Spirit of Tasmania

Hi Jazzah, being a Taswegian about to leave the cold behind for two months in Queensland with my family in our new van I reckon it's worth every cent!

If you do come over plan to spend as long as you can here. Plenty come over for a couple of weeks and hardly touch the surface. I was in Port Arthur CP a few weeks ago talking to a couple Grey Nomads who had come over for a few weeks and are still here 6 months later.

Book ahead if during the Christmas holiday season,all the van parks are busy in Tas.
Would recommend Wayatinah CP in the Central Highlands on the way to Queenstown if you have kids. Huge swimming pool, tennis court,lake (if you have kayaks) trout fishing. Great spot for kids riding bikes too.Amenities are a bit stretched when the place is full but is great place away from the world....most mobiles dont work there(bliss) .

Also White Beach CP (Nubeena) is great for kids with a huge beach at the back of the park. Owners can be a bit 'challenging' but just keep your head down and all is well.I have stayed there every year for the last decade so know how to manipulate the owners now. :)

Safe Travels

NZ. Bigger, better, cheaper (Australian dollar worth about 20% more than NZ) you will never regret the choice.

Your problem is the van. They cost heaps.. I'm heading over on 27th Dec with just the car and 2pax and paying about $1100 return, 1 day trip 1 night.

That's the peak travel time so not much you can do about it I'm afraid.

As for weather it's worth it, how long are you planning on staying? The longer you stay the more it's worth it..

hmmm.....we had the same shock a few years back and went elsewhere.

Robbery for a crossing that they make a meal of (not that you get a meal - even at that price) and should take far less time.

Now if you could only do some sort of vehicle swap .....

I am planning to visit Tasmania in Feb / Mar next year. Anyone from Tasie want to use a touring Troopy on the mainland ?
Or even come over to NZ and use a vehicle here ?

KK

Ghee that is such a fabulous idea, anyone got an old van in NZ or Tassie? Swap for old van in Melb!

Your going in the peak season and it is usually booked out so they charge what they want. Get there in off peak (cheaper) stay for the peak season and come back in the off peak. You need to be in tassie at least 3 months to really enjoy it. Did 3 months first up over there then 11 weeks this last christmas now going back for another go in 3 weeks.

Josh

Hi Josh, that sounds great, but my husband is a teacher, we only get to travel at peak times! I knwo they get more holidays, but we end up paying more for them too!
Jazzah

Jazzah, they announced some ripper deals late in the year just prior to our trip in Jan 07. If you have time just wait a while and see what turns up. cheers

I would say its well worth it, but i cant say i enjoyed the ferry trip. I went over about 2 months ago, night crossing and the waters were not that rough, but the ship handles like a stuffed pig. It is honestly the worst ship i have ever been on . Very top heavy and a nasty vibration runs through the ship when on auto pilot. It was pitching and rolling in a light swell. Because we had an inside cabin i thought it must of been rough outside, when i seen the size of the swell, i couldnt believe it. I have spoken to many other people, including my parents who have done it 5 times and they never had a problem though, barely feeling any movement. I think i just expected a nice ride for the money and size of the ship.

Tassie is incredible, truly awesome. But i will say, there are some strange people over there. No offence or anything, but in my travels there i encountered a heap of different folk. Nice people mainly though. I would dare say everywhere would be packed over there at that time, when we went everywhere was cheap and hardly anyone there. Coming from the Kimberley it was good to freeze for a while. Loved being able to drink my grog straight from the box!!!!

Hi Jazzah
Put the kids and the domestic engineer in the van when you drive it on the boat lock it down and go and have a great night. drive off the boat in the morning and let them out up the road.
Seriously its worth the money, we flew over there 3 years ago for a wirl wind trip of 10 nights camped on the side of the road out the back of a corolla would love to go back.

New Zealand is fantastic as well cheap flights there and back but you would have to hire a motor home. jucy rentals have some good rates we were there last october, loved the south island.
But i think tassie would still be cheaper take camps Australia book with you plenty of free spots to camp in tassie,

Forgot to say in tasmania you are either going up a hill down a hill or around a corner, not many straight sections of road, lol.

Hi Jazzah,
Look at this way. Treat the $2000.00 ( if you can afford it) as part of the experiences. So, for a boat ride & all the fun & memories you are likely to get out of the travel over & back, it will cost the four of you $125 each for the days outing & to get there & another $125 each to come back. You probably don't need to spend much on board, so if you treat it as a days outing, to me it's not bad value.

