I swore the whole way up and down Hartz Peak in Tasmania.
The intense beauty rendered all other words useless. Even f-bombs I muttered to myself didn’t feel emphatic enough.
If you’re a person who likes mountains that have something to say, Tasmania is calling your name.
Boardwalks snake across boggy tundra. Plants straight out of a Dr. Seuss novel flank both sides. Stony paths and vertical fields of boulders lead to jagged peak summits. Some of the cleanest air in the world — carried on the wind from Antarctica — fills your lungs with each breath.
How can the views from Hartz Peak not take your breath away?
If your pulse has ever quickened at the sight of Alaska’s inside passage, Tasmania is calling your name.
Hobart, the calm capital, feels like Seattle or Portland retired to a quiet life in the woods at the edge of the sea somewhere. Quietly tucked into a sandstone cave on the riverbank is the most evocative art museum I’ve ever visited. Farther north in Launceston, you’ll find the same seaside feel in town. Their secret is an outdoor playground that feels miles away from civilization – the Cataract Gorge Park – full of roos, wallabies, and possums. And walk-able at night!
We stayed in the seaside Battery Point district, with great views up to Mt. Wellington.
If you’re fascinated by rare flora, Tasmania is calling your name.
Silver wattle isn’t just fun to say… it’s gorgeous! The curious Celery Top pine lives for 800 years and occupies a habitat similar to the infamous Huon Pines. Slow-growing Huon’s are known for their distinctive smell and their natural oil the resists rot and defends against Toledo worms – marine creatures that slowly destroy vessels. Because they grow only in permanent water, this prized wood is now harvested only from already-downed logs rescued from rivers and lake bottoms. In the higher elevations, in addition to Dr. Seuss-like plants, button grasses release tannins that color the streams in the watersheds it inhabits. It makes the water so tannic that settlers used it for tanning hides.
One of the many Dr. Seuss-ian varieties you’ll see in Tasmania.
If you have an energetic friend bubbling with positivity, I highly recommend undertaking your Tasmanian journey with her. You’ll marvel at her delight and gratitude, listening to her thank the rivers and the bridges at the Tahune Airwalk. You’ll hear her narrations of the world. “Oh listen to the birds telling each other stories,” she’ll gush. And if you have a living inner child, you’ll gush, too.
The only thing I don’t recommend it contributing to the road kill count. But at roughly one expired animal every 100 yards, you’ll need luck on your side.
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