2 weeks in North West Tasmania

North West Tassie is a wonderful place to visit if you enjoy hiking, boating, scenic views, waterfalls, history and wildlife. Part of the North West is also included in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area which takes up approximately 20% of Tasmania’s land mass.

General info about the North West region of Tasmania

It’s a very sparsely populated area and so there are a few things to be aware of:

• Internet coverage and petrol stations between towns are sparse, at best, so be prepared.  As an example, we drove 2.5 hours from Corrina to Moina without seeing a single petrol station or shop.  And in that whole time we were connected to phone and internet for about a minute!
• When looking at a map, what often looks like a town, may not be.  It might just be a wilderness lodge or just 3 houses or, in fact, nothing.  For example, we were staying in some accommodation in what looked (on the map) like a town called Moina.  When we got there it was just our accommodation and I think two other houses.  I later drive 30 minutes to get to a small supermarket in the town of Sheffield.
• The positive aspect of course is that there is no traffic to worry about and nature is all around and very beautiful.

This particular blog is longer than my usual.  Just too much to tell you about!  But of course you can just click on the various links in the Table of Contents to go to the areas that interest you the most.

Getting there and back

Obviously you can fly over to Tasmania but we took the option this time of the car ferry – Spirit of Tasmania

For those wanting to catch the Spirit of Tasmania ferry from Melbourne to Devonport, here’s a bit of useful info:

• The main advantage of course is that you can take your car & caravan/trailer/boat over.  We just had our car but it means you can pile up lots of stuff in your car and not have to carefully pack a suitcase without going over the 20 kg limit etc.
• You can go overnight or during the day.  Either way you can also book a cabin or not.  There’s also plenty of seating, places to eat & drink etc. around the boat.  There’s even a cinema!
• In both directions it took us 1.5 hours from the time we joined the queue to get on the boat to the time we got out of our car on the boat.  I presume in winter it would be much quicker but in high season, this is what you can expect.
• There may be delays – you are at the mercy of the weather gods and so departures and arrivals don’t always occur on time.  We were delayed for hours on the way over there due to very rough weather.
• Take sea sickness pills before the boat leaves.  We had a very rough night going over but did not get one bit sea sick.  And I’m prone to sea sickness, so the pills did their job!

Stanley

Stanley is a beautiful and historic coastal town located on the north west corner of Tasmania.  It’s situated on a little peninsula jutting out into Bass Strait.  It’s only small but with the iconic landscape formation ‘The Nut’ as a backdrop, and the beautiful, colourful, well-preserved homes on the main street, it really is quite pretty.  We loved it actually!

Other attractions include the beaches either side of The Nut (which is actually a massive volcanic plug), a historical homestead overlooking the town, a harbour and a great wine bar.  It all helps make Stanley a small town that punches above its weight.  You can go penguin spotting on the beaches too.  We had some beautiful weather whilst we were there which always helps!

For great views, stop along the road (parking safely!) that leads into town, or drive up to the Jimmy Lane Memorial Lookout.  A really great view can also be found at the historic homestead Highfield.

And of course, an almost compulsory part of visiting Stanley is either walking up or taking the chairlift up to the top of The Nut.  There is a beautiful walk around it. Obviously the views are spectacular but also there are quite a few wallabies up there too.  In fact, we saw one just hopping through town!

If you like your wine (or whisky or gin), talk to the staff at the quirky, vintage wine bar in the main street.  It’s really quite beautiful!  The sort of place I would expect to see in a much bigger town!

A lot of people also base themselves at Stanley to do the Tarkine Drive to travel through globally significant rainforests.  The Tarkine is the second largest expanse of cool temperate rainforest in the world!  And a lot of it is very, very old!  At the time we were in Stanley, there was a bit of the road that was blocked for some reason and you couldn’t do the loop.  So we just really did the section from Trowutta Arch (the highlight of the drive for us) to Kanunnah Bridge.  A lot of the little places of interest to stop at on the tourist map were a bit disappointing actually but overall it was a nice drive.  I wonder if we would have preferred the part of the drive that hugged the coast.  Maybe next time.

So we spent 3 nights in Stanley and felt that was just right.

Strahan

Strahan is another lovely little historic town positioned on Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west.  A popular tourist location largely due to it being close to the UNESCO World Heritage listed Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park – part of the large Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.  We spent 3 nights here and that was a good amount of time for us.

There’s quite a bit to do in such a small town too. 

