Travel to Tasmania & Spirit of Tasmania

[nutwood]

Tas will be on the cards as a last minute booking if Qld falls through. But I was reading the FAQs on the Spirit of Tasmania website. It says on the trip to Tas, you're basically confined to your room, but on the way back, you're allowed out. That's not very appealing.

The trip on the Spirit is not what it used to be, especially at this time of the year. The smaller and faster vessels are probably more practical but I preferred the fourteen hour trip on a bigger ship or the six hour dash on the Devil Cat.
The usual approach seems to be to send one sacrificial family member on the Spirit in order to drive the car and pick the rest of the family up from the airport,

 

[jb747]

The usual approach seems to be to send one sacrificial family member on the Spirit in order to drive the car and pick the rest of the family up from the airport,

Sadly that would be me.

Has the car hire situation improved down there? Probably plenty of NSW spares, if the companies are actually moving them around.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Sadly that would be me.

Has the car hire situation improved down there? Probably plenty of NSW spares, if the companies are actually moving them around.

I just booked a hatch for a week in late August, one way LST-HBA with unlimited km for $520 which I thought was rather reasonable in the circumstances.

as an aside - does one need a car in Hobart? Never been...

 

[nutwood]

as an aside - does one need a car in Hobart? Never been...

I'm not a Hobartian so possibly not the best qualified to answer but if your visit is focused purely on Hobart proper, then no. When I stay in Hobart, I walk everywhere and leave the car parked.
However, as soon as you want to go any further out the need for a car rapidly increases. You can get some places on public transport but it is by no means as easy to get around as most capital cities.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I'm not a Hobartian so possibly not the best qualified to answer but if your visit is focused purely on Hobart proper, then no. When I stay in Hobart, I walk everywhere and leave the car parked.
However, as soon as you want to go any further out the need for a car rapidly increases. You can get some places on public transport but it is by no means as easy to get around as most capital cities.

Great, thank you. Car is going back on Friday, I'll probably just rent another car from the Monday if I want to stay in Tasmania beyond that weekend anyway, which would give me the weekend in Hobart itself, I know there is plenty to fill 2-3 days .

 

[ramboflyer]

I just booked a hatch for a week in late August, one way LST-HBA with unlimited km for $520 which I thought was rather reasonable in the circumstances.

as an aside - does one need a car in Hobart? Never been...

Once you leave the city Hobart is sprawled out east, south and north. If you stay in the city centre you can walk to most places of interest (just like Sydney or Melbourne) and there are those open top city tourist bus services. I'm pretty sure there would be a tourist bus to the top of Mount Wellington which would be a must see for the views - and maybe some snow this time of year!

 

[VPS]

Once you leave the city Hobart is sprawled out east, south and north. If you stay in the city centre you can walk to most places of interest (just like Sydney or Melbourne) and there are those open top city tourist bus services. I'm pretty sure there would be a tourist bus to the top of Mount Wellington which would be a must see for the views - and maybe some snow this time of year!

There is indeed a tourist bus that goes to the top of Mt Wellington - I took it in May

 

[nutwood]

You'll get to most tourist destinations by bus. There's also a ferry to Mona.

 

[drron]

And from the Hobart CBD the ferry is the preferred way of getting to Mona.

 

[kookaburra75]

And from the Hobart CBD the ferry is the preferred way of getting to Mona.

Make sure you book in the Posh Pit on the MONA Ferry to get the most out of it.

And for getting around, last trip we stayed in Lindisfarne in Hobart, and used Ubers to get around. The distances are relatively short, so it was cost effective, given the price of hire cars at the time (April)

 

[RooFlyer]

as an aside - does one need a car in Hobart? Never been...

Depends, of course, what you mean by 'Hobart'. Metro, yes, could probably make do with Ubers and the odd bus.# But if you are in Hobart, you'd soon be tempted to get out to the Coal River Valley wineries and/or Richmond; south to the Channel and the Pennecott jet boats; Russell Falls; Port Arthur.

# Check out the timetables for any extended bus trip. Longer ones outside peak hour tend to be very extended milk runs, taking forever.

Has the car hire situation improved down there?

I haven't hears anyone complaining about it recently, but then it is winter ...

 

[VPS]

We caught an Uber out to Frogmore Creek for a Sunday lunch - was about $35 each way but well worth it