Category: Tasmania

Bushwalking in Tasmania: 12 of the Best Day-Walks

With mountains galore, a picturesque coastline, and unique plants and animals, Tasmania offers some of Australia’s best hiking options.

The mountainous island state of Tasmania offers probably Australia’s best hiking. It’s the only place in the country where you can find a high concentration of pointy rugged mountains for a start. There are many plants and animals unique to Tasmania, and this wildlife tends to be more visible than in the south-eastern states of the mainland. The landscape is also unique, with a variety of vegetation from rainforest to alpine heath, many attractive waterfalls, and a lot of rock on offer, including sometimes extensive boulder fields (I’m a particular fan of boulder hopping).

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Meander Falls & Split Rock Track, Tasmania

The Meander Falls and Split Rock Tracks are hidden gems offering quintessential Tasmiania scenery without the crowds, and were one of the highlights of my trip to Tasmania in 2019.

This relatively unknown circuit walk to Meander Falls ended up being the highlight of my trip to Tasmania in 2019. Perhaps not quite as spectacular as the walks we did in Cradle Mountain National Park, it nevertheless provided a remote and impressive bushwalking experience that exceeded expectations (which I have now built up for you! 🙂 ) . And despite walking on a weekend, we met just one or two groups along the way, so it remains underappreciated. Lucky for us at least. Expect beautiful forest and rivers, impressive waterfalls, cliffs, and boulders galore. Very Tasmanian.

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Walls of Jerusalem to Solomons Throne, Tasmania

The Walls of Jerusalem National Park offers a wilderness experience in a day walk, and the highlight of the park are the cliffs of the same name, including our target for the day, Solomons Throne (1470m).

The Walls of Jerusalem National Park is a favourite for many people, and yet you can only reach the best scenery by walking in, so it’s a lot quieter than nearby Cradle Mountain. Once you have ascended up through eucalypt forest the alpine scenery starts with numerous tarns, Richea Scoparia (past flowering stage when we visited, but still nice), pencil pines, cliffs, and the cutest, fluffiest wallabies you could ever hope to meet. We chose to walk up the peak known as Solomons Throne (1470m), but if you have time you can also ascend The Temple (1446m) and Mount Jerusalem (1459m). Nearby King Davids Peak (1499m) provides some good photo opportunities. It’s all very biblical.

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Mother Cummings Head ascent, Great Western Tiers, Tasmania

A sometimes steep walk through attractive beech forest and past the tree line onto the top of the Great Western Tiers at Mother Cummings Head (1260m).

Although a bit misty on the day we did it, this walk up onto the Great Western Tiers to the summit of Mother Cummings Head (1260m) offers good views over the tiers, as well as attractive beech forest, rocky stream beds, and alpine vegetation up on the summit plateau. There’s also a small waterfall along the way.

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Cataract Gorge Circuit, Launceston Tasmania

Cataract Gorge and the South Esk River offer attractive bushwalking on the edge of Launceston in Northern Tasmania. Apart from the scenery you might also come across some unusual wildlife.

Cataract Gorge is very picturesque and sits just on the edge of Launceston, northern Tasmania’s largest city. There are a number of bush tracks in the area and we did a fairy wide circuit taking in some country further upstream on the South Esk River in the Trevallyn Nature Recreation Area. Continue reading “Cataract Gorge Circuit, Launceston Tasmania”

Cradle Mountain Circuit, Tasmania

Spectacular scenery all the way as you climb Tasmania’s iconic Cradle Mountain (1545m), and return via the Face Track and Twisted Lakes.

Climbing Cradle Mountain (1545m) is one of the best day walks in Australia, and making a circuit of it by returning along the Face Track and by the Twisted Lakes maximises your scenery. There are excellent views pretty much the whole way, including views of the mountain from various angles, of numerous lakes, and there are extensive views from the rocky summit over the northern end of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. Continue reading “Cradle Mountain Circuit, Tasmania”

Mt Roland & Mt Vandyke, Northern Tasmania

A great circuit walk up the prominent and rocky Mt Roland, returning via Mt Vandyke for variety. There are fabulous 360 degree views from the summit of Mt Roland, so aim to do this one on a clear day.

The circuit ascending Mt Roland and then descending via Mt Vandyke exceeded my expectations. The excellent 360 degree views from the summit of Mt Roland take in the flat expanse of land to the north and east, and the other peaks in this range to the west. Further west there are distant and famous peaks in Cradle Mountain National Park. It’s an impressively rocky and quite prominent mountain range (from most angles), and the circuit taking in Mt Vandyke is varied: It starts in lush forest and then rises onto an alpine plateau, passes boulder fields, and visits two rocky peaks which both require a bit of a scramble. The return track is very steep but this adds a bit to the sense of adventure.

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Barn Bluff ascent, Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania

Climbing the distinctively rocky and prominent peak of Barn Bluff (1559m) in Cradle Mountain National Park makes for a classic Tasmanian alpine day walk.

The rocky summit of Barn Bluff (1559m) pops up out of an alpine plateau and cuts a striking figure (… although confusingly it’s not the featured image of this post). I first saw it from the summit of Cradle Mountain on a trip to Tasmania in 2008, and although it looks quite remote, it can in fact be climbed on a longish day walk: one of Tasmania’s best. On the day we did it the weather was all over the place, with snow squalls and mist adding to the sense of adventure. Luckily the weather cleared enough to reveal most of the fabulous views the area is famous for.

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Lakes Bill and Myrtle, Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Tasmania

This walk in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park visits two substantial alpine lakes, both backed by the rugged summit of Mt Rogoona.

This walk in a lesser visited part of the increasingly popular Walls of Jerusalem National Park visits two biggish alpine lakes, both backed by views of the summit rocks of Mt Rogoona (1350m). In early 2019 there were still substantial fire affected areas, but they often added an interesting aesthetic to the scenery.

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Mt Dial and The Gnomon, Northern Tasmania

A pleasant circuit walk in the Dial Range, climbing two low peaks, then returning through attractive tree ferns on a section of the Penguin Cradle Trail.

The Dial Range is a small mountain range in northern Tasmania that contains pleasant walking and mountain biking tracks. There are good views (sometimes partially obscured) over northern Tasmanian, as well as atmospheric forest with many large trees ferns. Continue reading “Mt Dial and The Gnomon, Northern Tasmania”