I think people have covered all the highlights. Two weeks will just be enough without rushing. My suggested itinerary would be as follows (will work going either way round).
Day
1. Arrive Launceston. Spend rest of the day driving up and down the Tamar valley doing wineries. There is a 'Wine route' for this. Overnight at or near Launceston
2. Take A3 across the north-east; overnight St Helens. Dinner at the Blue Shed (seafood, on the waterfront). Visit Bay of Fires a bit north if time permits.
3. D
rive to Coles Bay. Stay 2 nights at either Saffire (expensive, but worth the splurge!) OR Freycinet Lodge OR there are plenty of self-catering places which will be great value. (Disclosure: I have one of these
). Spend rest of day walking beaches around Coles Bay, driving to Cape Tourville Lighthouse in the Park (Parks Pass required - you can get it on line or at the park entrance). Sea kayaking available here. Dinner at Saffire if you are a guest (only!) else one of the several eateries at the Lodge. Booking a good idea.
4. Pack a picnic lunch (including a bottle of wine, water and a couple of plastic glasses); climb Mt Amos (strenuous and some rock scrambling) and / or walk to Wineglass Bay over the saddle lookout, then down to the beach for lunch, walk across the isthmus to Hazards Beach and back to the car park via the loop track (use insect repellent!!). Relax on the deck of your chosen accommodation with some nice local wine, Tas cheeses etc.
5. Drive to Port Arthur, stopping at some wineries between Bicheno and Swansea (there are about 6 or 8 in all). Swansea has some nice lunch options and a good local museum. No recommendations for accommodation near Pt Arthur, sorry; haven't been for many years.
6. Visit Port Arthur convict station and the Tasman Peninsula in general; there's a Tas Devil park there somewhere. ** As an option or addition, check out
Pennicott Wilderness Journeys for fantastic jet boat trips at Tasman Peninsula and other places - highly regarded.
7. Drive to Hobart; 4 nights
Accommodation: Sullivans Cove Apartments have a number of locations around the waterfront. No opinion on them, sorry, but being on the waterfront is good. Let me know which ones you are thinking of and I can check them out. Somerset on the Pier - I have stayed there, some time ago. Quite OK, but no idea what you'd pay for them. If you go to 'View from my office' thread, you'll see the apartments behind some of the yachts I photographed (I think I called them Elizabeth St Pier Apartments ...). Make sure you ask about parking arrangements ... it will be on the street, I'm pretty sure, unless they do valet. Actually, same goes for Sulivans Cove Apts. If there is scope for another choice, check out the Woolshed Hotel. Also very close to the waterfront. Grand Chancellor there too, but probably needlessly expensive. Again, I haven't eaten on the waterfront for ages. Muirs 'downstairs' is a good bistro type option right on the docks; Muirs 'upstairs' is said to have gone 'off' (the more expensive option). 'Frank' is an Argentinean restaurant on the waterfront; Ball and Chain for steaks; Fish Frenzy at Somerset has good fish and chips for lunch.
Day 7 & 8 activities: See MONA, (take their ferry from the Hobart docks); drive to top of Mt Wellington; Salamanca Place markets (waterfront) Saturday morning is a 'must'; walk round Battery Point (behind waterfront) for historic houses and antique shops; Cadbury Chocolate Factory visitors centre has CLOSED; half day trip to historic Richmond and many wineries around there. Frogmore Creek winery just past Cambridge is highly recommended for lunch - book ahead.
9. Day trip south on B68 to Bruny Island (check ferry timetable) - maybe another Pennecott cruise or just visit gourmet food places; lots of small wineries; Captain Cook's landing place at Adventure Bay.
10. Day trip on B61 to Gordon Dam past Maydena and Strathgordon in south-west National Park. Huge double arch concrete dam; spectacular scenery along the way. Maybe stop and visit Mt Field NP for walk to waterfall and fern glades
11. Drive A10 and B24 to Strahan; past historic New Norfolk; stop in at Derwent Bridge and maybe Lake St Clair for lunch (byo). Past Derwent Bridge its very winding through the west coast rainforests; cross the famous Franklin River. Queenstown worth a stop and a look, but stay at Strahan, possibly at the Federal Hotels place, but there are some magnificent olde houses B&Bs there.
12. Gordon River Cruise from Strahan. Might be able to also do the Abt Railway trip from Strahan up into the wilderness (check whether its going)
13. Drive B27 to Zeehan, stop and visit the Mining Museum. Carry on A10 to C132 to Cradle Mountain; stay 2 nights. The Lodge is the traditional place to stay, in the park but lots of other options nearby too I think.
14. Cradle Mtn walks - up to the tope of 'Cradle' if its fine. Quite strenuous, but lots of gentler boardwalks as well.
15. Drive to Launceston via Mole Creek (option to visit caves there).
This misses the NW coast unfortunately, and no penguins (Penguins are nice, but nothing 'Tasmanian' about penguins ...)
Funny enough, we had already decided to do it anti-clockwise. As we arrive mid afternoon, we were going to just head straight out of LST to wherever we decide for the first night and do LST on the return.
