Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

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CHAPTER 14 . TASMANIA
to be on Friday and Saturday evenings, when crowds cram the historic interior
and spill out onto the streets. Light lunches are popular throughout the week,
and occasionally you’ll find jazz or blues on the menu.
My favorite drinking hole in Hobart is Irish Murphy’s, 21 Salamanca Place
(& 03/6223 1119), an atmospheric pub with stone walls and lots of dark wood.
Local bands play Friday and Saturday evenings.
If you want to tempt Lady Luck, head to the Wrest Point Casino, in the
Wrest Point Hotel, 410 Sandy Bay Rd. (& 03/6225 0112), Australia’s first legal
gambling club. Smart, casual attire required (collared shirts for men).
A SIDE TRIP TO MOUNT FIELD NATIONAL PARK
80km (50 miles) NW of Hobart
Mount Field National Park is one of the prettiest in Tasmania. It was proclaimed
a national park in 1916 to protect a plateau dominated by dolerite-capped
mountains and dramatic glaciated valleys. Mount Field West is the highest point
at 1,417m (4,647 ft.), and in the central and western regions of the park in particular,
there are examples of lakes and tarns formed in the Ice Age of 30,000 years
ago. The most mountainous regions support alpine moorlands of cushion plants,
pineapple and sword grass, waratahs, and giant pandani. You can get a good look
at these changing environments on a 16km (10-mile) drive from the park entrance
to Lake Dobson along an unpaved and often highly rutted road, which is not suitable
for conventional vehicles in winter or after heavy rain.
Bennett’s and rufous wallabies are common, as are wombats, barred bandicoots,
Tasmanian devils, and quolls. Platypuses inhabit the lakes. Birds common to the
park include black cockatoos, olive whistlers, green rosellas, honeyeaters, currawongs,
wedge-tailed eagles, and lyrebirds, which were introduced from Victoria in
the 1930s. Also here are rare native hens, yellow wattlebirds, and dusky robins.
There are many walking trails in the park, including one to Tasmania’s most
photographed waterfalls, the spectacular 45m (148-ft.) Russell Falls, near the
park’s entrance. The walk to the falls along a paved, wheelchair-accessible track
takes 15 minutes and passes ferns and forests, with some of Tasmania’s tallest
trees, mighty swamp gums up to 85m (280 ft.) high.
GETTING THERE Tassielink (& 03/6272 6611, or 1300/300 520 in Australia;
www.tigerline.com.au) offers a daily service from December through
March for A$35 (US$23) one-way. A day tour with the same company, leaving
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, costs A$110 (US$71) for adults and
A$75 (US$49) for kids. By car, take the Lyall Highway from Hobart to the Gordon
River and follow the signs after the township of Westerway.
ACCOMMODATIONS YOU CAN AFFORD
National Park Hotel Located 300m (984 ft.) inside the park, this typical
one-story Aussie hotel has basic rooms, some with a sink. There’s a TV in the
lounge bar. The hotel can book horseback-riding expeditions within the park.
2366 Gordon River Rd., National Park, TAS 7140. & 03/6288 1103. 7 units, none with bathroom. A$60
(US$39) double. Rates include full breakfast. MC, V. Amenities: Bar; lounge; golf course nearby.
Russell Falls Holiday Cottages These cottages are right at the entrance to
the park in a rural setting with rolling fields. Each is spacious and comfortable,
with an attached toilet and shower, as well as a lounge and dining room.
Lake Dobson Rd., National Park, TAS 7140.& 03/6288 1198. 4 units. A$77 (US$50) for 2 people. Extra adult
A$13 (US$8.45), extra child under 16 A$8 (US$5.20). MC, V. In room: Gas heat, TV, kitchen, fridge, iron.