FriendlyBrooks

Tasmania, beautiful one day perfect the next

Lance Brooks, advertising copywriter for Tourism Tasmania, February 2026

We packed up quite quickly on the Thursday (for us) as we were heading back to Hobart to see Jack perform as Isabella. We didn’t get very far down the road before we stopped to do a quick wine tasting at Devils Corner. Even though the sun was past the yard arm (or almost as it was 11 o’clock, we shared one small tasting flight as we had a 3 hour drive ahead and I was driving!  The views from this winery are spectacular and they built a special lookout to enhance this. The wines were also pretty good but we didn’t buy anything.

We arrived in Kingston by about 2 and had plenty of time before we needed to be at Jack’s show at 6 so we did our laundry and cleaned the car at this fantastic all in one washing place in Kingston. Somehow though it took several hours and by the time we went to Jack and Cassie’s for a shower and drove to North Hobart we were later than we meant to be.

Isabella in Off Leash was a  fantastic show. We are so proud of our creative clever son. He had booked out the whole theatre and everyone loved the performance. It was very lucky that we had a chance to see it.  After the show we went to Bar Wah, in North Hobart and had a delicious selection of Tapas, including wallaby wings, chosen especially for David 😍

It was sad to say goodbye to Cassie at home the next morning as we wouldn’t be back there for a while.  We managed to squeeze in one last walk on Kingston Beach with Jack and Tugboat before dropping Jack off at work.

Lance and I stopped for a coffee and pastry at a lovely cafe across the road from Jack’s office in a building that has been there since the early 1800s.

We should have been on our way then up to Cradle Mountain but Lance remembered that he had forgotten his guitar which was back at Kingston. Off we go back for 40 minute turnaround and then on the way back he realised he left his phone in the coffee shop. Back we go to the coffee shop, which turned out well because we had a chance to have another goodbye coffee with Jack and to see his office.

Finally, 2 hours later than planned we set off for Cradle Mountain via the beautiful highland Lakes road. We stopped for lunch at the Mieta pub where the 70-something owner and chef had worked for nearly 30 years.

By the time we arrived at the campground it was nearly 6 and the place was nearly full. This was a HipCamp and we had a booking so it wasn’t really a problem. The campground was as close to Cradle Mountain as you can stay, without being in the National Park. The owner Scott and his wife had owned the farm for about 30 years and about 5 years ago they decided to take campers in their property. They have done a lovely job, providing clean toilets, plenty of flat space to camp, some with power. There’s a dam where they’ve made pretty paths around for walking and campers can even kayak on the dam or do catch and release fishing.

Our last full day in Tasmania entailed a nice little 10km hike up to Marion’s Lookout at Cradle Mountain. We first visited Dove Lake where we saw people on an organised swim. It’s a 5km swim around the perimeter of the lake. They all had wetsuits but of course Lance couldn’t let an opportunity go by and swam in his Speedos. It was 14 degrees which is the same as Manly in winter (and Drummoyne pool in October).

Once dried, we climbed up and up and up to the lookout. The last part actually has a chain to help you haul yourself over the rocks. It actually wasn’t quite as hard as it sounds but I was glad to arrive at the top. Here the views are out of this world. It was a perfect place to eat our lunch. We went down by a different route via the start of the Overland Track. It was much easier going down this route than I remember it when we went up with 25kg packs on our multi day hike 10 years ago. We ended the hike this time at Ronny Creek where we saw several wombats.

Next we caught the bus to Cradle Mountain Lodge where we first did the 2km (and flat) Enchanted Forest walk. We saw a black snake at the start of this walk, amazingly our first and only snake seen in Tasmania. The walk into the lodge also presented an echidna, a couple of wallabies and a pademelon. We had a glass of Tasmanian wine in the lodge before heading back to our campsite to enjoy the starry night. Our last full Tassie day really delivered the very best you can hope for on this beautiful island

– magnificent views, tick,

-abundant wildlife tick,

– strenuous and rewarding hike, tick

-good food and wine, tick

-great camping spot with amazing night sky, tick

Tick, tick, tick!!!

Sunday dawned a little gloomy so we packed up quickly so we didn’t have a wet tent. We went to Sheffield, home of the murals, for Mass and our last scallop pie of the trip then drove to the National Rowing Centre at Lake Barrington. There was a state school rowing carnival on so it was great to see it in action.

We then headed to Devonport so we had plenty of time to wait for the ferry. We visited the lighthouse in very windy conditions. We were hoping for a late lunch at a beachside cafe but everything was closed. Lance had a last swim in the ocean and then we went to board the ferry for Geelong.

As it was a night crossing we had booked a cabin. Despite a bit of rocking of the boat we had a good night’s sleep and another great experience on the Spirit of Tasmania.