driving in tasmania


tasmania in some ways resembles new zealand but i find the latter more scenic. in fact, there are more differences than similarities. new zealand is a country whereas tasmania is just a state of australia. new zealand is made up of two islands while tasmania is one island.

we did not take the spirit of tasmania but we have seen the piers at both ends, at melbourne and at devonport. we did visit port arthur (see picture) and soon after our visit, in 1996, there was a massacre at port arthur where 35 people were killed and 18 people wounded.


of course, we went to cradle mountain (see picture 2). we stayed there for 3 days and it rained on 2 days. it's one place where you have to book your accommodation in advance. if you visit cradle mountain, you must go on one of the many walking trails. we stayed at one of the log cabins and had an uninvited visitor - an opossum - in the night.


however, the most memorable part of our trip was the drive through queenstown. after having climbed the sand dunes at strahan, we were making our way to hobart. we had to pass through this lunar landscape town. the mountainous area was bare of vegetation and roads up the mountains were narrow and winding. it was really scary looking down the mountain slope.

apart from this stretch, the rest of the drive was quite ordinary. traffic is very light once you are out of the towns. if fact, in some places you could be on the road driving for hours without coming across another car.