Itinerary

Day 1
Today we’ll travel to Cradle Mountain National Park the first of eleven national parks offering the finest of Tasmania’s wilderness scenery that we’ll visit during our Ultimate Journey. Cradle Mountain forms the northern end of the wild Cradle Mt - Lake St Clair National Park, itself a part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The jagged contours of Cradle Mountain epitomize the feel of a wild landscape, while ancient rainforest and alpine heath lands, button grass and stands deciduous beech provide a range of environments to explore. Icy streams cascading out of rugged mountains, stands of ancient pines mirrored in the still waters of glacial lakes and a wealth of wildlife ensure there is always something to captivate you. We’ll walk the boardwalk at Cradle Valley and visit the unique Wilderness Gallery of celebrated nature photographers. Tonight we’ll enjoy the hospitality of a 4 star Eco-resort; Cradle Mountain Lodge  Curious pademelons, wallabies and echidna may greet you upon arrival.
(Walk up to 5 ½ km or 3 ½ miles, Drive up to 4 hours)
 
Day 2
We’ll continue exploring the Cradle Mountain region for the next 3 days. Today’s walk takes us along the trails of Cradle Mountain via Crater Lake and Marion’s Look-out, perched on the edge of a high glacier-carved plateau. The walk takes us through some of the most spectacular landscape in the area – it’s especially beautiful in summer when Tasmania's alpine wildflowers are in full bloom. We’ll stay at the same lodging this evening.
(Hike up to 12 kms or 7 ½ miles, Drive up to 1 hour)
 
Day 3
 Cradle Mountain became a National Park in 1971. In 1982 Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park was placed on the prestigious UNESCO world heritage list in recognition of its outstanding natural, cultural and wilderness qualities. Today we’ll enjoy another popular walk in the park called the Face Track Traverse, via Hanson’s Peak, Twisted Lakes and along cushioned plant moorland. We’ll stay at the same lodging this evening.
(Hike up to 12 kms or 7 ½ miles, Drive up to 1 hour)
 
Day 4
Today we’ll enjoy the trail and hikes around Cradle Lodge and namely the Cradle Valley Boardwalk. We’ll enjoy our last night at our Eco-resort and say good-bye to the new friends we’ve met here.
(Hike up to 8 ½ km or 5 ½ miles, Drive up to 2 hours)
 
Day 5
This morning we’ll travel to the west coast and the remote fishing port of Strahan through lush forests and historic mining villages. Depending upon weather conditions there is a sea-plane flight over this world heritage wilderness, down the wild water ravines of the Franklin River to land on the Gordon River. The Franklin - Gordon Wild Rivers National Park has a rich and remarkable heritage. It contains many Aboriginal sites which bear testimony to an Aboriginal heritage extending back over 35 thousand years; has been the scene of a rich European heritage of convicts and pioneers and has been the stage for the largest conservation battle (“Save the Franklin” Campaign) in Australian history - a battle which led to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area covering 20% of Tasmania. An alternative adventure offered is a cruise across Macquarie Harbour, to the Gordon River, with visits to the notorious Hells Gate and Sarah Island of penal settlement times. This evening we’ll experience one of the world’s most incredible bird migration phenomenon at a local rookery. We’ll stay at Risby Cove, right at the water’s edge.
(Sight-seeing and short walks, Drive up to 2 hours)

Day 6
Today we’ll continue our journey back across the island toward the capital city of Hobart. Our drive will dissect the Cradle Mountain Lake, St Clair National Park on the left and the Franklin-Gordon wild rivers on the right. We’ll enjoy a short walk to falls and visit St Clair National Park for another short walk to view Frenchmans Cap and the headwaters of the Franklin River. Lake St Clair is the deepest freshwater lake in Tasmania; glacier carved. We’ll also see the extraordinary craftsmanship and vision of one man in his unfolding working exhibit in ancient Huon pine and bronze. We’ll stay at old restored village cottages in Maydena for the next 3 nights.
(Sight-seeing and short walks, Drive up to 4 ½ hours)

