Tasmania in winter is a wild, haunting place. With its wind swept valleys and jagged lunar cliffs, a short trip there can feel like time spent in another dimension -- back in the beginning of the world.
I spent one week careening around this strange cold place with my friend and her boyfriend last year. We had decided to plan nothing and took it very seriously -- I remember I did not even pack a flashlight.
Flying into Hobart was just one of our unplanned successes. The capital city of Australia’s island state is a must see, with beautiful lush green parks and quiet, tree-lined, cobblestone streets. Shops sell everything from wind chimes to first-rate wine to musical instruments and native aboriginal arts and crafts.
The landscape changes dramatically as you drive north from Hobart town and past the river Derwent. Rolling hills change to misty mountain-scapes. To the west, Cradle Mountain looms like a brooding giant, gray clouds hiding its pointed peak, trails cris-crossing its ragged slopes. Here, hikers can trek for five to eight days along the Overland Track, past thunderous waterfalls and glacial lakes in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park.
Driving in Tasmania is wary and slow. Roads are not always well marked, and it is easy to miss your turns. Bring a good map with you, and watch out for rodents . . . As we drove back east towards Port Arthur and the Tasman peninsula, little beady eyes shown red in our headlights. It is easy to see why they call them devils.
Night tours of Port Arthur are not for the faint of heart. As many as 12500 convicts are said to have served their sentences in this ancient penal colony, and locals say they can still hear their low moans echo through the ruins and the clinks of their chains on the stone.
Off-season, Tasmania is well worth a trip. Flights from Melbourne to Hobart are relatively cheap at this time of year, and the Spirit of Tasmania cruise line runs from Melbourne to Devonport year round, seven days a week.