The Ultimate Tassie Travel Guide - Part 2

The Wild West Coast

The West Coast of Tassie is known for its untouched ancient forests, intimidating mountains, adventure activities and historic small mining towns.

Recommended time: 7-9 days

We continued our Northwest coastal road trip from Stanley through the country town of Smithton to the surf coast town of Marrawah. In true wild West coast fashion, the weather was pretty wild. We tried to bunker down out of the wind behind the pub at Marrawah. The following day the weather improved so we continued through the coastal town of Arthur River, getting our first glimpse of the wild surf and exposed raw coastlines. We walked along the beach and were impressed by the huge washed-up logs covering the beaches.

Western Explorer Highway

Tracing the famous Tarkine Wilderness area from Arthur River to Corinna. This drive was definitely the most scenic drive we did while in Tasmania, however, it is certainly not the fastest road as it is dirt with steep inclines and descents and tight corners. This scenic drive will take you through contrasting landscapes, cutting through rainforests, along flowing rivers, and views of mountains and expansive grass plains… make sure to take your time travelling this road as it is like nothing else in Tasmania.

Reaching Corinna feels like you have stepped back in time with the

historic, remote settlement at the Corinna Wilderness Village.

The former gold mining settlement has been well preserved and filled with an interesting history making it a great base to explore the surroundings. There are many hikes on offer, river cruises up the Pieman river on the incredible Arcadia II and canoe hire where you can paddle among the ancient Huon Pines to the famous Lovers Falls.

Crossing the Pieman River at Corinna is $28.00 per vehicle.

But absolutely worth it. The crossing takes roughly five minutes. From here we continued to Lake Rosebery, where we camped waiting for a good weather window to climb Mount Murchison. This free camp is as good as it gets. Perched right on the banks where you can enjoy freshwater dips in the lake with incredible views looking straight at the mountains.

1,275 metres above sea level

Mount Murchison was one of the bucket list hikes we wanted to tick off while in Tasmania. The hike is challenging but the views are so rewarding, from every angle you are greeted with panoramic views of the surrounding lakes, mountains and dams. We woke early at Lake Rosebery and could see the summit was covered in clouds so we decided to wait to see if the weather conditions would change. As soon we saw it clearing from the summit we set off. However, we still had challenging windy conditions. The hike took roughly 3.5 hours return for the 6km hike and was an absolute highlight of our time on the West Coast.

No West Coast road trip is complete without a stop at Strahan! Board the award-winning Gordon River Cruise which takes you to the infamous Hells Gate and up the Gordon River, Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage area. Another notable attraction is Australia’s longest-running play, ‘The Ship That Never Was’.

Queenstown is the largest town on the West Coast, once a mining town now a tourist hub of the West Coast. Queenstown is the home of the West Coast Wilderness Railway, which travels through thick rainforests and over ancient wooden bridges. It is a great way to see the West Coast. Other attractions include 99 bends road, Iron Bark lookout, various mountain bike trails that wind down Mt Owen and Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park.

From Queenstown take in the incredible scenery as you pass mountains and lakes all around. We stopped at the incredible “The Wall” in the wilderness and were blown away by the craftsmanship on display. We ended our wild West Coast road trip at Lake Brady, a beautiful free camp with no one else around where we could really reflect on the past few weeks’ experiences.

A piece of advice: when planning your road trip around Tasmania (especially on the windy roads in the West) do not pay attention to the KM’s between towns but rather the travel time. In most places, you would look at 30km and think it would take 20 minutes BUT not in Tasmania… this distance could take over an hour to travel!!! We are not even joking… it can be very slow going on these roads.