Highway One: Spirit of Tasmania

By Catherine Lawson November 7, 2013
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The Spirit of Tasmania is an apt name for the ferry that takes passengers to this spectacular state

Catherine Lawson and David Bristow, along with baby Maya, are doing a lap of Highway One, the road that circles Australia. 

EMBARKING ON A TRIP to Tassie always feels for me like I’m running away and escaping into the wild.

The excitement begins as soon as I’m aboard the Spirit of Tasmania, watching Melbourne disappear and staring out over the ship’s wake under a moonlit sky somewhere in the middle of Bass Strait.

Once we hit Devonport, I hardly know which direction to head first – into the wild west, up onto the Central Plateau to peaks and great lakes, or for the east’s shimmering blue bays and white sandy beaches.

In the last 20 years, most of my really memorable bushwalks have been tackled in Tassie, and I’ve ended so many days on the trail at incredible bush camps – sometimes exhausted, usually muddy, but always happy.

After time spent in the wilderness, relaxing in Tassie’s historic towns, indulging in great food and lazing about on awesome beaches provides the perfect balance to any holiday.

Suffice to say, I adore spending time in Tasmania, whether over the sunny summer, or during an icy winter when snow coats the landscape and ours are the only footprints on a trail.

On this trip, Highway One led us to some new discoveries: the historic town of Oatlands, a great bushwalking and camping spot at Liffey River Reserve and a favourite lookout on the flanks of Mount Blackwood in the Great Western Tiers.

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