• I think the most popular tourist attraction is a boat day trip that takes you out through the entrance of Macquarie Harbour (known as Hell’s Gate) which has just an 80m gap for boats to pass through, then back through the other end of the harbour, down to the Gordon River.  The Gordon River being famous for almost being dammed in the 80’s but a strong campaign from environmental protestors at the time, saw it stopped. 
  Our first stop on the cruise was to Sarah Island, an old penal colony.  This guided tour was much more interesting that I would have expected.  Too many interesting facts to go through here but how about just this one:  Convicts stole a ship that had just been built (by themselves) but not yet officially commissioned and escaped and sailed it successfully to South America! 
  The next stop on our boat trip is at a small mooring with a short circular board walk to take you around the old growth, cool and dense temperate rainforest.  Quite beautiful.  At the end of the cruise, back at Strahan, after docking, there is also a short tour of the Huon Pine Sawmill.  (The town was earlier a big logging and timber town.)
  I highly recommend this trip.  Staff and service were really great, tour guides were excellent and the food was better than you often get on a day cruise.  There are two companies that run these cruises here.  We went with the World Heritage Cruise company but I’m sure the other company are also very good.
• ‘The Ship that Never Was’ is a play that runs most days from about 5:30 pm in an indoor/outdoor space next to the Information Centre that was really quite fun – lots of laughs.  For all ages too!  It tells the story of the ship that was stolen by convicts and sailed to Chile (briefly mentioned in the bullet point above).
• West Coast Wilderness Railway Train trip – this is VERY popular and you will need to book about 6 – 8 weeks out, particularly in high season.  Unfortunately we were unaware of this and so missed out.  The most popular tour is the train trip from Strahan to Queenstown which travels though fantastic scenery.  And apparently you get to stop at various points of interest along the way. The railways were originally built to help support the rich mining industry of this part of Tasmania. 
• Hogarth Falls – A very scenic and easy 30 minute walk from town and you can see the beautiful Hogarth Falls.  This walk is one of Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks (we did about 6 of these over the holiday)
• Ocean Beach – Just 6 kms outside Strahan is Tasmania’s longest beach  (40 kms) and well worth a visit – so beautiful even on a very grey overcast day.  You can walk to near the lighthouse at Hells Gate too.  We only had a brief visit there and I think that was probably enough for us but there were quite a few campers around that obviously thought it was worth a longer stay.
• Also there are a few other attractions that we didn’t get to experience such as Yacht charters, boat tours to Bonnet Island, Henty Dunes.  Or maybe for a special occasion take a helicopter ride over the harbour, the Gordon River and wilderness areas!

Corinna

We got so lucky with the weather for our one night in Corinna.  We would have liked a couple of nights there but it books out well in advance!  The Corinna Wilderness Lodge is not just the only accommodation there but it is the only anything! It also has some old historic buildings from when the area was a mining town. Situated on the incredibly beautiful Pieman River and the ancient Tarkine rainforest surrounds, there are lots of beautiful walks, kayaking and boating.

So we made the most of our one night there.  We went on a lovely, short afternoon cruise on the afternoon we arrived – up the Pieman River and into a smaller river where we saw the remnants of an old shipwreck.  Then up to the Lovers Falls staircase which is a much photographed spot.  The waterfall was pretty much dried up when we were there but the scenery all around it was beautiful.

Later went on the Whyte River Walk which was stunning.  Highly recommend this one. It takes about an hour or so, easy in some parts and a bit steep and rough ground in other parts.  There are many other walks – some quite short, some longer and more challenging.  So something for everyone.

The following day we enjoyed a day cruise up the river to the mouth where we got off for lunch and went for a short walk along the beautiful massive beach there.  The weather was still and sunny on the way there and we had the most stunning reflections.  Those that love boating history will enjoy the historical aspects of the boat.  The Arcadia II is a 17 m boat build from local huon pine in 1939 and has an interesting history.  Learn more about the boat and the cruises here.

After our boat trip we headed off for our next destination.  Two or three nights at Corinna would have been nice but we were very glad we managed to get a booking for the one night.  So you really need to book a few months ahead I think.  There are no shops around so take any food or necessities with you.  There is camping and cabins.  No internet or phone coverage at Corinna and not even any TV in the cabins.  For me, this was fine for one night, but I would have been suffering withdrawal symptoms if we’d been there a few nights I think. 

Use of solar power, rain water, eco certified products, commitment to off-site waste removal and recycling, chemical free sewage treatment and non plastic packaging, combine to minimize the human footprint at Corinna. You really are totally isolated here.  I must mention too that the restaurant there was better than we expected and was of a very good quality – book ahead for the restaurant too. 

