Tasmania is a small and remote island of Australia. Its capital is Hobart, which is also the second oldest city in Australia. Tasmania is popular for hiking, beaches, wineries and seafood. Some say Tasmania is very similar to New Zealand, perhaps because they are both quiet and rich in natural scenery.

We stayed for 2 nights in Hobart and 1 night in Freycinet National Park. We were travelling in the winter again so we didn’t visit the beaches and had made it a relaxing trip.

 

A quick observation: a lot of Malaysians and Singaporeans

Tasmania’s tourism industry is booming, especially with Chinese visitors (source: ABC). I was very surprised to find so many Malaysians and Singaporeans here, as I have not seen that many numbers of us in other touristy places before.

I joined a free walking tour in Hobart while Ben was busy working 😎. In that tour, there were 3 Malaysians/ Singaporeans (including myself) out of 10. I also heard Malaysian & Singaporean accents in quite many places – either in English or Chinese. Since Ben and I are from Malaysia and Singapore, we can differentiate our accents with the rest.

This observation is also backed by statistics. According to Tourism Tasmania, Singaporean and Malaysians tourists constitute more than 10% of the international visitors in Tasmania and the trend is growing. No wonder I felt attached to this place! While in New Zealand, the tourists from China alone is already more than the double of the Malaysians and Singaporeans in 2018 (source: Stats NZ).

 

Never stop eating in Salamanca Market

The Salamanca Market in Hobart is open every Saturday from 8.30am to 3pm. It should not be missed if you have a chance to visit it.

This is a good place to buy souvenirs back home as they sell a lot of items, such as wool and wood products. However, we were more interested in the food… we found some interesting food and Ben never stopped eating.

 

The best mussels that we have had in our lives

You should definitely try seafood here because Tasmania is popular for it as surrounded by sea. We have tried a couple of seafood restaurants and were very impressed with the mussels at Freycinet Marine Farm.

Ben and I both agreed that these are the best mussels we have had in our lives, and we could not recommend it enough. This is a very high compliment given that we were spoilt by the high quality mussels in New Zealand.

Freycinet Marine Farm harvests oysters and mussels from their own farm daily, so we ordered both of them. We also ordered the fish of the day. We had 2 options for the mussels, (1) steamed with lemon, (2) topped with special tomato chilli sauce. Without much hesitation, we chose the former.

In my opinion, it is best to steam the mussels and no need to add much flavour in it. Only by doing so, you can taste the real freshness of the mussel. The same concept applies to other seafood, e.g. fish. On the other hand, frying fresh seafood is a huge waste!

 

Surprised by the beauty of Swansea

We rented a car and drove from Hobart to the Coles Bay in Freycinet Park, a popular travel destination in Tasmania. On the halfway, we were blown away by the beauty of Swansea, a small town of Tasmania.

It was a shame that we didn’t get to spend so much time here because we had to reach our resort before the sky getting dark on the first day, and then had to catch a plane on the next day. It is a good idea to consider staying here next time since it is so beautiful and has more amenities than the Coles Bay.

 

We enjoyed our stay at Freycinet Stone Studio

We stayed at Lenna of Hobart Hotel for the first 2 nights, and had our last night at Freycinet Stone Studio 6. It was a very cute studio. 😊

The room was warm and cosy. We were also welcomed by a lovely view just outside the studio – there was no view from our room, but once we stepped out and walked for 1 minute then we can enjoy the amazing view below.

Ben cooked a lovely dinner. ❤️ By the way, we like Tasmanian wine. Unfortunately, we cannot do any wine tasting on this trip though Tasmania is popular for wineries because we need to drive. Nonetheless, we bought a bottle of Tasmanian wine and had it in the studio. It was great.

 

What happened in Wineglass Bay Lookout & Carpark

We did a walk to Wineglass Bay Lookout from the carpark that took about 1.5 – 2 hours (return). This is one of the most famous activities in Tasmania.

(1) Confusing parking instruction in the carpark

When we reached the carpark at 8.30am, we saw a signboard in the entrance saying that we should buy a parking ticket at the Visitor Information Centre. However, when we reached there we realised that the information centre only opens at 9am.

Apparently, we were not the only one with this issue. Another couple bought the ticket online on the spot as they did not want to wait for the Visitor Information Centre to open. But then they faced another problem – they had to write down the confirmation number in the car but they had no pen. Luckily, I always brought pens so he borrowed from me.

I think many people like to do the walk in the morning, so it is very late for them to open at 9am. Anyway, we went through the long process to buy the parking ticket online. Then, we realised that there was a kiosk in the carpark where you can buy the ticket, so there was no need to buy it online or wait for the information centre to open 😓.

(2) Wineglass Bay Lookout was so-so

I felt the Wineglass Bay beach was a bit far away from the lookout. It looks nice in the photo but less impressive in my eyes. Ben said he prefers the beaches of Swansea than the Wineglass Bay. But well, that is just our opinion – I am sure many people enjoyed this lookout because there were many positive reviews on TripAdvisor.

We can also walk to Wineglass Bay and visit the beach. However, it will take an extra hour and is rated as a more difficult walk as compared to the ‘moderate walk’ to the lookout. So, we did not visit the Wineglass Bay – we were less motivated to go to the beach in the winter anyway.

 

Tasmania is different from the rest of Australia…

Perhaps it is too far away from the mainland of Australia, it has a very different vibe. When we were walking in the harbour of Hobart, we felt like walking in the waterfront of Wellington in New Zealand, though Wellington was more crowded and windy. It reminds us of our happy memories in New Zealand. 🙂

Since Tasmania is only an hour away from Melbourne by plane, we most likely will visit Tasmania again. I already have some places that I want to go on my next trip to Hobart:

• Richmond – a lovely small and beautiful town that is only half an hour from the city centre,
• Mona Museum – my tour guide said people either love it or hate it, there is no something in between,
• Mt Wellington Lookout – wanted to do it but the weather was too cloudy, so left it for next time.