If you love wine as much as you love adventuring, this seven-day Tassie road trip should be next on your bucket list!

Highlights

  • Instaworthy views in all directions
  • More locally made cheese, wine, and beer than you can fit in your belly 
  • A great mix of walking, swimming, and eating, that both novice hikers and avid adventurers can get behind

Hiking in Tasmania

Second only to spending quality time in the great outdoors, a good local bev paired with some tasty tucker is top on my list when it comes to choosing my next adventure.

While visiting remote bush camps and doing spectacular multi-day hikes is all good fun, there’s no ice-cold craft beer to greet you after a long day of walking. Or a perfectly prepared cheese platter and matching wines to quench your thirst. 

If like me, you occasionally prefer to end your days rosé in hand, looking out over rolling vineyards — rather than rinsing out your sweaty clothes while cooking your dehydrated camp dinner — these accessible, yet challenging, bushwalking tracks in Tasmania could be for you.

Also Read: Best Camping Friendly Beaches in Tasmania

Adventure Bay

Old Kempton Whisky Tasting

Day 1 – Tamar Valley

Hike: Greens Beach Headland
Distance: 10km
Aprés-hike tipple: Cabbage Tree Hill Wines
Campsite: Greens Beach Caravan Park

Leaving from the Greens Beach Campsite, this 10km loop trail is a great warm-up for the week ahead, offering excellent views and working up an appetite for a cheese board and a glass of Cabbage Tree Hill rosé afterwards.

Day 2 – East Coast

Hike: Wineglass Bay
Distance: 6km or 2.6km
Aprés-hike tipple: Devils Corner Winery
Campsite: The Mayfield Bay Campsite & Conservation Area

Drive three hours south-east to Freycinet National Park and walk to the Wineglass Bay Lookout (2.6km return) or all the way to the beach if you fancy a longer stroll and a dip in the ocean (6km return — includes 1,000 fairly steep steps). 

As an aprés-hike treat, dig into a cheesy pizza or some fresh seafood and a premium wine tasting paddle at Devil’s Corner Winery. Delish.

 

Devil’s Corner Winery – Don’t mind if I do!

Day 3 – Port Arthur

Hike: Crescent Bay Beach & Remarkable Cave
Distance: approx. 8km
Aprés-hike tipple: Port Arthur Lavender Farm
Campsite: NRMA Port Arthur

 Today is all about the scenery. Drive three hours south to Port Arthur and walk the incredible coastal track to the white sandy beach at Crescent Bay (with an optional detour/scramble to the Mount Brown summit). 

 

A Bushwalking and Brews Tour of Tasmania, Sarah Tayler, Crescent Bay, Remarkable Cave Track

Hike along Crescent Bay

 

This walk starts and finishes at Remarkable Cave so make sure to walk down the steps to the viewing platform to check it out. 

 

 

Next up is lunch and a vino at the Lavender Farm — serving both savoury and sweet dishes along with a selection of drinks — Lavender Daiquiri anyone? 

Suitably refreshed set up camp at NRMA Port Arthur and go for a swim in the bay or get the fire going before cracking open one of the bottles you’ve collected on the trip so far.

Day 4 – Coal River Valley

Hike: Devils Kitchen to Waterfall Bay
Distance: 3.4km
Aprés-hike tipple: Coal River Farm
Campsite: Richmond Caravan and Cabin Park

A quick 3.4km walk this morning to see nature’s handiwork in the form of a very impressive and best waterfall in Tasmania. After taking in the views it’s a leisurely hours’ drive to Richmond in the Coal River Valley. The historic town has a lot to see with the gaol and bridge both within walking distance of the campsite. 

Head out to Coal River Farm for their high cheese experience with handmade cheese and chocolate — paired perfectly with something cold and bubbly.

 

Cheese please at Coal River Farm

Day 5 – Bruny Island (Lunawanna-Allonah)

Hike: Fluted Cape
Distance: 4km
Aprés-hike tipple: Bruny Island Cruises Seafood Restaurant
Campsite: The Neck Game Reserve Camping Area

The ferry to Bruny Island leaves from Kettering, a delightful village just an hours’ drive from Richmond. Enjoy the fresh sea breeze on the short ferry trip before driving to Adventure Bay for your next hike. 

 

Adventure Bay | photo thanks to Tourism Tasmania & Andrew McIntosh Ocean Photography

 

This walk is perfect for day five of your trip, because there are lots of options. It’s mostly flat and shady out to Grass Point and if you want to keep it at a 4km out and back hike, turn around here. 

 

 

If you fancy the slightly more challenging Fluted Cape carry on walking the 4km loop. Take in the views of the bright blue ocean while planning your lunch order — there’s plenty of seafood, icy beer, and a sunny deck with panoramic views of the bay to look forward to at the Bruny Island Cruises Seafood Restaurant. 

Set up camp at The Neck for the next two nights – this spacious bush camp is just metres from the beach and a few minutes from the penguin viewing area and lookout.

Up to The Neck in wine

Day 6 – Bruny Island (Lunawanna-Allonah)

Hike: Cape Queen Elizabeth Track
Distance: 12.5km
Aprés-hike tipple: Bruny Island Cheese/Beer Co.
Campsite: The Neck Game Reserve Camping Area 

Today’s hike is slightly weather and tide dependent so some pre-planning is needed. The first part of the hike can be done at any time, but to walk around to the spectacular rock arch on the beach you need to go at low tide. You can walk over the hill on the way back if the tide is coming in. 

 

 

Visit the friendly crew at the Bruny Island Cheese Co. afterwards for their famous otto — a ball of cheesy, meaty goodness served with fresh wood-fired bread and their beer tasting paddle.

 

You otto get yourself to Bruny Island Cheese Co.

Day 7 – Deloraine

Hike: Liffey Falls Walk
Distance: 2km
Aprés-hike tipple: Red Brick Road Cider Works
Campsite: Deloraine Caravan Park or Liffey Falls State Reserve

Take in the scenery on the final three-hour leg of your whirlwind Tassie road trip. Fit in one last little hike — a 2km walk to see the impressive Liffey Falls — before either setting up camp in the Liffey Falls State Reserve or heading into town to camp along the river in Deloraine. 

 

The delightful Deloraine Caravan Park

 

From the Deloraine campsite, walk across the footbridge to enjoy the last of your post-hike bevs at the Red Brick Road Cider Works. Relax in their funky warehouse bar while enjoying a frosty cider and congratulate yourself on a best multi-day Tasmanian hiking holiday without a dehydrated dinner in sight!

Getting to Tasmania

The Spirit of Tasmania leaves from Melbourne and takes approximately 12 hours, offering both day and night sailings. Alternatively, you can fly to Hobart or Launceston from mainland Australia and hire a car or camper for best tasmania road trip.

Essential Gear

Distance Covered / Time Taken

829km driving / 45km walking / 7 days

 

Feature photo by Adam Gibson