Experience one of Australia’s greatest road trips on the Great Eastern Drive in Tasmania, a true journey of discovery that will fill your stomach and soul with honest food and invigorating nature. Our friends at Discover Tasmania have pulled together some of the key ingredients to a dream road trip on Tassie’s east coast. Here's 10 must-do experiences to tick off on your trip.
Freycinet Marine Farm (Image: Tourism Tasmania & Andrew Wilson)
1. Visit a seafood farm-gate
If you’re an oyster lover, keep an eye out for roadside signs spruiking ‘fresh oysters’. At Freycinet Marine Farm near Coles Bay, order oysters, lobster, mussels and abalone and sit down to some serious seafood nosh.
2. Raise your glass
Back up your oyster farm sojourn with a wine tasting for a complete foodie-fantasy adventure, dropping in on cellar doors such as Spring Vale Wines in the Freycinet region.
Lookout at Wineglass Bay. (Image: Tourism Tasmania & John de la Roche)
3. Bird's eye views
Climb the saddle of The Hazards mountain ranges to Wineglass Bay lookout. Your reward, a postcard-perfect view down across the bay – is worth every step of the 45-minute climb.
4. Make a splash
Specialising in ocean-going kayak exploration, Freycinet Adventures takes you on the water for a relaxed paddle for the ultimate way to discover the Freycinet National Park.
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Fairy penguins on Bicheno Penguin Tours. (Image: Tourism Tasmania & Alastair Bett)
5. Leave no stone unturned
You’ll see evidence of convict labour all along the Great Eastern Drive, but none as puzzling as Spiky Bridge. The odd bridge just south of Swansea was constructed using fieldstones without mortar or cement.
6. Meet the little locals
Run by locals, Bicheno Penguin Tours knows the best spots to observe and not disturb the little penguin population, letting you get close to the penguins without interrupting their nightly journey.
Darlington, Maria Island. (Image: Tourism Tasmania & Rob Burnett)
7. Fresh pickings
Salty Seas The Rock Lobster Shed in St Helens hosts live southern rock lobster in tanks, open for public viewing during the season. So bring your camera as some weigh up to four kilograms, twice the size of the average cray found at a fishmongers.
8. Tassie devils
Maria Island is entirely national park, accessible by passenger ferry, and despite not having a township on the island, it has not escaped change. First a convict station then a late 19th-century industrial venture, it’s now the site of an insurance population of healthy Tasmanian devils.
Bay of Fires. (Image: Tourism Tasmania & Rob Burnett)
9. Berry bliss
Eureka Farm at Scamander is home to all manner of fruit and berry delights. Walk through the orchard, try delicious homemade ice-creams, and be sure to grab an award-winning homemade jam under your arm for the larder.
10. Bayside escape
Bay of Fires offers beachside camping and campsites hidden among the trees and amazing views of the coast and sea. All you’ll see here is blindingly white beaches, bright azure water and blazing orange boulders.
Visit your local Flight Centre store or call 131 600 for more advice and the latest deals on travelling to Tasmania.
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