Tasmania might be Australia's smallest state, but it stands largest for adventure. This island of mountains, rainforest, raging rivers and empty beaches is a place where action comes naturally, where the spirit of adventure thrives in the wilderness that blankets much of the state.
Land adventures
The greatest game on Tasmanian slopes in recent years has been mountain biking. Since the opening of the Blue Derby trail network in the state's northeast in 2015, Tasmania has emerged as one of the world's premier mountain biking destinations.
Blue Derby now has about 125km of flowing single track, much of it through stunning rainforest, while the trail network at neighbouring St Helens is headlined by the state's longest dedicated mountain bike ride – the 42km Bay of Fires trail, connecting rainforest-covered mountains to the gleaming beaches of larapuna/Bay of Fires.
In the state's south, the Maydena Bike Park adds gravity to the mountain biking equation, with trails plunging 800m from mountain tops to valley floor. Maydena is also home to Australia's deepest caves. You can peer into the mouth of the Junee cave system, which reaches 390m into the Earth, along a walking trail just outside of town.
But to really get under Tasmania's skin, head north to Mole Creek Karst National Park. Here, Wild Cave Tours runs spelunking trips that involve adventurers squirming their way through dark tunnels and chambers.
If mountain biking has elevated Tasmania onto one world stage, golf has propelled it onto another. Strung across the north of the state are three links courses rated among the world's top 50: Barnbougle Dunes and Barnbougle Lost Farm sit side by side atop coastal dunes near Bridport, while Cape Wickham Golf Links has brought King Island to sporting prominence.
Prefer to sit back and let the adventure roll past? The West Coast Wilderness Railway follows the course of an old mining railway for 35km between Queenstown and Strahan, pushing through dense rainforest and scaling one of the southern hemisphere's steepest rail climbs. If the train itself isn't adventurous enough, combine it with a white-water rafting trip through the King River Gorge – raft the river in one direction, ride the train back the other.
Water adventures
The unique qualities of Tasmania's wilderness often feel most pronounced on the water. The Franklin River and Bathurst Harbour are each little more than 100km from Hobart, yet offer adventures as remote and remarkable as any in Australia.
The Franklin River flows through Australia's national psyche, having been famously saved from damming in the early 1980s. Today its catchment contains not a single building or plot of cultivated land and eight-day rafting trips follow its course through a series of wild white-water gorges.
The only way into the roadless region around Bathurst Harbour is by light aircraft (or a week of walking), but it's here that Roaring 40s Kayaking runs eight-day Wilderness Expedition paddling trips. Kayaking through the harbour towards the fury of the Southern Ocean, the tours explore the World Heritage-listed shores of Southwest National Park, camping most nights on empty beaches strung across the toes of the Mountains.
Australia's highest sea cliffs rise along the edge of the Tasman Peninsula, where Tasman Island Cruises boats skim across the water to seal colonies, pin-thin sea stacks, an evocative lighthouse and likely dolphin and whale sightings. Bruny Island Cruises offers a similar fast-paced experience along the cliff-lined shores of its namesake island.
On the west coast, nature settles quietly around the Gordon River where World Heritage Cruises and Gordon River Cruises drift through perfect reflections and convict history.
Tasmania's lakes and rivers are home to the world's purest strain of wild brown trout – these smart and elusive fish make for some of the planet's best fly fishing. Stay at Thousand Lakes Lodge for the full fishing experience, or head out for day trips with dedicated fishing guides.
The fractured landscape around Tasmania's most famous peak, Cradle Mountain, creates the setting for exciting canyoning trips with Cradle Mountain Canyons. The journey through Dove Canyon is a puzzle of ledge leaps, swims and abseils – you'll never forget the slide through the Laundry Chute – while Machinery Canyon is descended through a series of high, waterfall-splashed Abseils.
Where art is second nature
The provocative art of Mona steals the limelight, but creativity is part of the DNA of everyday life in Tasmania, writes Luke Slattery.
Peerless views on the Three Capes Track, atop the tallest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere, come with the startling presence of Sex on the Cape and Blood on the Velvet Lounge.
In a playful, thought-provoking confluence of nature and art, emblematic of Tasmanian creativity, these benches are two of 27 artfully designed seats positioned on rocky headlands and in silent forest clearings along the four-day hike on the Tasman Peninsula, in the island's rugged south-east.
Tasmania's creative energy is easily tapped, whether it's a moment's rest on a whale-shaped seat in the wilderness, a day exploring the subversive, subterranean playground of Mona on the outskirts of Hobart, or a taste of cutting-edge works at Design Tasmania in the northern city of Launceston.
"Tasmanian design's unique advantage is the beauty of distance," says Claire Beale, executive director of Design Tasmania. "We see things differently here and our isolation is a privilege that gives us purpose."
In another clever confluence of art and nature, Design Tasmania maintains an evolving collection of 80 works in distinctive Tasmanian timbers – Huon pine, sassafras, celery top pine, myrtle and more – that are reason enough to visit the island. The hero piece is local artist Kevin Perkins' Cape Barren Goose cabinet from 1996, crafted from Huon pine, silky oak, ebony, silver and brass.
His philosophy reflects an abiding reverence for timber: "If we are felling a tree, we use that tree to make something in a sensible way so that the item lasts for as long as it takes for the tree to replace itself," says Perkins. "So in the case of Huon pine, you would have to make and design for 1000 years. Otherwise you're not doing it justice."
Some of the artefacts at Mona, the game-changing Museum of Old and New Art, pre-date even the oldest Huon pines, though much of the buzz is created by outrageously provocative contemporary works.
Opened in 2011, it quickly became the island's premier drawcard, its magnetism so powerful and far-reaching for the Tasmanian economy it's been dubbed "the Mona effect". Closed for most of 2020, the museum reopened on Boxing Day after a revamp featuring more than 350 highlights – "and lowlights" – from maverick owner David Walsh's personal treasure trove, installed in a maze of underground chambers.
New outdoor works include a giant bronze sculpture by American artist Tom Otterness that doubles as a children's playground and the world's largest travelling mirror maze. Pre-booked tickets are essential; catch a Mona Roma ferry from Hobart's Brooke Street Pier to see the museum four days a week (Friday to Monday).
Meanwhile, at Mona's inner-city offshoot, nature and good times converge in garden parties at In The Hanging Garden, a live music and cultural precinct spanning a Hobart city block. A tiered beer garden beneath the garden's leafy, cathedral-like nave is a perfect place to contemplate life, art and nature, Tassie style.