Four friends, one hire car and a long weekend in Tasmania. It sounds simple enough, but what unfolded was one of those rare trips that reminds you why travel matters.
The adventure began in Hobart in June, with autumn doing its best work across the city. A walk through the Parliament House Gardens, ablaze with golden trees, set the tone perfectly before the group headed straight to the Museum of Old and New Art, better known as MONA.
MONA lived up to every expectation. The rotating exhibitions are thought-provoking and genuinely unlike anything else in Australia, but it was the smaller details that left the biggest impression.
One installation invites visitors to pull open drawers of vinyl records, each playing a different voice saying the words “I love you” in English, from children to men to women, each delivery different in tone, age and emotion, creating an unexpected and quietly moving sense of human connection.
The museum shop is worth a browse and there may or may not have been a jumping castle involved.
The drive up to Mount Nelson for sunset rounded out the first day beautifully.
Bruny Island, bread and two oceans
Day two called for an early start and a ferry crossing to Bruny Island, one of Tasmania’s most celebrated day trips.
The ferry departs from Kettering, about 30 minutes south of Hobart, and the crossing takes around 15 minutes each way.
Worth noting for day trippers: demand for the return ferry can build significantly in the late afternoon, so allow extra time to avoid a long wait.
Bruny Island is larger than it looks on a map and can take a full hour to drive from the ferry arrival point to the southern tip, so planning the route in advance pays off. A good strategy is to head straight to the furthest point first and work your way back.
The island’s most photographed spot is The Neck, a narrow strip of land connecting the island’s northern and southern halves where waves crash on one side and calm water sits on the other.
The view from the top of the staircase is one of those genuinely jaw-dropping moments that Tasmania specialises in.
Worth checking tide times before visiting as the scene is far more dramatic at high tide and those lingering on the island at dusk may be rewarded with a sighting of fairy penguins returning to shore.
The Bruny Island Neck Game Reserve, where two seas meet in a single sweeping view, left a strong impression, as did the South Bruny National Park further south, where kangaroos graze against a backdrop of untouched natural beauty.
One of the trip’s most unexpected highlights was the famous roadside fridge on the corner of Sheepwash Road in Alonnah, stocked once daily by a local baker with freshly wrapped sourdough loaves, focaccia, pizza and other baked goods on an honesty system.
Locals fill it, visitors help themselves and leave cash. The bread is extraordinary. It pairs perfectly with locally made jam, also available along the way, and makes for the most satisfying roadside lunch imaginable.
Those with a sweet tooth should also stop at Bruny Island Chocolate Co. on the path into Adventure Bay, which produces truffles, fudge and bars using local Tasmanian ingredients including honey, berries and sea salt, though note it tends to close early at 4pm.
Our group also stopped at Bruny Island Premium Wines in Lunawanna for a tasting session, one of the island’s most scenic cellar doors.
Oysters featured at almost every meal stop along the way, as they should in a region that produces some of Australia’s finest.
Freycinet and Wineglass Bay
No trip to Tasmania is complete without Freycinet and we tackled the Wineglass Bay lookout track on day three.
The walk to the lookout takes around 45 minutes each way and rewards hikers with one of the most photographed views in Australia: pink granite peaks framing a perfect arc of white sand and turquoise water far below.
For those wanting to go further the descent to Wineglass Bay Beach itself adds another 40 minutes or so each way but is well worth the extra effort. The track is well-maintained and clearly signposted throughout, making it manageable for most fitness levels.
Given the visit fell outside peak season, the trails were quiet and unhurried, exactly the kind of pace the trip called for.
Chasing the Aurora Australis
An evening at Kingston Beach was spent hoping for the Aurora Australis and we were rewarded with a faint but magical showing on the horizon.
The Southern Lights are notoriously unpredictable, appearing as soft pulses of green and pink that cameras often capture more vividly than the naked eye.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre publishes regular aurora outlooks for those planning a visit around peak activity windows. Even a faint display, reflected over dark water on a clear winter night, is something that stays with you.
Dark Mofo: So Close, Yet So Far
Back in the city, the group stumbled upon the early stages of setup for Dark Mofo, Hobart’s celebrated mid-winter festival that draws visitors from across Australia and around the world each June.
Known for its bold and confronting art installations, live music, midnight feasts and the famous nude swim at dawn, Dark Mofo has become one of Australia’s most talked-about cultural events and a major driver of winter tourism to Tasmania.
Unfortunately the timing was not on our side, arriving just as the festival was being assembled rather than in full swing. It remains firmly on the list for next time.
The Food And Drink Worth Knowing About
Hobart’s dining scene more than held its own. The evening began at Sunny’s Bar, a lively neighbourhood spot that was celebrating its anniversary and donating all proceeds to charity on the night. It was the kind of spontaneous, warm experience that travel throws at you when you least expect it.
From there we moved on to Bar Hwa Izakaya for Asian-inspired share plates and creative cocktails, ending the night on a high.
The Best Breakfast In Australia
The final morning began at Ed’s Spuntino and it may well have been the best breakfast any of us had eaten in Australia.
The open kitchen format places the chef at the centre of the room, working at a large island counter with guests seated around the edges watching every dish come together in front of them.
It is part meal, part performance…and entirely worth the visit.
From there, our group headed to Russell Falls in Mount Field National Park, one of Tasmania’s most accessible and rewarding natural attractions.
The walk from the carpark to the Falls takes around 20 minutes on a flat, well-maintained boardwalk through tall swamp gums, some of the tallest trees in the southern hemisphere.
Russell Falls itself is a tiered curtain of water cascading over moss-covered sandstone shelves in a lush rainforest setting.
The park also offers the option to continue further up the valley to Horseshoe Falls and Lady Barron Falls for those with more time.
After the Falls, we made one final stop at the Cascade Brewery, Tasmania’s oldest brewery and one of Australia’s most historically significant.
Established in 1824 and nestled at the foot of Mount Wellington, the sandstone building alone is worth the visit – its Gothic-inspired facade framed by the mountain behind it.
The brewery sits on the site of an original flour mill and has been in near-continuous operation for two centuries, surviving floods, fires and two World Wars.
Tours are available for those who want to go deeper into the story, but simply sitting in the grounds with a cold glass and the mountain looming overhead is its own reward.
The Part That Made Everything Funnier
With carry-on luggage only and a few too many Hobart purchases quietly distributed across four bags, the airport farewell did not go entirely to plan.
Three of our four were caught at check-in with bags exceeding the weight limit, leading to a frantic and increasingly hilarious scene of layering on as many clothes as physically possible in the terminal to avoid excess baggage fees.
It did not entirely work. The fees were paid, the laughter was worth every cent.
The Verdict
In the end, the best trips are not really about the destinations, the itineraries or the things that go according to plan. They are about the people beside you.
The right travel companions turn ordinary moments into memories, give meaning to every detour and make even the most chaotic situations feel like gifts.
Wherever you go and however long you stay, none of it matters quite as much as who you share it with.
