Table Cape Tulip Farm, on Table Cape near the town of Wynyard, in Tasmania, has bulbs available for sale all year round. Photos: Supplied.
Attention-grabbing slogans are a quick and effective call to action: “Don’t switch off just yet. Spring is coming up.” Discover Tasmania wants us to “come down for air” on the Apple Isle.
Sure, there’s a flavourful festival, artsy event or a quirky gathering happening somewhere on the island all year round. It’s time to seek out those effervescent spring events and full-throttle festivities across every season. Spring is a time for blooming gardens, sunny days, picnic hampers and good vibes. Colourful flowers, out-of-the-ordinary arts and crafts, crisp wines, and plenty more. The invitation is inclusive.
See fields of intense colour at Table Cape Tulip Farm on the state’s north-west coast for a month in late September. To coincide, the local council runs the Tulip Festival Wynyard (11 October), with food, music, art and vibrant entertainment. Just as bright, but of human making, Launceston’s Junction Arts Festival (12-14 and 18-21 September) is about extraordinary arts events in unusual places. Great Eastern Wine Week (October) is a collective of more than 40 events celebrating the cool-climate drops and boutique wineries of the east coast wine region.
Every November, Sheffield’s Mural Park comes alive for Mural Fest – a popular art competition that has further elevated Sheffield’s ‘’Town of Murals’’ status, adding a layer of cultural richness to a community that already lives up to its name.
For 25 years now, the pictorial history of the region has been painted on almost every blank wall throughout Sheffield, known as Tasmania’s ”Town of Murals’’.
In Tasmania’s north-west, this eclectic town is one hour west of Launceston, or 30 minutes south of Devonport, where the Spirit of Tasmania ferries arrive. Sheffield is on the road to the craggy wilderness of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. From here, take a fascinating Western Wilds drive to encounter dramatic landscapes and long-lost legends.
This quaint town is covered in murals depicting rural life and historic events. Sheffield has rightly earnt the reputation as Tasmania’s outdoor art gallery. Murals adorn the buildings on the main streets in town and have spread into the neighbouring areas, with more than 200 now available to view. The murals in town tell the history of the area; people who have lived here, events that have happened and some of the natural attractions in the Kentish municipality.
Sheffield is at the northern edge of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, home to some of the island’s best multi-day walks. Tackle several of Tasmania’s tallest peaks on the 65-kilometre Overland Track in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, or immerse yourself in a majestic landscape of alpine lakes and pencil pine groves at Walls of Jerusalem National Park. Closer to town, the four-to-six-hour return walk to the summit of Mount Roland delivers majestic 360-degree views.
If niche interests are what you seek with festivals, you will be covered with the Tasmanian Craft Fair (31 October – 2 November), the Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival (November) and Effervescence Tasmania Sparkling Wine Festival (November).
Seize the chance to discover the magic of Tasmania’s night sky with the Sea to Sky tour from Tasmanian Wild Seafood Adventures. Search for the Aurora Australis and the elusive seven-gilled shark under Tasmania’s star-studded southern skies.
Search for the Aurora Australis and the elusive seven-gilled shark under Tasmania’s star-studded southern skies on the Sea to Sky tour.
Departing at dusk from Margate, a 20-minute drive from Hobart/nipaluna, the two-hour tour aboard the luxury catamaran Cuttlefish starts with a welcome drink and warming feast featuring fresh local seafood delights. As darkness envelops Hobart’s southern bays, hear the tales of local fishermen and women and witness the serene solitude of the Tasmanian seas.
The minimal light pollution at the tour’s remote location creates optimal conditions for witnessing the Aurora Australis dancing across Tasmania’s southern horizon. Below the surface, those who are keen-eyed might glimpse the elusive seven-gilled shark gliding through the depths, adding a touch of marine mystique to this celestial spectacle.
As the long summer days begin and balmy nights linger, revellers are lured outdoors, with the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race surging home in late December at Sullivans Cove. A week-long food and wine festival in Hobart welcomes sailors and travellers to Tasmania’s taste of warm weather, crammed with entertainment including New Year’s Eve fireworks. Launceston Beerfest (31 December) brings merrymakers together in the north for more NYE celebrations.
What a sparkling way to start another year of beautiful, unforgettable wonders!
