KV. : Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2015: Tasmania

Wild and dramatic, cultured and quirky, isolated yet accessible – Australia’s island state, nestled comfortably at the southeastern base of Australia, is intrinsic to the nation’s story. Van Diemen’s Land (as Tasmania was christened by white settlers) was home to some of the first convict ships to land in Australia, and the tragic, harrowing and haunting tales of those arrivals permeate the state. However, modern Tasmania has emancipated itself from wallowing in the past and adopted a fresh, hip and inclusive attitude sparked by the brilliant revival of its now super-cool waterfront capital, Hobart, and the development of an eclectic year-long events calendar.

By Chris Zeiher

One of my main goals over the last year is to do more exploring - of Australia that is. I've seen some of the world (and it's never enough) and thought why not try my own backyard? As much as work seems to be an excuse not to take some time off, I made it a conscious effort this year to stop myself thinking there's not enough time for weekend trips, road trips and small getaways. Lucky we chose to go over the Queen's Birthday weekend which gave us an extra day. To me, explore means to venture out into the unknown or in my case somewhere unfamiliar. I've always looked at the map of Australia and thought how lonely Tasmania is all the way on the bottom, almost forgotten, right? Also, being on Lonely Planet's Top Places to visit in 2015, I added and ticked it off my places to visit on my Travel bucket list. I don't consider myself a travel blogger by any means but I was so excited to write this detailed re-cap of my 3 day itinerary to help other first timers discover beautiful Tassie...

Day 1

07.45am Landed at Launceston Airport and with no time to delay, went straight to pick up our (hire) car to make the first stop of our trip to Cradle Mountain-Lake St Claire National Park which is listed as a world Heritage Area and located in the Central Highlands area of Tasmania.

10.30am We arrived at our destination, paid for our National Park entry fee ($16.50 per adult) and drove down to Dove Lake to begin our 6.6km walk. The weather wasn't great, in fact there were patches of light to heavy rain, so we did get drenched but lucky for us we dressed appropriately. Unfortunately the fog and mist prevented us from seeing the whole of Cradle Mountain but other than that, the nature walk was incredible, also, don't be surprised if you come across some Australian wildlife along the track. For those looking forward to doing the actual Cradle Mountain hike, they close it off during the winter months because of the weather so better off traveling there in the summer if that's your aim. This circuit takes an average of 1-2 hours but took us a little longer because of all the snaps I kept taking along the track. The circuit was a pretty easy walk, one steep hill, a few stairs and I recommend it suitable for children and families.

02.00pm This was the longest drive we did over the whole trip. Due to the mountains and plains of Tasmania, there are no roads that cut through Cradle Mountain to get to Lake St Claire so we had to drive around western Tasmania to get to our next destination. For motion sickness sufferers like myself, you might want to take some tablets on this ride to help with that, lol

05.00pm Finally arrived and checked in at Pumphouse Point, which was the highlight of the trip. I've stayed in many boutique hotels before but nothing compares my stay to this exclusive piece of property. The eeriness of this estate makes it more interesting because even though it's cosy and modern interior may make you feel like you're living in luxury, it was previously an abandoned decommissioned pumphouse dating back to the 1940's which was owned by the Tasmania Government for years before being granted to turn it into one of the finest places to stay in Australia. We checked into the Shorehouse, lucky for us it was also the best room on the property with a panoramic view of the Pumphouse and Lake St Claire (ask for room 18 in the Shorehouse). Each room comes with a fully stocked larder which is priced quiet reasonably and if you choose to make your own dinner, the hotel provides free bread. We chose to go with the set menu/share dinner downstairs in the Shorehouse dining room which gave us an opportunity to mingle with the other guests in the facility. Breakfast is included in your stay, it's a buffet style set up where you can choose from a variety of healthy options, it's served from 7.30am until 9.30am. My favorite features of this hotel are the amazing common rooms and the use of the honesty system for the bar and food in each room, and of course the interior design of both the Shorehouse and Pumphouse.

