Midlands and North

Launceston is a pleasant drive north of Hobart (2 hours along the Midlands Highway - aka Heritage Highway) through lots of historic towns and villages or a good place to begin exploring the Apple Isle.

You can drive from Launceston to Hobart, via the Midlands, in a couple of hours - but if you do, you will miss a lot. Along the way there are delightful colonial towns and villages full of English trees, Georgian cottages, church spires and stone bridges. It’s not called The Heritage Highway for nothing. As they say, time moves slowly here, why shouldn’t you? Golfers heading north should take a wee diversion up the Lake Highway to Bothwell, home to Ratho, the oldest golf course in Australia and home to the Australasian Golf Museum.

For this look at the region, let’s make our base in Launceston and explore from there.

Launceston and the river valley bring together history, colonial heritage, scenery, creativity, adventure, entertainment and gourmet delights. A good way to explore the city is to take a coach-tram tour.

For fine local craft and furniture, visit the Design Centre of Tasmania, the Wood Design Collection (Macquarie House, Civic Square) and the Inveresk Railyards cultural precinct. The Queen Victoria Museum is home to one of Australia’s best collections of colonial art and the National Automobile Museum has one of the country’s best collections of classic and historical cars.

Penny Royal World is a collection of buildings that were originally near Cressy and moved to Launceston stone by stone. Attractions include a working watermill, windmill, corn mill and a museum. A tramway links to the reproduction 19th century Gunpowder Mill and firing cannon.

Cataract Gorge has lovely gardens, peacocks, walking trails, a chairlift and a suspension bridge. The chairlift is the longest single-span chairlift in the world and offers magnificent views of the gorge. You can also try rock-climbing here. For more adventure, there’s cable hang-gliding at nearby Trevallyn.

You can learn to fly-fish for trout in the Launceston Lakes (15 minutes from the city) and there are no seasonal restrictions.

Heading northwest from Launceston you have the choice of the East Tamar and West Tamar Highways, depending on which side of the Tamar River you’ll be travelling. Or you can go up the middle with a cruise on the luxury, licensed Tamar Odyssey. Either way will take you to some excellent cool-climate wineries. Taking the West Tamar route you’ll come across Rosevears Estate, St Matthias Vineyard and the Strathlynn Wine Centre near the rather incongruous Grindelwald Swiss Village.

At Beaconsfield, the story of the State’s mining history is told at the Grubb Shaft Gold and Heritage Museum – once Tasmania’s largest gold mine and now re-opened as a working mine. At Beauty Point, Seahorse Australia is the only seahorse farm of its kind in the world.

At Low Head, (top of the East Tamar Hwy), Little Penguins nest in rookeries. Call into the Low Head Pilot Station (Australia’s oldest), which still guides ships, and visit the Maritime Museum.

Taking the Tasmanian Wine Route north will, naturally, take you to wineries, including Brook Eden Vineyard and Pipers Brook. From here, head west to the coast, to catch a wave or a fish at Bridport, the north-east’s seaside holiday town.

Heading south from Launceston you come to Breadalbane (12km), home to the Tasmanian Glass Blowers. At charming Evandale there are antique and craft shops, stained glass. The annual Village Fair and the National Penny Farthing Championships are held here. The Sunday Markets are Tasmania’s biggest. Nearby is Clarendon Homestead (1838), a stately National Trust mansion.

Perth also has wonderful markets and you can turn off here to visit Longford, the agricultural and historic heart of the region. Woolmers Estate is a time capsule of Australia’s colonial history.

Close by is the colonial farming village of Brickendon where there are lovely gardens and hands-on farming activities.

Campbell Town (37km south of Launceston) has fine Georgian architecture (particularly The Grange), and the convict-built Red Bridge.

A little further south is Ross, the heart of the world’s best superfine wool-growing area (visit the Heritage and Wool Museum).

The Female Factory Historic Site (prison) is also worth a visit. It’s a leafy little town with a convict bridge that has incredible carvings.

In the early 1800s this was a stopover town for Hobart-Launceston travellers and it’s still a good idea today. There are plenty of self-contained, colonial cottages.

Another 35km south, you arrive at another heritage town, Oatlands. A walking tour takes you to a 19th century stone mill, the convict-built gaol and the oldest Supreme Courthouse in Australia. Closer to Hobart is historic Kempton and Pontville with its convict-built church.

Head east from Launceston through Ben Lomond National Park, an area of variety and contrast – croplands, wild natural habitats, tumbling waterfalls, rugged mountains, dairy pastures, mining areas and hop fields. It’s a place for summer walks and swims or winter walks and skiing. The dramatic crags of Ben Lomond overlook the green valley of the South Esk River and the towns of Fingal and Avoca. In winter you can ski the bonnie, bonnie slopes, in summer take in the mountain’s alpine heathlands.

About 25 kilometres north of Fingal is the Evercreech Forest Reserve, near Mathinna, where you can stop for a picnic under the world’s tallest white-gum trees.

The Tasman Highway will take you to Scottsdale. Pull into Sideling Lookout for sweeping farmland and Bass Strait views. Visit the huge oil-producing lavender farm at Bridestowe Estate, Nabowla.

Near Ringarooma, see Ralph Falls, Tasmania’s highest single-drop waterfall. Pan for tin at Derby Tin Mine Centre.

There’s an historic Chinese Cemetery and Australia’s oldest, privately-owned power station at Moorina. Visit Blue Lake, a tranquil azure lake in the old Endurance Tin Mine off the Herrick-Gladstone Road.

And then, head to the coast and reverse the next section…

More Information

For more information about Tasmania:

• Events And Festivals
• Accommodation
• To See And Do
• Hobart
• Southeast
• Derwent
• East Coast
• North-West
• South-West Wilderness
• The island's Other islands

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