About Tasmania

About Tasmania

Tasmania's small enough to get around easily but big enough to be filled with a million reasons to visit. The forests are greener than envy, the beaches bluer than blue and the mountain areas so wild and untamed you'd think you were in some surreal nature movie. The coastlines are like nothing you've ever seen before and the rivers and waterways are just waiting to be swum in, dived into, ridden on and fished silly.

And then of course, there's the cities - don't the names alone make you want to visit - Hobart, Devonport, Strahan, Burnie, Launceston, Richmond. Exquisite restaurants, cool bars, terrific shopping and great places just to sit and take it all in. Find your favourite adjective and you'll be able to use it over and over in Tasmania.

Look around, dig a little deeper and go for what really excites you. Planning your stay here will really pay off. Just make sure you allow enough time to see all we have to offer. Or most of it anyway.

General Overview of Tasmania

Tasmania is an archipelago of more than 300 islands sitting just 240 kilometres (150 miles) south-east of mainland Australia. While we are part of Australia, we are in many ways quite different. Very different.
Tasmania have more than 1,000 mountain peaks, four mild seasons, more than 40 per cent of our Island is protected as national parks and reserves, and we have some of the world's rarest animals. Our main Island, which compares in size to West Virginia, the Republic of Ireland or Hokkaido, is home to about 500,000 people.
Tasmania's air is scientifically proven to be just about the world's cleanest; our soils are rich and fertile. So our produce, seafood and wines taste wonderful.

Antarctic Connections
Hear Australia's Antarctic story, see subantarctic plants and experience subantarctic temperatures.

Hobart is a major world centre for work involving Antarctic and subantarctic regions and their oceans.

The capital, Hobart, is the site of the Australian Antarctic Division's headquarters and has been the staging post for Antarctic expeditions since the early 1800s.

Tasmania has strong historic links with the frozen continent and you can discover them as you explore Hobart's waterfront area and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

There is a rich collection of Antarctic memorabilia in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery's 'Islands to Ice exhibition which is on a tour of major Australian museums as part of the centenary year of Douglas Mawson's journey to the ice; our Maritime Museum; at a small museum in the Australian Antarctic Division Headquarters in Kingston, just outside Hobart; and at historic sites such as Hadley's Hotel in Murray Street, where Roald Amundsen stayed in March 1912, after returning from his successful journey to the South Pole in December 1911.

In Franklin Square you will see the statue of one of Tasmania's early Governors (1837 to 1843), Sir John Franklin, who died searching for the North West Passage in Canada's icy north.

As you walk Hobart's docks look out for the life-size bronze statue telling the story behind the 1898-1900 Antarctic Expedition, the first to spend the winter on the ice. The Polar Pathways Walk and Tour takes you to some of Hobart's unique Antarctic and Southern Ocean connections and sites.

we can even experience subantarctic temperatures, and learn how plants survive on Macquarie Island, in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens Subantarctic Plant House.
Macquarie Island, a Tasmanian subantarctic island in the Southern Ocean, provides a rich Antarctic experience to the small number who visit each year.