Tasmania: Travelling To The Edge Of The World

31 March 2017
Read Time: 1.6 mins

Tasmania’s southwest wilderness is otherworldly, a remote and barren vastness stretching for 600,000 hectares. It feels far removed from the rest of the earth... and it is. It’s the last stop before Antarctica. No-one lives here. The easiest way to get here is on a one-hour flight from Hobart in a Par-Avion Wilderness Tours chartered plane.

The incredible Precipitous Bluff, looming above New River Lagoon. (Image: Matt Glastonbury, Tourism Tasmania)

For adventurous souls, a visit here is a journey to paradise. Hiking and boat expeditions let visitors get up close and personal with the ravishing landscape, but a flight offers a chance to appreciate the scenery from up high first, which helps put the isolation into perspective.

Par-Avion offers half-day and full-day tours for time-poor individuals, but the three-day expedition to Southwest Wilderness Camp is the ultimate ‘OMG’ experience. To start, a scenic flight in a twin-engine Britten Norman Islander aircraft affords magnificent views of the rugged southern coastline of Tasmania and mist-shrouded mountain peaks (Mount Rugby, Mount Melaleuca and Precipitous Bluff are some of the bigger ones) before landing at Melaleuca, from where participants take  a boat along the Melaleuca Inlet to the camp of just five luxury huts.

Mount Rugby is just one of many breathtaking peaks in Southwest National Park. (Image: Getty)

Indulgent multi-course meals and wines (local produce, of course) are included, but the explorations are the highlight. There’s wildlife, underwater life and plant life not found anywhere else in the world (including the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot). Three days in the wildness, un-hooked from modern life, will have you re-evaluating your idea of bliss.


Visit your local Flight Centre store or call 131 600 for more advice about Tasmanian wilderness trips and the latest deals.


 

Tatyana Leonov

Tatyana Leonov is a travel writer and editor who is based in Sydney (when she's not on the road). She covers everything from off the beaten track to luxury travel and believes you can find inspiration anywhere if you look hard enough.