TASMANIA’S GROOVY GOURMET TRAIL
Once a sleepy backwater, Tassie is shaking off its Goretex-clad image and growing a goatee, with cutting-edge art, gourmet tasting menus, hip design hotels and a home-grown whisky trail.
WHY IT’S SPECIAL
Tasmania, off the southern tip of Australia, has always been on the bucket list of hardy hikers, but these days it is foodies who are making a beeline for its far-flung shores. The island’s natural larder has become a magnet for chefs from the mainland and Hobart is now a hotbed of culinary innovation.
You can join a food-themed walking tour with Gourmania (gourmaniafood tours.com.au), starting at Salamanca food market – don’t eat breakfast. Bed down in one of the coolest design hotels, the MACq01 (macq01.com.au) on the waterfront, and hop on a boat to Mona (mona.net.au) – the city’s ballsy and bonkers museum which has a winery next door, Moorilla, and a wildly inventive restaurant, Faro.
As well as vineyards and cider orchards (one of Tasmania’s nicknames is Apple Island), there is even a home-grown whisky trail (taswhisky trail.com). You can do a self-guided road trip, but if you want to sample a dram or two, take a tour with Drink Tasmania (drinktasmania.com.au) – just make sure Peter Bignell’s distillery is on the itinerary. Bignell built his own still, used an old washing machine as a malting machine – and his spirits wound up on Rene Redzepi’s drinks list for his pop-up in Sydney a few years back.
YOU’LL NEVER FORGET…
Tucking into abalone and spiny sea urchins plucked from the seabed by the diver on board the Seafood Seduction tour from the harbour in Hobart. Or the oysters poached in champagne on deck (pennicottjourneys.com.au).
INSIDER TIP
Head to a sheep farm 25 miles south of Hobart to sample some of the Grandvewe Farm cheeses – and its award-winning sheep’s whey vodka. This is farm diversification in action.
HOW TO DO IT
There are no direct flights to Tasmania from the UK. Fly to Melbourne or Sydney with airlines such as BA (ba.com), Etihad (etihad.com) or Qantas (qantas. com), then take a domestic flight on to Hobart with airlines such as Virgin Australia from about AU$118 (£66) one-way (virginaustralia.com). Double rooms at MACq01 cost from AU$200 (£112), room only (macq01.com.au). For more information, see discovertasmania.com.au.