Spur of the moment Tassie trip!

Mate, free camping is great in Tassie. A lot of the smaller towns will let you camp on their showgrounds overnight as long as your fully self contained. There's a National Parks office on the boat so you can get all the info you need from there. Pick up a 1 month park pass which covers entry to all national parks.

Sorry to say the Cadbury factory tour is nothing like it used to be. The WH&S nazi's have closed the actual tour so all you can do is visit the retail outlet..

There's a book called "Camping Guide to Tasmania" by Boiling Billy Publications which lists all the free camping places. This site sells it but it's currently out of stock.

Have a great trip.

Hi John.
The Cadbury chocolate factory tour is now a pale imitation of what it used to be. Have been told that it now basically involves being shown a video and than you are herded through the shop section.
I did it once about 25 years ago and it was great. Took my kids about 5 years ago and it was disappointing. Was told by a fellow vanner over xmas not to bother with the tour anymore ........but definitely visit the shop for all the cheap seconds!!! :)
There is a caravan park about 10 mins drive away back towards Hobart.


http://www.discovertasmania.com/activities__and__attractions/outdoor_activities/camping

http://www.campingtasmania.com/

http://www.around-oz.com/lifestyle_mh/campsite/index.htm

Most of the free camp areas in Tas tend to be in out of the way places.Two weeks will only scratch the surface over here.
Take it easy on the roads. Many of them still require a lot of maintainance after the big rains Sept,Oct,Nov last year. Also a bit of smoke about too from a few fires.

cheers, Paul.

Tassie has some of the best free camping anywhere and you will never feel safer. The "camps Australia 5" books is invaluable for this info. Of the top of my head here are a few.
*Lake Barrington- south of Devonport. Excellent spot to camp near water
*Gowrie park- south of Sheffield near lake barrington-great spot near bush walks and small creek
*Marrawah(green point)-north west coast on ocean. Amazing spot right on beach. can be a bit windy at times but worth a stop
*Arthur river has a fee of around $10 a night or $40 a week but is definitely worth stopping at. The fishing of the rocks at the mouth of the river can be awesome.
*Westbury-Between Devonport and Launceston. Behind "Andys Bakery" $2 per night for adults kids free. Bakery open 24 hrs a day.
*Chain lagoons- Half way between St Helens and Bicheno on the east coast. Near beach good spot. No water so take your own.
*Kempton-About 1 hr north of hobart on the way from Launceston. Good spot, power and water. Pay by gold coin donation.
*Hamilton- about 1 hr north west of Hobart on the way to Strahan. Top spot, free bbq and power in shelter, showers $1 dollar
*Lake Burbury- Near Queenstown. In the carpark on the lake shore.
*Macquarie head-South of strahan. $8 dollars a night. Road in is a little rough but ok. Great spot on the beach, camp among the dunes.
Hope this helps. You won't find a safer place to free camp. All prices quoted are as we know but may have changed!!!
A couple of things worth doing IMHO would be Tasmazia not far from Lake Barrington, also the murals in Sheffield. Tahune air walk near Geevston in the south. Any of the water falls or caves. Tassy devil park near port arthur. Port Arthur is expensive but I think it is worth it but will take a full day to do.
Hope you enjoy your stay

Josh

"seems to be a huge amount of vans and motor homes going on the ship yesterday"
Yup- all heading for the Annual CMCA rally just out of Launceston. I can guarantee you'll be seeing a heap more Motorhomes and the like as you travel around.
We're off March 2- and back a month later !!

The biggest problem will be that 2 weeks won't be enough.
Tassie is a fantastic place and easily require 3 months to do it justice.

John
if you have convict ancestors ( as I do) check out Campbell Town if you have time. We went through this little town late Feb 2004, just after the unveiling of the "Convict Trail". Am not sure if the "convict trail" became an established tourist attraction as the creator intended, but may at least be a history lesson for your 2 boys. My family has 3 bricks side by side from convict ancestors who arrived in Tas 1830's.
Enjoy your trip in Tassie
cheers Sue

Hi John. We did Tassie 18 months ago and loved it. We only had 2 weeks to do it and we did 3500k's in that 2 weeks, and seen heaps. But there was alot we didnt see too though. We has an absolute ball and are going back at the end of the year, but for longer. We free camped for the 2 weeks and loved it. So many good spots over there. One good one was at McQuarie Heads, just out of Strahan. We camped right on the beach and it was great. Speak to Josh (Tas), I know he will be only too happy to help with place too see. (And he likes a beer too apparently)
Karen.

Hi John

We spent seven weeks having a quick look around Tasmania in 2006 and absolutely loved it. We free camped most of the time, and Tasmanian towns are way above most of the big island at realising that providing nice free camps and people will stay which benefits the businesses in town. Prime beach free camps on the north east coast around St Helens. Most designated free camps have pit toilets but nothing else. If fully self contained, you can also camp at the hydro-electricity lakes/dams, and there are lots of those; big and small.

We had Camps Australia Wide 3 at the time, and needed it to find the camps as the terrain of Tassie means you can't readily find a spot to pull off the road. We also had Boiling Billy for Tasmania, but Camp had way more in it, so BB was a waste of time.

Can you extend your two weeks? I'm sure you will want to. We met people who had booked four weeks, and they kept on extending. It is costly to get there and back, so best to make the most of it.

As a non member, i don't think you can access my Blogs on this site.

Motherhen

Hi all,
thank you all so much for your replies my wife and I were reading with much interest,we are getting so excited about the trip the boys want to see a wild tassie devil LOL! I told them we might have to go to a zoo for that one but we might see a tassie tiger LOL!!! we were told that there is a night tour of a jail and its a heap of fun so that's on the cards as long as it don't scare the kids.
I'm not sure what is on down there as in events but what is this CMCA I cant remember what it was called to be honest LOL as my wife is a little worried we wont be able to free camp at all ,I said it depends how long it goes for, I would love to be able to meet other caravanners so I hope it is still on?
as for my membership I'm not sure what's going on as I thought I was still a paid up member so I sent an E/M to David and am waiting on a reply as I have just changed E/M and thought it may have something to do with it.

Well thanks all once again and I will be watching this post very close,as always you guys are a great help.

Regards John and Family.