Day 7
Today’s adventure takes us on an alpine hike through a dolerite strewn area of the Tarn Shelf in Mount Field National Park. The clarity of the water in the tarns, small glaciated mountain lakes, is a sharp contrast to the stands of bleached white pencil pines. We’ll enjoy the panoramic vista of Lake Pedder in Lake Pedder National Park and have the opportunity to assimilate the events of 1972 and the environmental effect on the conscience of most Australians.We’ll visit one of Australia’s most picturesque waterfalls, Russell Falls, and a unique wildlife rehabilitation sanctuary. Here we’ll patiently watch Tasmania’s living fossil, the Platypus. We’ll stay at the same cottages.
(Sight-seeing and short walks, Drive up to 1 ½ hours)

Day 8
Today we’ll be humbled by our walk through the world’s tallest old-growth forest in the Valley of the Giants and an enormous fern forest. Unlike tropical warm temperate rainforests, a cool temperate rainforest is characterized by an open and verdant, cathedral-like quality; a silent, cool, dark and damp place where both the trunks of trees and the forest floor are festooned with a luxuriant carpet of mosses and lichens. These majestic Swamp Gums grow up to 95 meters, 5 meters wide at the base and over 400 years old. The Styx River Valley has been heavily logged over the past years but is being examined for protection due to the public’s outcry to protect this valley, also home to the probably extinct Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine).We’ll stay at the same cottages.
(Hike up to 13 kms or 8 miles, Drive up to 1 ½ hours)

Day 9
Today we conclude our visit to Mount Field National Park and continue our journey to the capital city of Tasmania, Hobart, which lies near the mouth of the Derwent River at the base of Mount Wellington. This afternoon is a free afternoon to explore the city on your own. Walk through history to Battery Point and the docks, shop the galleries and art studios at Salamanca Place or visit the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. We’ll say good-bye to some guests who leave this journey of The West Side and welcome new friends joining us for the remainder of this Ultimate Journey for their journey on The East Side. We’ll stay at the Grand Chancellor Hotel, 1 Davey Street, Hobart (Ph:03-6235-4535) overlooking the Docks and Historic Salamanca Place for the next 3 nights. Guests arriving for the second section of this journey will meet here at 6:30PM for a pre-tour briefing.
(Free afternoon, Drive up to 1 hour)

Day 10
This morning we’ll enjoy a short walk on Mount Wellington. The 21 kilometer drive to the summit takes you from temperate rainforest to sub-alpine flora and glacial rock formations, ending in panoramic views of Hobart, Bruny Island, South Arm and the Tasman Peninsula.  We’ll visit the Antarctic Centre to learn more about the historic exploration programs of the Deep South Pole wilderness.
(Walk up to 7 kms or 4 ½ miles, Drive up to 2 hours)

Day 11
We’ll travel through extensive eucalypt production forests to Hartz Mountain National Park for a summit climb and views of the great South-West Wilderness, Precipitous Bluff, Federation Peak and the jagged Arthur Ranges. We’ll enjoy a boardwalk stroll to Lake Esperance and Ladies Tarn strewn with King Billy Pines, cushion plants and heath land. The trail takes us through sub-alpine woodlands to ice-carved crags, lakes and alpine moorlands. Well stay at the same lodging.
(Hike up to 8 kms or 5 miles, Drive up to 2 hours)

Day 12
We’ll travel from Hobart to Port Arthur and the historic Georgian village of Richmond. A number of Australia’s oldest buildings exist in this village and historic sites representing a “dark page” in the indigenous and convict history. We’ll enjoy short strolls and the study of ancient sea deposits and tidal paving, blow holes, remarkable arches and caves and spectacular seascapes with brilliant blue waters. We’ll also visit a Tasmanian Devil sanctuary. We’ll stay at another water front property, Lufra Hotel for the next 3 nights.
(Sight-seeing with short walks, Drive up to 2 hour)

