A quick and delicious Tasmania travel guide
The eating! The drinking! The views! The oysters!
Hello! I’m Celine and I write about books, cooking, gardening and surviving life in the city, when you have a wild heart. Subscribe for free posts like this one, or join the community for other exclusive writing. Either way, thanks for your support!
Tasmania is a wonderful place to visit, for many reasons. The air is the freshest in the world and it is generally a very nice place to look at.
Another very excellent reason to visit, is for the food. Plan a trip and you may find yourself eating some of the best meals of your life. With plump produce and if you’re into it, delicious seafood, caught fresh from the sea.
I could honestly write thousands of words recommending things to do in Tasmania, but I’ll instead aim to keep this short(ish). This will be mostly food-centric, although I will share a few highlights of Hobart as it’s an endlessly fascinating city with plenty going on.
Note: this isn’t a super long post, but it’s image heavy. Best read in browser.
Visiting Tasmania in winter
I’ve visited Tasmania in every season bar summer; twice now in winter. It’s generally been a great time to visit. Okay, you are literally heading towards the bottom of the world in the coolest months, but the state makes every effort to ensure things are pleasant for you.
Both times I’ve been for events – this time a singing festival with my choir and last time, Dark Mofo, which is a most exciting festival if you spend 90% of your time thinking about your next meal (guilty). There’s a ‘Winter Feast’ on nightly during the festival, where you walk around from food stall to food stall stuffing your face with all sorts of delicacies, toast marshmallows over open fires and drink as much mulled wine as you fancy. All rather jolly.
Catching the ferry over
We’re a bit spoiled in south-eastern Australia, having the option to catch the Spirit of Tasmania from Geelong to Devonport. It’s super cost effective too (important in this age of cozzie livs), as you can take a car, you’ve got accommodation sorted for a night of your trip, it’s generally a lot better and kinder on the environment than flying, and it is an adventure in itself.
I’ve caught the Spirit once before as a foot passenger in 2017. I remember the food options being quite good then – a buffet dinner for around $24 and oysters for an added extra charge! The buffet is now $29 (and no oysters to be seen), but it’s still not a bad feed. Especially comparing it to the last overnight ferry I took from Aberdeen, Scotland to the Shetland Islands, where dinner was nothing to write home about.
If you’ve the funds, I thoroughly recommend booking a cabin. You can grab a two- or four-bed berth and it’s nice to have somewhere to drop your stuff/sleep comfortably for the night. Plus, you can have a shower before you disembark, if you don’t mind getting up at 5.40am (may as well, as everyone is generally off the boat by 6.30am).
You can grab brekky on the boat, perhaps advisable as Devonport is generally still asleep at that time of the morning. I have, on both occasions I’ve sailed the seven seas with the Spirit, had Maccas for breakfast. Look, I’m not proud of it, but needs must and this gal cannot skip breakfast.
Eating in Hobart
Hobart is one of my favourite cities in the world. It’s small, it’s pretty and it has some truly excellent food.
We booked at Templo for lunch our first day in Hobart and it delivered. Hint: the lunch set menu is far less upsettingly priced than the dinner. Every course was delicious. Special snaps for the kingfish crudo, which was so perfectly plump and tasty.
When in Hobart, one must eat seafood and Blue Eye Seafood Restaurant scratched that itch. Went there for lunch and had a really yummo curry seafood chowder and fresh oysters, only to discover they have an ‘oyster orgy’ from 3-5pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Well. We had to return for bubbles and $2 oysters later on that day, didn’t we? Regrets, I have zero.
A friend (and reader!) recommended the somewhat confusingly named New Sydney Hotel. A kitsch Irish pub in the city, with extraordinarily good service and a fantastic lunch menu. I ordered the leek, potato and cheddar pie and it made me very happy indeed.
I didn’t dine there on this visit, but I still think fondly of my meal at Aloft eight years ago, and I’m presuming the food there still slaps. Five years ago, I ate a jumbo oyster at Salamanca Market, which cost me $10 and I still think about most days.
