gullet (near Mole Creek) and having a fingers of cloud come rushing in with an eerie whooshing sound and filling the valley and engulfing us. Heritage way - those amazing convict built bridges designed for a few horses and wagons, still carrying the weight and volume today's highway traffic including road trains. Lake Pedder and the Gordon Dam. I could go on raving about places all night. The distances are less, but travelling is slower, and with so much to see, you can travel just a few kms each day. If we left the caravan, we drove long days and explored minor roads and tracks, to make the most of the time without the van. We didn't see snow, but within a few days of returning to the mainland, there was snow reported in several places in Tassie as well as in the Victorian high country. My husband had never seen snow, so had hoped we'd get that chance in Tas.

If the children are a little older, they may find interest in the museum at Zeehan. It was formerly a school of mines, and has a huge collection of rocks, minerals etc, as well as a lot of history of the area. We spent a whole day there, at the cheap entrance of $10 each. We stayed 4 days at the small but pleasant caravan park on the outskirts of the small town, and from there did drives to take the Gordon River boat cruise and the Queenstown to Strachan train.

I don't know how old your rug rats are, but this could make a difference with walks, climbs, facilities etc. Caravans parks mostly don't compare to mainland standards, and likely to be full peak season. Some are flat. Almost everywhere is so beautiful.

If the following link works for you, it should take you to a few of the around 4000 photos i took on the trip.

Site Link

Hi Bundy

Check out 3 Tassie treks on the "TREKS "tab at the top of these pages giving you lots of great info.

Regards
Andy