Tasmania: scene & heard
Adventurers and culture vultures alike are flocking here, writes James Stewart.
So long, Sydney, move over, Melbourne. Australia’s second-oldest city, Hobart, is the coolest little capital Down Under right now. At weekends it is packed with tourists who have come for the food and easy pace of life, as much as for Australia’s hippest art gallery, Mona.
Yet what sears the soul is Tasmania’s scenery, not least the achingly beautiful World Heritage wilderness covering a fifth of the state.
Here’s the pick of what’s new in 2018. Travel agent Tasmanian Odyssey (tasmanianodyssey.com) organises bespoke trips.
Three Capes Walk
Tasmania’s Overland Track is astonishingly beautiful and improbably busy. By contrast, the state’s newest hiking trail, the Three Capes Track (threecapestrack.com.au) on the Tasman Peninsula, hosts just 48 hikers a day.
After a cruise from Port Arthur’s convict jail to the trailhead, you’re in for four days of wilderness lite – boardwalks and smart cabins instead of muddy tracks and tents – along ragged basalt cliffs that make southern Australia’s Great Ocean Road look like Dorset.
From September, you can do it in style, too, with luxury hikes outfit Tasmanian Walking Company (taswalkingco.com.au). Same boggling scenery but with posh lodges and proper cuisine.
Gordon River cruise
Nowhere in Australia does wilderness like Tasmania. An application for World Heritage status in 1982 ticked more boxes than any previous Unesco site.
That bid centred on the Gordon River, a ribbon snaking through primeval rainforest at the world’s edge, its silence broken only by birdsong.
From January, Gordon River Cruises (gordonrivercruises.com.au) runs half-day trips in what it claims is Australia’s most eco-friendly vessel: solar-powered electrics and clever engineering minimise fuel consumption. Floor-to-ceiling polarised glass and a rooftop viewing deck provide unrivalled views.
Blue Derby Pods
Northeast Tasmania’s Blue Tier sets the gold standard for Aussie mountain biking – not just 100km of world-class single-track riding but a destination that flows through myrtle forest more suited to Middle Earth.
Now, Blue Derby Pods Ride (bluederbypodsride.com.au) has upped the ante with a new threeday guided trip. Ripping down the trails (for all abilities, it promises) is fantastic, childish fun. Then when most bikers make do with soggy pies and a scruffy bunk room, you retire to an eco-chic lodge for grown-up cuisine and a glamping pod deep within the forest. Magic.
Macq01
The upgrade of Hobart’s accommodation continues with a hip new harbour stay carved from a shipping warehouse. Instead of tick-box international style, Macq01 (macq01.com.au) is trueblue Tasmanian. The 114 spacious rooms have toys galore and balconies as standard, and are themed after historic state characters. Local craftspeople and food producers star. The biggest attraction? A waterfront location with unrivalled views of river and city.
Mona Foma
In January, David Walsh, the Mona mastermind who powered Tasmania’s rebrand from heritage backwater to arty island, is expanding his Mona Foma (mofo.net.au) arts festival, unleashing his merry carnival of music and mayhem in Tasmania’s second city, Launceston, (January 12-14) before returning it to Hobart (January 15-22).
It’s the coolest event in the Aussie arts calendar. If you miss it, Dark Mofo in mid-June offers a second bite of the cherry.