If the price includes your van & vehicle, then you have a real bargain in my opinion!!

You will Tassie & all it has to offer!! Best wishes & cheers

TOLL run their own ship from Port Philip to Devenport and do accommodate passengers and vehicles. It might be worth checking out.

we go over a fair bit, mostly fly and either hire a car or borrow one of our son's if they aren't used at the time, we looked at the boat a number of times and for two pass and a car plus a cabin it was something like $1200.. too much for two nights in a tiny little cabin.. until may this year when the winter 50% discount came in.. then it seemed worth it... like someone else said it's a rough ride even when it ain't rough outside LOL
that engine vibration kept me awake half the night, despite having worked nightshift the previous night.. and a gob full of seasickness 'drowsy' pills,

We were there a couple of weeks ago (thanks EO folks for some good ideas on spots to visit.) Just a short exploratory trip taking advantage of ultra cheap Tiger flights from Adelaide to Hobart. Hired a camper van. Only stayed 5 days but loved it . Not too cold really. I wanted photos and the scenery/cloud effects were fantastic. Just looked at SE corner.Will take toyo next year for a 6 week stay.

Jazzah
We went over to Tassie last December and January for 5 weeks. Definately not enough time but went to a lot of places and did most of the 4wd treks.
The ferry is expensive but one suggestion if you go overnight book a cabin, the ocean recliner seats are terrible to sleep in.
We free camped in the truck in most places and some National Parks. We travelled and explored every day and camped at night and then on to the next place. Had a fantastic time, the weather was great and you cannot beat the friendly local people who are just great.
Several nights we camped next to a stream or creek on private properties. Its marvelous how accomodating and cheap a 6 pack of beer is to stay in pristine fabulous areas.
Most coastal places are very packed during the Christmas Holidays and all Tasmanians have a caravan, boat and quad bike so the places get very full.

Spend the money in Australia and see the beautiful southern of Tasmania.
We all talk about the Top End and where it starts in Australia.
I believe the Top End of Australia starts in Catamaran, Tasmania and evering from north of here in Australia is fantastic like no other place in the world.

Enjoy your trip.
John

Jazza,
The cheapest way for a family to go over to Tassie is for the driver and vehicle/van to take the day crossing on the ferry alone and the rest of the family take the plane to Launceston. If you get the right flight and book online, they can cost less than $40.00 each one way!! Do yourselves a favor, and GO!!

Jazzah, my wife and i were in Tassie over March this year and loved every bit of it.So much so that we are considering moving there after we have done the lap of Aussie.I would try and get the day crossing as it is a lot cheaper than having to get a cabin.If you dont have trouble sleeping in a lounge chair and putting up with people snooring and drunks comming back in the early hours then go for the ocean recliners.We hated them and got no sleep at all.
I have been to NZ 11 times now and treat is as a second home as my sister and Mum live there.It is a beaut country and well worth the visit but in doing the sums,dont forget to add in the cost of transport and accomodation to see the sights.The Aussie dollar is usually around $1.20 to the $N.Z but fuel is dearer and generally the cost of living is dearer than Aussie.
If you do go for N.Z option,feel free to get back to me and i will point out the must see attractions we found on our travels.
Other wise give me Tassie any day for scenery and great people.
Good luck.

Why not get cheap airfares across and hire a camper. Tiger has $48 airfares to Launceston and Brits bigest camper is only $138 a day.

Hi Jazzah,

We are currently travelling Oz as a family - we did Tassie May/June this year and LOVED it!!! its a great place and well worth the $$$$ to get there. Have a look and some of our blog/pics on http://www.travelingoz.webs.com you will have to go back a few pages though as we are now in Kununurra WA !! it is expensive travelling with the kids but worth it - Just the boat ride over is a great experience., we also found Tassie VERY accommodating in relation to free camping - heaps of spots that even have dumps points and drinking water.

Cheers
Caz

Hi Jazzah,

Our family took our camper trailer on the ferry in 2007 for 3 1/2 weeks. Like you we wanted to go during christmas holidays, however, based upon advice of others and peak season cost we chose to go a little bit earlier fom mid November to mid December.

The advantage was reasonably good weather, minimal crowds etc and the fares for the ferry were cheaper. With two girls we went for the cabin option and our girls thought the trip was great. At the time Tassie Spirit were offering daytime crossings as well which were cheaper again, but did not suit what we wanted.

Otherwise a great place with lots to see and do for the whole family and would our family go back? Yes.

Otherwise hope your trip works out well.