Travel & tourism

Duck Reach, West Launceston

31 Mar 2022

EscapeTas, a series of collaborative articles celebrating beautiful restorations, inventive architecture and memorable travel experiences.

Forty South

TOWNS OF TASMANIA: Penguin

by Bert Spinks

08 Mar 2025

Here’s an idea for your next kids’ day out, social excursion or romantic date ...

Travel & tourism

TOWNS OF TASMANIA: Evandale

by Bert Spinks

26 Oct 2024

On Sunday mornings Evandale is abuzz with activity ...

Travel & tourism

TOWNS OF TASMANIA: Bicheno

by Pen Tayler

01 Jul 2023

If you want to kick-start a robust conversation among Tasmanians, ask them to nominate the nicest beach town on the island ...

Travel & tourism

TOWNS OF TASMANIA: Fingal

by Bert Spinks

06 Sep 2024

When, in 2013, in northern California, my friend introduced me to her dad, he greeted me, “Tasmania. You’re not from Fingal, are ya?” ...

Forty South

TOWNS OF TASMANIA: Derby

by Bert Spinks

24 Mar 2024

DERBY A few years ago, you wouldn’t have expected Derby to be world-famous in anything. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve long loved Derby. This quiet village in north-eastern Tasmania sits amid of some of the most interesting and underrated landscapes...

Wilderness

THE ABELS: Arm River

by Rob Shaw

03 Feb 2024

Being widely promoted overseas means the Overland Track tends to be frequented by so many mainland and international travellers that it sometimes resembles a major airport more than a wilderness hike ...

History

Don and the dredger

by Fiona Stocker

04 Feb 2021

Crouched on the shore at Low Head Pilot Station, its windows facing the estuary, is a handsome brick and stone building. Erected by convicts in 1835, it was built as accommodation for the families of the four pilots whose job it was to guide ships into the Tamar Estuary. Today, it houses the Low Head Pilot Station Maritime Museum, run by volunteers and maritime enthusiasts.

Travel & tourism

Trefoil island: and the short-tailed shearwater

by Graeme Bourke

20 Mar 2022

Wynyard Airport, 10am. It was a clear, sunny day ...

Travel & tourism

TOWNS OF TASMANIA: Ross

by Bert Spinks

17 Apr 2022

A road is not like a railway, built mile by mile, inching along to an inevitable goal ...

Travel & tourism

Towns of Tasmania: Sorell

by Bert Spinks

02 Dec 2021

“I will proceed with my history, telling the story as I go along of small cities of men no less than of great. For most of those which were great once are small today; and those which used to be small...

Travel & tourism

Flinders Island: I could move here

by Don Defenderfer

28 Oct 2021

“I don’t trust the government – just look at how they are controlling our lives now with the Covid virus outbreak. It’s only going to get worse. Flinders Island is the type of place to get away from all of that control. It’s the type of place to get away from everything. This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I could raise the kids here, find some work, live more sustainably off the land, have a good life. I could move here.”

Travel & tourism

Towns of Tasmania: Queenstown

by Bert Spinks

04 Oct 2021

As mentioned earlier, two roads lead to the west coast: one from the north and one from the south. It is the route out of Hobart, along the Lyell Highway, which is the more dramatic. Rising gradually to the southern region of the central mountains, western Tasmania begins at about the site of the Derwent Bridge Hotel. Beyond this, the highway leads through sections of buttongrass and rainforest, with mountains of dolerite and quartzite and conglomerate all appearing over the road, often blanketed in a preternatural gloom.

Travel & tourism

Creatives weekend on Picnic Island

by Pen Tayler

14 Sep 2021

Dawn is still about 20 minutes away, but on the south side of the island well-known artist Mel Hills is already up preparing her materials to draw a sketch of the morning light on The Hazards. From her vantage point there is...