Sometimes there’s nothing better than a beach walk. And as beaches go, few compare with the Bay of Fires, on Tasmania’s far northeast coast. Named by English navigator Tobias Furneaux for the glow of Aboriginal fires he saw from HMS Adventure in early 1773, this shore could have been so named for its lichen-covered granite boulders, which glow like hot coals in early and late sun....

Shaped like a piece of sea lettuce, its pastoral north leaf and craggier south leaf joined by an isthmus (The Neck), Bruny Island is a 40km drive and short ferry ride from Hobart. What awaits you here is a foodie paradise with a fascinating maritime history and some wonderful walks to tick off your bushwalking Tasmania list. Early in Australia’s European history, Rear Admiral Bruni...

Walking to the top of kunanyi/Mt Wellington, rather than driving, puts you in august company. Charles Darwin climbed the mountain that broods over Hobart in February 1836 during his famous voyage in The Beagle. A network of walking tracks allow countless combinations of routes revealing the “noble forest”, “gloomy shade” of “elegant parasols” of tree ferns, and the broad, flat summit of “huge angular masses of naked...

There were worse places to be a convict than Maria Island, off Tasmania’s east coast, but it’s far more fun to visit voluntarily. You need to combine bike riding with walking to explore the island’s fascinating history and geology in any depth. And the high point of island walks, for many visitors, is climbing Bishop & Clerk. A ferry ride across Mercury Passage, often escorted...

Few people have a background playground as beautiful or one that boasts such varied play “equipment” as Mt Field National Park, which is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Towering eucalypts, tiered waterfalls, snowmelt-fed creeks and tarns, ski fields and the world’s tallest heath are an easy, scenic hour’s drive from Tasmania’s capital city along the Derwent River Valley. So it’s...

Members of Hobart Walking Club cut the Tasman Coast Trail from Waterfall Bay to Cape Pillar in Tasman National Park over many 1970s weekends. Much of that trail is now rebranded as part of the Three Capes Track however a fantastic day walk retains the original name. The 15km Tasman Coast Trail (car shuffle required) is a cracker day out when bushwalking Tasmania. It’s predominantly...

The ground plummets into the Southern Ocean centimetres from your booted toes. Land meets water more than a hundred metres below. Are you hyperventilating with fear? Or are anticipatory goosebumps lifting along your arms? The latter? Then prepare for bushwalking Tasmania thrills on the Tasman Peninsula, southeast of Hobart, the most spectacularly rugged stretch of Tasmania’s spectacular coast.    ...

Climb through tall blue gums and stringybarks and into more open forest dotted with mountain berries. Then step out onto Cape Raoul Lookout, 400m above sea level, for one of the most spectacular vistas you’ll see bushwalking Tasmania. Your reward for the effort thus far is a view west to Bruny Island and beyond, and down over the Tasman Peninsula’s southernmost...

The Overland Track is Australia’s most popular long-distance hike for good reason. The leading lady of bushwalking Tasmania, it snakes 65km through the dramatically beautiful and fragile Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Blazed by fur trapper Bert Nicholls in 1930, this multi-day classic is a rocky, rooty, boggy and boarded journey. It passes monolithic dolerite mountains, crosses button-grass moors, and...

After a day treading the Overland Track, you could pitch a tent and open a packet of freeze dried food. Or you could hang your gear in a drying room, soap off the sweat and mud – there’s always mud – under a hot shower, and drink Tasmanian pinot noir with a meal cooked for you. The opportunity to play Scrabble...