Scenery, Wildlife and Foodie Fun

The Classic Road Trip Around Tasmania, Australia

DAYS 1 & 2 International Flight

Start your Australian adventure as you head to the airport this evening to check in for your flight to Melbourne. You'll have to stop en route somewhere so let us know your preferences with stopovers/airlines and we'll suggest the best flights for you. Whichever route you choose, you're looking at around a 23-hour flight, arriving into Melbourne in the early morning two days hence.

DAY 3 Whisky Wanderings

Start today as you mean to go on, with a breakfast whisky as you arrive at the meeting point for your full-day tour of some of Tasmania's best distilleries. Over the course of the day you'll visit three distilleries and can enjoy detailed tastings at each, with the experts on hand to explain the ins and outs of the distilling process. Where possible you'll even be able to try whiskies straight from the still and casks.

There will also be a stop for a full lunch to help soak up the whisky and provide time to try some of the local produce while sipping on your favourite tipple of the morning. Come late afternoon, find yourself back in Hobart for dinner and perhaps another whisky or two.

DAY 4 To Freycinet

Pack the bags and pile them into your hire car this morning as the road trip fun begins. Start your journey around Tasmania with a two-and-a-half-hour coastal drive north to Coles Bay Conservation Area and neighbouring Freycinet National Park. With stunning views as you drive along the coast you might want to extend the journey with a few stops along the way. When you do arrive you'll find your accommodation, nestled in the heart of the beautiful, lush landscape. Check in and then prepare for a truly immersive foodie experience this afternoon.

With a guide by your side you'll be taken down to Freycinet Marine Oyster Farm where you'll be suited and booted in overalls and waders, ready to go oyster foraging. This is an internationally recognised wetland and ornithological site, and the farm is one of the best places in Australia to find prized Pacific oysters. Once you've gathered enough, this is also a beautiful setting in which to enjoy eating them too. Sit at a table placed in the water, complete with a bottle of iced champagne, and tuck into a bowl of oysters made all the more pleasurable knowing they are the fruits of your labours. You will have the rest of the afternoon at leisure, and to digest after your bivalve blow out.

DAY 5 Wining and Dining

If wildlife was the agenda of yesterday, wine is the order of today. Line your stomach with a large breakfast before your driver/guide collects you for a morning spent learning about the winemaking process, right through from grape to glass. With the experts on hand you'll be guided through the various processes that go on in a vineyard and can experiment tasting the wines in their unfinished state. When you've had enough of learning and want to start sampling the end product, make your way to the winery restaurant for a two-course lunch of Tasmanian specialities, paired with the perfect wines.

As the late afternoon blooms, head back to your hotel or the city centre to continue the indulgence with a lazy afternoon nap or some more food and, in all likelihood, another bottle of delicious local wine.

DAY 6 Heading Home

Sadly your adventure in the land under down under comes to an end today. Get up nice and early to make the four-hour drive back to Hobart Airport, where you can drop off your hire car and board your short flight back to Melbourne on the mainland. Here you'll pick up the first leg of your international journey and begin the journey back to the UK. You're looking at a total journey time of around 28 hours, arriving back tomorrow morning, so stock up on magazines at the airport and try to get some sleep on the flights.