Photos and Story by Maxby Chan

I always wanted to visit Tasmania since my daughter migrated to Melbourne but every time, there was an excuse before the trip can be arranged. This time, I set a date from 2-10th May. This is not a photosafari trip but a private road trip. A photosafari trip will be organised differently from a road trip.

Tasmania is a great place to visit. It is a state with only about 500,000 residents. The most preferred mode is self-drive rather than organised tours. There are many different styles of accommodation ranging from hotels, motor inns, and camping sites to suit most budgets. Campsites are either free or service sites and may incur National Park entrance fees. You need to bring your own tent and cooking utensils.

Three of us set off on a 9 days/8nights self-drive tour. We rented a car from Car Rental website. It’s about 500aud for the whole period including full insurance cover. You should not stinge on the insurance cover. Anything can happen.

Getting around

Getting around Tasmania is a breeze. There are so many navigation apps to navigate you around. I navigated the whole journey using google maps and Waze. These apps are pretty useful especially google maps.

Before you embark your journey, make sure you get a local SIM card. I got mine from Telstra for AUD15 for a 3G data plan that is valid for a month. You can get a pre-paid starter package from any Woolworths or Coles supermarket. Activating the data plan takes about 4 hours.

For a small group of four, the best way is to stay in self-contained cabins or motor inns. Some of these cabins have 2 bedrooms and can accommodate up to 6 people. Cooking utensils, stove, microwave and cutleries are a standard. I use this app, booking.com to help me book my accommodation throughout the whole journey. I only pre-booked my stay in Hobart from the same app and later book the accommodation one day in advance. Caution, Summer months are peak periods, you may need to pre-book your accommodation in advance.

Cooked food and sit-in restaurants are not common in small towns other than Hobart, Launceston, and other slightly bigger towns. So be prepared. Buy bread, noodles, and other food at the nearest supermarket before setting off the next day.

Our journey starts in Hobart. You can see our route on the map. However, the next time I will download a GPS tracker.

This is more like a discovery trip. If I were to go back to this place, I would take a different route to maximize the time for photography.

Overall the cost is very reasonable. One can get by with under 1k aud for about 8 days drive around. We did that with a few luxury meals, oysters and side tours thrown in.

If there are anyone wanting a photosafari trip to Tasmania, contact me. I can organise a photo trip for a small group of people to explore Tasmania

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