Cradle Mountain

The jewel in Tasmania’s crown is surely Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park.   I’d been here more than 25 years ago so I was definitely overdue for another visit.  It really has the most amazing views and landscapes – mountains, ancient rainforests, crater lakes and streams. We saw kangaroos, pademelons and my favourite – wombats.  But it is also home to other wildlife that we didn’t see on our visit such as quolls, Tasmanian devils, platypus and echidnas.  There’s a great number of walks at all different levels – so much so that it can be hard deciding which ones to do.  Serious walkers can do the multi-day Overland Track.

We had two full days there which would be the minimum I would want there.  Weather wasn’t great but at least we didn’t get rained on.  The entrance is quite different to when we visited many years ago.  Once you could drive up to the Dove Lake carpark.  Now you park at the entrance to the National Park where there is a café, toilets and information centre and it’s also where you buy your tickets into the park.  Shuttle buses take you in with various stops on the way – you just get on and off as you please (they run every 10 mins).

So our choice of walks was:  Day 1 – the famous Dove Lake walk – fairly easy (grade 3) very beautiful 2-3 hour walk.  Allow for 3 hours because you’ll be taking lots of photos!  Afterwards we did two short walks – the Enchanted walk and the King Billy walk (the latter was our favourite of the two).  Day 2 –  was harder but wonderful.  We started from Ronny Creek and walked to Lake Lilla, Wombat Pools and its lookout, Crater Lake, then back down towards Crater Falls and back to the start of the Overland track to where we started.  Our hiking sticks were much needed that day – lots of steps!  And just a 100m from the bus stop we finally saw wombats!  Quite a few and a couple of mother/joey pairings. It shouldn’t need to be said but please respect the wildlife – no touching and no feeding!  The wombats were a wonderful way to end our walk.

And after your walks just head to the bistro/bar at Cradle Mountain Lodge and enjoy a drink or two and rest your weary legs.  Very enjoyable!

Also please be aware it is an alpine area and the weather can change at a moment’s notice. So be prepared!  Wear good walking boots/shoes, wet weather gear and clothing for different temps.  Sunscreen and sunglasses are essential!

We stayed a little way out of Cradle Mountain itself in Moina.  Staying in the park itself is of course more expensive and you need to book well ahead!  But Moina was just a half hours drive away at the most so it was quite convenient.  Again though Moina was another place with no internet or phone reception unless you were in the reception/restaurant area.  TV was satellite TV.

So Cradle Mountain was our favourite destination of our two weeks in north west Tasmania.  For more information on visiting Cradle Mountain, click here.

Chasing Waterfalls

Our last place we stayed on our holiday was Tullah.  Situated on Lake Rosebery, the town itself is nothing special and looks like its seen better days.  Mainly used these days to house workers from nearby Hydro scheme, I think.  But we had a great house on the water and it was fairly central to the waterfalls we wanted to visit.

Montezuma Falls

So our first full day there we visited Montezuma Falls – Tasmania’s tallest! The falls themselves were not in full flow but were pretty special just the same.  There is a fairly easy Grade 2, 11 km return track to the falls and it has a great suspension bridge right next to the falls over the creek.  Allow about 3 hours for your visit.  You’ll see signs to the start of the walking track just out of the mining town of Rosebery.  Although a long walk, it is fairly easy and is through beautiful rainforest.  The track itself is built along an old tramway that was built many years ago when the area was mined.  You’ll see remnants of the track as you go along, also an old entrance to a mining shaft built into the hill.

Champagne Falls and Bridal Veil Falls

The next day we had a full day available to us before getting back on the ferry at Devonport that night.  From Lemonthyme Lodge we you park to start the hike to Champagne Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.  Both are very close to each other.  So we walked up the steep 4WD track before it veers off into a forest walk with rough, steep, muddy ground with lots of tree roots.  Quite a challenging walk – so, so glad we took our hiking sticks!  Not just for our old knees but to stop us slipping over!  

I would recommend going to Bridal Veil Falls first and then crossing the little bridge over the creek and head back down to Champagne Falls before crossing the creek again. 

Both falls are absolutely stunning but very different and both had more water than Montezuma Falls.  And not only are these falls beautiful but the forest walks are also really pretty. 

After this strenuous walk, we got changed to head back towards Devonport.  John realised he had a leech at this point, so be aware that you could come across some.

Driving back to Devonport, we stopped at the historical pretty town of Sheffield where we found a quaint little café serving scones and coffee.  Oh, just what we needed!  Didn’t hold back on the cream either as I reckon we really earned it!

Once in Devonport we had time to spare, so we drove up to the Mersey Bluff lighthouse and had a quick look around the lighthouse and the surrounding beaches (legs were too tired to do too much exploring). Later we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner and bottle of red.  It was a great end to a great day and fortnight.

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Hope you’ve enjoyed this Travel Inspiration from an Empty Nester!