Things to do in Hobart
MONA probably comes first in any list of things to do in Hobart. I’ve been three times, which is honestly one time too many. It’s fun to take the boat over and they do have roving exhibitions, but the main collection doesn’t really change too much to qualify the gallery for repeat visits, IMO. Worth going if it’s your first time in Hobart however, as it has unquestionably made its mark upon the city.
I don’t care how much of a tourist trap it may be considered, I honestly think Salamanca Market is great. It’s held every Saturday and has a fun array of gourmet goods and gifts on sale, most with a uniquely Tasmanian spin to them.
Then you can visit Salamanca Place, peruse the various art stores there, try to not spend money at The Hobart Bookshop and pop into A Moment of Tea for some special-tea tea.
Battery Point is incredibly pretty to stroll around. This visit, I explored Narryna, an 1830’s merchant’s house. A local later informed me it’s haunted, but unfortunately did not get any ghostly vibes while there.
Speaking of which, ghost tours. I’ve never done one in Hobart! I want to! Tasmania’s Most Haunted may be a good place to start. Or just take a day or night trip to Port Arthur, which is eerie 24/7. And also has ghost tours. Eek.
Another reason why I like visiting Hobart in winter, is that hot cider, hot toddies and mulled wine seem to be available everywhere. This is correct winter behaviour. All make for an extremely fun and comforting thing to sip on, especially if you can rove around with them.
Where to stay
We stayed at The Macquarie Hobart, which is very conveniently located and clean, with extremely friendly staff.
Bruny Island
A first for this trip – a visit at long last to Bruny Island.
Roughly half an hour south of the capital, Bruny is an easy day trip from Hobart – or you can make the most of it and spend a couple of nights. SeaLink run a car ferry that takes around 10 minutes to travel from port to port.
If you like oysters, get thee to Get Shucked Oysters. Order oysters freshly shucked (as the name may suggest), or if you don’t think cooking them is a travesty, opt for their mixed dozen which gifts you four natural oysters, four kilpatrick and four panko crumbed. They also offer a shot-type drink consisting of tomato juice, vodka and an oyster, which is most fun to consume (plus if you ask nicely, they’ll make one sans vodka, which is also quite delishy).
A short drive away is the Bruny Island House of Whisky, serving up whisky and gin cocktails, tastings and take home options. I enjoyed an incredibly potent Boulevardier cocktail (basically a negroni, but swap the gin for whisky) and rather kick myself for not buying a bottle of their chocolate liquor whisky.
Other delicious points of reference include Bruny Island Cheese Co (who also confusingly sell beer), The Honey Pot and Bruny Island Chocolate Company.
What’s booking in Tasmania
I like to justify spending money and baggage space on books while on holiday, by sticking to those set in or about the place I am visiting. I picked up a copy of Hobart by Peter Timms, which is part of a series about Australia’s biggest cities (I own the Melbourne edition by Sophie Cunningham, but am yet to read it).
I spent most of my time in TAS reading Coco Mellors’ Blue Sisters, a very good family saga about sisters trying to cope with life (without giving too much away). From there, I moved onto another book about sisters, without realising that was the theme of the trip, Claire Lombardo’s The Most Fun We Ever Had. It’s deceivingly long at 600 pages, while managing to look like a much shorter book. Interesting reading I guess and kinda just made me glad I only have brothers.
So that’s Hobart and Bruny Island. Yum. I want more oysters. 🦪 Have a great week and I’ll see you next Thursday. 8am sharp, AEST. We’ll be exploring a topic that I reckon may be of interest to many.
‘Til then, stay well and well-fed.
-Celine
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Everything on Bruny Island sounds amazing! Plus Get Shucked is just a good name, but that goes without saying.
I feel bad though that the thing I most want to do is the $29 buffet on the Spirit of Tasmania. Something about being super gluttonous in the middle of the ocean seems so charming.