Highlights, costs, dog-friendly walks
+ general tips and tricks
Well what a whirlwind 8 weeks we have had in Tasmania. We booked our tickets last November and secured our spot on the ferry. The only real plan we had was to go anti clockwise and try to free camp as much as possible. We made up our journey as we went along, with the help of wikicamps, general knowledge and asking people about their experiences.
Our highlights of Tasmania would have to of been:
The vast amount of scenery changes you experience from one town to the next was crazy. The wildlife was unreal! We were super stoked, to see our first wild platypus, echidna & wombat and all within our first week. The endless amounts of waterfalls we discovered and the abundance of walking trails, Tasmania offers was a favourite of ours. We definitely got our hiking fix!
Amz’s favourite 3 camp spots were; Trial Harbour, Swimcart Beach & Marrawah point
Favourite things were; the mountain hikes (Cape Raoul, Mt Hartz, Mt Amos etc), visiting MONA and the Philosopher falls walk with Rusty.
Kurt’s favourite 3 camp spots were; Swimcart beach, cockle creek & lake Brady
Favourite things were; fishing, doing the Montezuma 4WD track and eating the parmy he got at the Bruny Hotel. [Now that speaks volumes on how good the food was!]
Rusty's favourite things; runnig along the beach at Marrawah point, walking to philsopher falls and checking out the Port Arthur grounds.
Now let’s talk costs:
All up it cost us: $9,255.82 total for our Tasmania adventure. That included all costs and accounted for every cent we spent in Tassie.
It’s no surprise that food and drinks were our highest outgoing as we like to eat well. Also an unplanned major cost for us, was a new gearbox for our Navara. If we deduct our new gearbox it brings it down to $7,795.82. Looking back, we could have curbed our eating out and got our grocery bill down abit, but we ate well and had a blast. #noregrets
If we take out the ferry cost, it brings it further down to $5,995.82 – if you divide that by 8 weeks = $749.47 – which is roughly in line with our weekly budget.
On a positive note, we were stoked to only spend $210 on accommodation over our 8 weeks. Some spots your only option was a low cost camp, but that’s fine as Tassie was full of cracking free spots. All in all, it’s quite costly to get your car & caravan over to Tasmania, so really make the most of it. We found 8 weeks suitable, maybe an extra week or two would have been great, but the 8 week timeframe we booked was plenty of time for us.
Ferry Tickets:
Spirit of Tasmania: $1,800 (return) – included a dog kennel and 2 designated recliners each way
Bruny Island Ferry: $70 (return)
Fishing Licence: $60 – you need a recreational fishing licence to fish all inland lakes and rivers. National Park Permit: $60 – you need this to enter all Tasmania National Parks (camping permits are extra)
Food & Drinks: Groceries: $1,484.56
Takeout / bakery / local produce /pubs dinners: $744.70
Alcohol (includes pub drinks, tasting pallets, bottle-O): $519
Accommodation total: $210 for 8 weeks! Strahan golf club: $10 (1 night) FREE hot showers near dock
Left of field: $40 (2 nights)
Sorell: $25.60 (5 nights)
Geeveston: $10 (2 nights)
Bruny Hotel: $60 (4 nights, POWERED)
Nubeena RSL: $20 (1 night) includes $10 bar credit
Pondering Frogs RV: $5 (1 night)
Old Mac’s Farm: $40 (4 nights)
Fuel: Diesel: $911.96
Generator petrol: $88.20
Gas: $50.90 (2 swap & go)
Car Parts: $2,378.90
major costs were new gearbox $1,460 + front steering arm & assembly $600.
Tours / Exhibits / Attractions total: $424.00
MONA: $56
Taste of Huon: $20 Bruny Island Cruise: $240
MooBrewery tour: $30
Port Arthur: $78
Miscellaneous expenses: $507.60
This is everything from laundry, tourist stickers, fishing gear, clothes, carwashes, haircut, taxi fares etc.
Dog friendly walks:
On the eastern side of Tassie, we found most places were dog friendly. Obviously not in the National parks, but most beaches, parks and recreational areas were welcoming of dogs.
On the western side of Tassie, there is a lot more national park area but don’t fear, we found plenty of dog friendly camp sites and even some great walks to take your dog on! In the north/west corner: leven canyon, table cape, philosopher falls & Montezuma falls AND in the south/west corner: Hogarth falls.
Helpful Tips & Tricks:
- visit cradle mountain first. Not only does it get cold there the closer you visit towards winter, but you can buy your national park permit her and it includes the shuttle bus. - sailing on the spirit with a dog? We preferred the kennels on deck 5! If they put you on deck 3 and you’re not happy with the kennels, ask to place your dog on deck 5. We found these kennels have more ventilation and natural light. - use wikicamps and the weather app to plan ahead. We found checking out the weather helped with us deciding on what to do on what day. - get to those prime-o camp spots early. We knew Swimcart and Boat harbour were very popular free camps, so getting there at 10am when people were moving on really helped us secure a spot no troubles at all. The later you leave it, ie 2pm onwards the less chance you’ll have securing a spot. - do west first! A few locals had told us prior to our sail over that the west gets colder before the east does. We can definitely confirm this.
To wrap it up - make it worth the sail over! 8 weeks was a great time frame and we personally wouldn’t have done it in anything less. In all honesty we probably won’t be heading back to Tasmania anytime soon, so even though it was an expensive trip – we wouldn’t have it any other way.
~You can always make more money, but you can’t get back time~
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