Tasmania – 2025

Sunday 2^nd February – Friday 7^th March

The Trip

Getting There

We allowed a week to drive across.  There are some great places to stop on the Nullarbor, although we didn’t get a lot of sleep between the truck noise and the high winds.  Old Koonalda Station is a fascinating ruined station a few Km off the Eyre Hwy with a wealth of history.  Lake Lascelles was a late addition after we had to change route to avoid fire in Victoria, and a first opportunity for a swim. Finally, we arrived in Geelong and embarked on the Spirit of Tasmania.  This was not a great day.  Spence’s Landcruiser was hit by a caravan at the quarantine checking station but it didn’t prevent us continuing (a new door and wing will put it right) and some of the group suffered from sea sickness on the choppy crossing.

The Fires

We had been carefully watching the Tasmania Alert site for some days and quickly realised that as the fires were moving up the West Coast we would be unable to do some of the classic tracks we had planned.  Sandy Cape and Balfour were definitely off, and we needed to keep an eye on the fires for most of the trip.   Fortunately, we were able to drive the Tarkine loop just before they closed the road, and there was an opportunity for some interesting forest drives including one led by Russ which involved blocked tracks, obstacles and an old railway line.

Forests, Lakes and Waterfalls

Drives through the forests are stunning.  The scenery is amazing, the roads / tracks are tiny and winding, and the logging trucks huge.  The beauty of the lakes and waterfalls takes your breath away. Locations included the Tarkine Loop, Mt Field National Park, Stanley and the Huon Valley.  We were lucky as always to have photographer extraordinaire Keith along with us to take some awesome pictures.

Mountains

We are a bit short on mountains in WA so it was a great experience to drive amongst them in Tassie.  It was less fun walking / climbing up them but some of our fitter group members did a great job of that too.  Mt Field and Mt Wellington had amazing views, and it was a real experience to drive out through the wilderness to Gordon Dam.  Some also braved a flying fox, a chair-lift up Mt Stanley and the Tahune Air Walk.  Freycinet NP provided the traditional view of Wineglass bay and a swim at Honeymoon Beach.  

Wildlife

Caz and Russ were the stars at wildlife spotting.  Most important on our list was the search for a wombat, platypus and Tassie devil, but they also caught great shots of a frogmouth owl, egret, snake, dragon and long tailed dunnart, not to mention the scariest spiders’ nest.

We Saw Snow!

A highlight of the trip for some was seeing snow, for some maybe for the first time.  The rule seems to be – climb to a high enough altitude in Tassie and you can get snow even in midsummer.

Walking

We were definitely not lazy during our trip.  Even those of us who are not as fit managed some lovely walks, although when the ranger said to do the 6Km walk anticlockwise as there were 350 steps down at the end the other way (bad for knees) I should have realized that meant that the direction we took had 350 steps UP at the end!  Lake Dove at Cradle Mountain was a beautiful walk in perfect weather. The Wineglass Bay walk in Freycinet continues round the coast for 12Km.  Cradle Mountain provided the most challenges with Keith and mountain goat Ivo climbing to Marion’s Lookout and Caz and Russ doing the summit climb.  The summit is a level 5 climb, and we were all a bit worried; but they made it home.  They may have suffered a bit the next day, but the view and the sheer achievement would have been worth it.

Tourist Stuff

Of course we couldn’t go to Tassie without doing some of the standard tourist stuff as well.  We barely scratched the surface of things to see at Port Arthur with some sightseeing by day and a ghost tour in the evening.  Spence was the designated lantern carrier and looked suitably creepy.  The Bay of Fires lived up to its reputation for amazing colours. We did avoid the cities, staying clear of Hobart and Launceston.

Food and Wine

Tassie is famous for its wine, cheese and fresh produce, so we felt duty bound to sample some of them.

The Way Home

Some members of the group split off to go home.  Alex left us at Geelong and just drove.   Caz and Russ left us at Adelaide and most of us drove via the Great Ocean Rd.

Burgo and Sue flew home from Launceston.  A few days from the end of the trip the combination of winding and hilly Tasmanian Roads, a council worker collecting roadkill on the side of the road, a Kenworth truck (thankfully not loaded) coming over the hill and a complete idiot trying to overtake straight into 2 terrified oncoming vehicles resulted in the truck barrelling into Burgo and Sue’s car and camper trailer.  Both have been written off.  We are all incredibly relieved that no-one was significantly hurt – it could have been very different if the truck was loaded with timber.   

The incident did bring home the huge benefits of travelling with a club like All Tracks.  Alex took Sue and Burgo to the remaining locations, so they did not miss Cradle Mountain and everyone rallied around to remove what belongings we could from the trashed car and trailer, split them between the remaining cars and get them home.  The level of support was awesome – thank you to the whole group for stepping up.

A big thank you to everyone who joined us on this trip.  It was certainly memorable.

Penny and Spence