NOTE: This day could have been better planned into a couple of days but because of the limited time we had and the location of our accommodation, we squeezed it over one day.

Dove Lake Circuit

Entrance gate into PHP

Pumphouse from a distance

The Pumphouse

Common Room & Dining Room at the Shorehouse

The bar at the Shorehouse

Honesty system Bar at the Shorehouse

Common Room at the Shorehouse

Kitchen in our Panoramic Room at the Shorehouse

Bathroom in our Panoramic Room at the Shorehouse

Our Panoramic Room at the Shorehouse

View of the Shorehouse from the Pumphouse dock

Lake St Claire

The Pumphouse

Downstairs common room at the Pumphouse

Upstairs common room at the Pumphouse

Day 2

10.00am We checked out on the dot (really, we didn't want to leave). Next stop we made our drive down (1.5 hours) to the Bothwell where we booked a Tour, Whiskey Tasting and two course lunch at Nant Distilling Company. Some like Wine tasting, but we felt like Whiskey tasting, we were here for about 2.5 hours where we enjoyed some great food with an amazing view. They say that the Tassie food scene is a gourmet’s paradise, I agree.

02.30pm After having a bit of a rest from the Whiskey tasting, we finally made our way to the city (another 1 hour drive) where we checked into Macquarie Manor located in the heart of Hobart. Nothing was a stand out besides the location of this hotel, it actually felt pretty haunted so one night's stay was more than enough, lol.

06.00pm For dinner, we walked down to Salamanca Place to Rockwell Bar & Grill. I'm not really a steak person but I did hear great things about the steak in Tassie, and I thought it was one of the best steak's I've had. For those of you who are familiar with Williamstown, this spot reminded me of Nelson Place. Unfortunately we weren't there on Saturday but I heard it's worth the visit to check out the Salamanca Markets during the day. Not sure about you guys, but I'm not always into the party scene (depends where I am, really) so Hobart's early closing hours were perfect and our food comas put us to bed by midnight.

Entrance

Nant Distillery

Entrees at Nant Distillery

Main course at Nant Distillery

Whiskey tasting at Nant Distillery

Distillery Tour

Macquarie Manor dining room

Fresh oysters at Rockwall Bar & Grill

Rockwall Bar & Grill

Day 3

09.15am Checked out of Macquarie Manor and walked down to Salamanca Square where we originally planned to go to Machine Laundry Cafe for breakfast but I think everyone else had the same idea since there was quiet a wait. Instead, we opted for Smolt, and so glad we made that decision. The breakfast there was delicious and kind of reminded me of Top Paddock, the vibe, decor and quality menu. For Melbourne coffee lovers like myself, you won't be disappointed. I had the potato & rosemary french toast, house-cured thick-cut bacon, house relish while my friend went for the pan-fried sardines, two poached eggs, pangrattato, green olives, capers, aioli, toasted ciabatta. Both meals were pretty faultless and presentation was just as it tasted, amazing! The only issue I had was the long wait for our food but other than that, the staff were pretty friendly and welcoming.

11.00am Drove up to Mt Wellington to check out the view. I guess you have to be prepared to face the Southerly Winds because it felt like we were going to get blown away, literally and figuratively speaking. We drove all the way to the pinnacle of the Mountain, but the combo of strong winds, thick fog and mist made it impossible to enjoy any kind of view so we drove down a little to catch the beautiful panoramic views of Hobart.

12.00pm Last stop of the trip was at MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) located in the belly of the Moorilla Winery. As a creative, I love to visit museums all around the world for inspiration and generally just out of interest so I definitely had to add MONA to my list. I didn't know what to expect from all the reviews and comments from friends so walking in open minded was the way to go. I personally thought it was a bit too eclectic for me but I did enjoy the range of art on exhibit and found it pretty quirky and interactive.