The diverse habitats and huge expanses of Tasmania offer the visitor some of the best wildlife viewing in Australia. For such a small island, there is a lot that can be packed into a tailor-made tour of Tasmania!
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There is almost nowhere better to see such a range of exciting wildlife in Australia. From wallabies to echidnas, Tasmanian devils to quolls, while offshore seals and dolphins frolic.
Bruny Island is an untouched wilderness with abundant wildlife and a dramatic coastline unchanged for thousands of years; it possesses a sense of history shared by early explorers such as Tasman, Flinders, Bligh and Cook and the cleanest air in the world. Visitors come for the miles of rugged cliff face to marvel up at and an abundance of wildlife waiting to be discovered. Your tour will take you by boat to Friar Rocks, which plays home to over 1000 curious Australian fur seals and then the wildlife spotting truly begins - little penguins, dolphins, white bellied sea eagles, albatrosses, Australasian gannets, black-faced and great cormorants, all kinds of gulls, shearwaters and oystercatchers to name a few.
Not only does this charming alpine lodge offer some fantastic accommodation and great food but it is also an ideal place to view some of Tasmania’s abundant wildlife. For a small fee of around AUD$25, payable direct at reception, you can enjoy a wonderful native animal night viewing tour. Setting off in a 4WD vehicle equipped with a spotlight and a knowledgeable guide you head out in search of wombats, possums, wallabies, quolls and if you are lucky the elusive but ferocious Tasmanian devil. The tour takes around an hour and you are guaranteed to see a plethora of wildlife.
Maria Island National Park sits off the east coast of Tasmania and the whole island is protected as a national park. Birdlife here is prolific, with over 130 species; it’s the only national park containing all eleven of the state’s endemic bird species. The old airstrip is covered with Cape Barren geese and there are also forty endangered spotted pardalotes which live in the forests. Maria Island is easily accessible by ferry and makes for a great day trip or alternatively explore the island further on a wonderful four day walk.
Craig and Janine Williams operate Pepper Bush Adventures from Launceston, providing luxury Tasmanian wilderness, wildlife and gourmet bush tucker encounters for visitors seeking an authentic Tasmanian lifestyle experience. All tours are tailor-made with one of the most popular being their afternoon ‘Quoll Patrol’, which takes visitors through some of Tasmania’s most spectacular mountain ranges and unique wilderness areas before culminating with a five-course gourmet ‘Bush Tucker’ dinner, and wildlife spotting on Craig and Janine’s private acreage. Sit and watch as the wildlife comes alive once the sun starts to set, sipping on a glass of Tasmanian cool climate wine. All tours operate out of Launceston.
The immensity of Tasmania’s wilderness has to be seen from the air to be believed, in fact it is nigh on impossible to access in any other way unless you are willing to trek by foot for several days in a row. Your tour starts from the Cambridge Aerodrome, 20 minutes out of Hobart, and sets off southwest flying over the mountainous peaks of the Western Arthur Range, glinting tarns, hidden glacial lakes and impenetrable horizontal scrub, before landing at the tiny dirt airstrip that is Melaleuca. Melaleuca is the ‘regional hub’ of the Southwest National Park, where bird enthusiasts come from all over the world to catch a glimpse of the endangered orange bellied parrot. From Melaleuca you will embark on a short boat ride on Bathurst Harbour, Tasmania’s newly listed marine reserve.
This nocturnal excursion will provide you with the perfect opportunity to view Tasmania’s elusive Tasmanian devil. King’s Run Wildlife Tours are based in the far north west of Tasmania on your hosts, Geoff King’s, 335 hectare coastal property. From 1880 to 1999 the land was used for cattle grazing before Geoff decided to protect the fragile environment by removing the cattle and allowing wildlife to take over. The former pasture areas now provide a haven for a whole host of nocturnal animals from the wallaby and the wombat to the possum and bandicoot. In turn these animals support a healthy population of spotted-tail quolls, and the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil. You will view the devils from inside a rustic, candlelit fisherman’s hut as they feed.