Day 13
On the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasman National Park, we’ll walk gleaming beaches and stand on the rim of tall sea cliffs, carved into weird natural sculptures over millions of years by crashing waves and endless winds. We’ll share the world amid towering sea stacks with Sea Eagles and Pacific Gulls. We’ll stay at the same lodging.
(Walk up to 9 ½ kms or 6 miles, Drive up to 1 hour)

Day 14
Today, beneath these dolerite cliffs we’ll encounter a sea life experience as we float into colourful caves adorn with pink and purple lichen, have a close encounter with colonies of seals, seabird rookeries, the feeding grounds of giant Albatross, Little Penguins and an endangered Kelp forest. we’ll visit the historic ruins of Australia’s largest penal settlement and a failed experiment in reforming petty scoundrels from the English homeland. Our feet will tread the same paths the convicts walked - in the silence; you might catch an echo of clinking chains and the tap of hammer on stone. We’ll stay at the same lodging.
(Sightseeing with short walks, Drive up to 1 hour)

Day 15
As we travel up the east coast we’ll take a ferry transfer to Maria Island National Park. The story of Maria Island is dominated by the sea: from the rise and fall of the sea that created the island and left a legacy of sea creatures fossilized in its cliffs, to the history of its human occupation. As you cross to the island you follow in the wake of Aboriginal tribes who for thousands of years made regular canoe crossings to the island they knew as TOARRA-MARRA-MONAH. We will learn about the special nature of the wildlife on this island. In the last 25 years Maria has become a kind of Noah's Ark, as a number of threatened species have been introduced here in a bid to build their numbers. The very things that made the island a convict settlement, now make it an ideal refuge for plant and animal species that are elsewhere under threat. We’ll stay at the luxuriant Freycinet Lodge for our last three nights.
(Walk up to 5 kms or 3 miles, Drive up to 4 hours)
 
Day 16
Today we’ll enjoy the beautiful and rugged Freycinet National Park, jutting out into the sea on Tasmania's mild east coast. Freycinet National Park consists of knuckles of granite mountains all but surrounded by azure bays and white sand beaches. Today we’ll hike Mt Amos, a part of the range of granite mountains, known as the Hazards, which dominate Coles Bay. The track to the summit is steep and strenuous, but walkers are rewarded with panoramic views. An optional walk takes us along sleepy bays filled with colouful lichen covered granite boulders, delightful coves, rocks, bird life and sea creatures of Friendly Beaches. We’ll stay at the same cottages.
(Hike up to 3 kms or 1 ½ miles, Drive up to ½ hour)

Day 17
Our walk along the most photographed Wineglass Bay with its pristine beaches will leave us wanting to never leave the shores of Tasmania. As we walk Hazards Beach, we are following in the footsteps of the Aboriginal people who once lived here, as is evident from the numerous shell middens in the dunes along the beach. We’ll enjoy our last night at the cottages and if time permits, an opportunity of nocturnal wildlife spotting at Little Penguin rookery.
(Walk up to 11 kms or 7 miles, Drive up to ½ hour)

Day 18
This morning we’ll enjoy our last beach stroll at the famous Bay of Fires, named the second most beautiful beach in the world by leading travel magazine Conde Nast Traveller – United Kingdom. The serenity of this coast reflects on the locals who have managed to escape the fast life, preferring the simple values of scenery and an abundant harvest from the seas. As we travel back toward Launceston we’ll lunch break at a historic bush pub “loaded with Aussie character” and deviate into the scenic winegrowing valleys of the island. We’ll end our day and end our adventure in Launceston where you can connect with an evening flight or enjoy your last evening on your own reveling in the memories of our journey on the Tasmania Wilderness Hiking Experience.
(Short walk, Drive up to 5 hours)

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