TASMANIA-AUSTRALIA

There's an otherworldly quality to Tasmania, the island where you can experience a gothic landscape of rain clouds and brooding mountains and take pleasure in the heavily-wooded wilderness. For lovers of the outdoors, it is a remarkable source of natural beauty - an ecologists' paradise, particularly The Freycinet Peninsula on the east coast. The light here is amazingly clear and the island is reputed to have the cleanest air in the world. Make sure you visit The Bay of Fires, famed for its amazing wildlife and stunning pure white sand beach.

WHERE TO STAY

• BAY OF FIRES LODGE

  (00 61 03 6392 2211)
  Set on a hilltop 40 metres above the pounding of the sea and surrounded by National Park, Bay of Fires Lodge is the only building on 20km of outstanding coastal wilderness. Two long timber and glass pavilions allow maximum connection to the landscape with minimum impact on the environment: all building materials - Tasmanian hardwood and plantation pine - were lifted in by helicopter or hand carried to the site, and the lodge is autonomous in providing and managing its existence. Meals are prepared with the freshest local produce, accompanied by Tasmanian wines. Solar power provides lighting and hot showers and all rooms have views of the sea or the bush. The basic principles of sustainability - protecting the present for the future by maintaining bio-diversity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting place - have been wholeheartedly embraced in the construction of the lodge.

• FREYCINET LODGE

  Freycinet National Park, Coles Bay (00 61 3 6257 0101)
  This is the only hotel within a Tasmanian national park. The 60 log cabins are decorated in rustic style. Bedrooms, commendably, have no television or telephone (in order that guests might properly shuck off the world they've come from), and almost half are fitted with spa baths. There are daily activities, from bush-tucker walks to stargazing, but the overriding advantage of staying here is the degree of accessibility to the National Park. A 10-minute drive takes you to the lighthouse at Cape Tourville, from which you have a startling view along the coast towards the Bay of Fires and south to the famous Wineglass Bay, a brisk 45-minute walk away.

• KABUKI BY THE SEA

  Rocky Hills, Tasman Highway, Swansea (00 61 3 6257 8588)
  Perched on a cliff 10 minutes south of Swansea, this lodge has the most breathtakingly romantic view. It is easy to see why it attracts honeymooners. Its Japanese-style cabins overlook Maria Island, Schouten Island and the Freycinet Peninsula. It is run by Terry Lanning, a former actor from Bath and his partner Mitsuo Nakanishi. The food is good as well as good value, combining Japanese and Australian dishes with traditional English puddings.

• SAFFIRE FREYCINET

  Freycinet Peninsula(00 61 3 6256 7888)
  Not so long ago, the wooded plateau where Saffire Freycinet stands was a trailer park. It must have been the most alluring caravan site in the world, because one of the best things about this fine hotel is the view. The main building and 20 cabin-suites look across Great Oyster Bay to the five pink peaks of the Hazards beyond. The cabins are fabulously luxurious and also cosy - a difficult trick to pull off. You can help yourself to anything you find in the kitchen, which takes the tiresome calculation out of having a drink or a snack. It makes you feel as if you're at home, or at the weekend hideaway of a generous friend. The restaurant slightly undermines that impression - no one gets a dinner this memorable at home - but that is the kind of disillusionment you could easily learn to live with.
  BOOK NOW

• THE HENRY JONES ART HOTEL

  5 Hunter Street, Hobart, Tasmania(00 61 3 6210 7700)
  What was a jam factory and a row of 1820s warehouses overlooking Hobart's busy harbour is now a stylish, 56-room hotel. Named after the late-19th-century jam magnate, it is Australia's only dedicated 'art hotel', with strong connections to the nearby Tasmanian School of Art. The public areas serve as an exhibition space for more than 250 works by Tasmanian artists, many of them for sale. The natural timber furnishings, steel-and-glass bathrooms and hi-tech amenities create a contemporary but comfortable feel. There's an excellent restaurant, and a bar that's said to have the longest counter-top in Australia. Featured in the Gold List 2011

• WHERE TO EAT

  THE EDGE RESTAURANT
  2308 Main Road, Coles Bay (00 61 3 6257 0102;www.edgeofthebay.com.au). Situated in The Edge of the Bay Resort outside Coles Bay, this is one of the east coast's best restaurants.
  
  THE LEFT BANK CAFE
  7 Maria Street, Swansea (00 08 9319 1315; www.leftbank.com.au). This café is famous for its coffee and lemon pie.
  
  THE MOUNT ELEPHANT PANCAKE BARN
  824 Elephant Pass Road, Mount Elephant (00 61 3 6372 2263; www.mountelephantpancakes.com.au). This offers sweet and savoury-filled pancakes.

• WHAT TO DO

  WALKS
  
  THE FREYCINET EXPERIENCE
  (00 61 3 6223 7565; fax: 6224 1315;www.freycinet.com.au; email: walk@freycinet.com.au). The four-day guided walk of the Freycinet National Park departs on Mondays and Fridays from October to April and includes two nights in tented cabins and a final night at Friendly Beaches Lodge, on the blinding-white Friendly Beaches. This is a leisurely and peaceful affair compared with the dolerite ruggedness of the Cradle Mountain Overland Track. The walk begins with a boat-ride to Schouten Island, the site of an old whaling station, where it is not unusual to see southern right whales and bottle-nosed dolphins leap out of the water. As might be expected, the Freycinet Experience is eco-friendly and, to preserve the vegetation, the two standing camps are helicoptered out at the end of the season. There are treks from October to April but numbers are restricted to 500 a year and, not surprisingly, the trips are nearly always full.
  
  BAY OF FIRES WALK
  Bay of Fires (00 60 03 6392 2211; fax: 6331 5525; www.bayoffires.com.au; email:cradle@tassie.net.au). The four-day guided tour of the Bay of Fires departs daily from October to May and includes two nights at the Bay of Fires Lodge. Bay of Fires is chiefly a 24km beach walk down the east coast's northern shoreline, full of amazing wildlife. It is hard to disagree with the Sydney Morning Herald, which named the beach here the whitest in Australia, if not the world. Tucked well out of sight of any road, the coastline is a series of horseshoe-shaped curves of sand so fine and white that it can sometimes appear as if the waves have cast their foam on the shore and left it there. Astonishingly, the Bay of Fires remains a secret even to Tasmanians.

• HOW TO GET THERE

  AIRPORT
  Hobart airport is 26km northeast of the city at Cambridge.
  
  AIRLINES FROM THE UK
  Qantas (020 8846 0466; www.qantas.com) flies daily from Heathrow to Hobart via Melbourne. British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.britishairways.com) flies daily from Heathrow to Hobart via Sydney, with Qantas Link, in November.

  TOURIST INFO

  Because the east coast is not heavily populated, banking facilities are rather inadequate. Complete banking services are available only at St Helens and Scottsdale.
  
  Always consult the Foreign Office before travelling.

  WHEN TO GO

  Tasmania has a very changeable climate with heavy rainfall, so breathe in the world's cleanest air in its more settled summer. The best month is probably December.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Visas: Every nationality except New Zealanders need visas. Tourists visas are generally valid for six months. Visas for less than three months are free.

Public holidays: New Years Day; Australia Day (Jan); Anzac Day (25 April); Good Friday; Holy Saturday; Easter Monday; Christmas; Boxing Day (except for South Australia).

Good buys: Aboriginal art, antiques, craft and design.

Local dishes: 'Modern Australian' food is an amalgamation of Mediterranean, Asian and Californian cuisine.

Good reading: The Songlines, by Bruce Chatwin, is a beautiful, elegiac and comic account of his experiences among the central Australian Aborigines.