Inspiring journey to Tasmania

COLOURFUL landscapes, sumptuous food, provocative art and a date with a devil make for a truly inspiring jaunt.

escape tasmania

IT feels a bit like approaching a MasterChef challenge.

As we return from our walk along the coastal track, we see a table covered with a white tablecloth on the edge of a rock ledge overlooking the sea. Our journey leader, Dan, is standing behind it facing us and, as we move closer, we make out a set of orange bowls lined up along the table.

We discover they are filled with fresh Tasmanian strawberries, covered in thickened cream mixed with leatherwood honey.

Unlike MasterChef, we haven't had to prepare a single meal on this trip; our only challenge has been fitting the delicious food in our swelling bellies.

The bowls, we learn, were chosen by Dan to match the orange lichen-covered rocks of the Bay of Fires a stunningly beautiful 40km stretch of beaches on Tasmania's east coast.

The colours in this part of the world are as magnificent as the produce: lush green paddocks, white sand coves, the famous orange rocks and striking turquoise water.

The Bay of Fires was named by English navigator Captain Tobias Furneaux who accompanied Captain Cook on his second voyage to Australia after the fires of indigenous inhabitants he saw burning along the coast at night.

Our surprise afternoon tea comes on top of a morning visit to Eureka organic fruit farm at Scamander, where we indulged in scones covered with blackberry jam and cream and homemade summer fruits ice cream.

Owners Denis and Ann Buchanan sailed down from Sydney on their yacht 20 years ago looking for an alternative lifestyle. They ended up with a property boasting 3000 fruit trees, including raspberries, apples, pears, plums, peaches, nectarines and, of course, those strawberries.

The couple have become well known for their award-winning ice cream and jams, not to mention the amazing plum worcestershire sauce our driver, Smiley, raves about.

Despite their success, the couple remain unassuming, and it is a surprise to discover their son is Jetstar chief executive officer Bruce Buchanan.

Our next stop was an oyster lease known as Lease 65 at Goshen, where we slurped soft, salty, juicy Pacific oysters seconds after they were shucked by owner Anthony Blunt.

Standing beside a table covered in full oyster traps, Anthony tells us a good oyster should be full in the shell, heavy and clean, with a nice creamy cover. These definitely make the grade.We walk away with a few dozen oysters, which we later devour along with delicious cheese, salmon wraps and sparkling wine during a lovely picnic lunch on the grass beside Binalong Bay.

These experiences are part of the itineraries available from new company Inspiring Journeys, which offers small-group, experience-based journeys with flexible itineraries within Australia.

The company has also adapted the travel lingo. We travel in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, not a bus. All the vehicles are named after famous Australians, with ours called Banjo. The second I climb aboard I feel like a rock star.

The 4WD, which only just fits on some of the narrow roads and bridges we cross, has press studs around the velour carpet area which separates the cabin from the passengers, a fully stocked fridge and a "road cam" flat-screen TV streamed from a camera at the front.

The 11-day Forgotten Coast journey starts and ends in Hobart.

After spending our first night at the grand, family-owned Lenna of Hobart heritage hotel, overlooking the harbour, we enjoy a morning strolling the stalls at trendy Salamanca Market.

We then set off on a 30-minute cruise down the Derwent River to MONA the controversial Museum of Old and New Art.

The museum houses the private collection of eccentric millionaire David Walsh, who made his fortune through developing complex systems for gambling.

Even without the art, MONA is incredible. The experience begins when you descend underground via a round spiral staircase encased in a sandstone wall. The first artwork you come across is an urn containing the ashes of Walsh's father.

Nothing is off limits at this museum, with shocking contemporary pieces that include video montages of people urinating, a plaster cast of a horse's corpse suspended on a pole and 150 porcelain portraits of women's genitalia.

There are also ancient Egyptian coffins and coins.

None of the works have labels, but you are given an iPhone-like device known as an O, which gives various interpretations of the works.

The museum is like a funhouse for adults and despite its sometimes provocative nature, it is definitely world class.

We then set off on our journey, travelling through delightful towns such as Richmond, which reminds me of England's Lake District, with cute cottages and ducks waddling around on the green grass.

We pass paddocks dotted with dilapidated wooden barns and rusty red tin roofs, dairy farms and countless lambs en route to Freycinet National Park. Set on a peninsula against a backdrop of pink granite mountains, our home for two nights, Freycinet Lodge, is one of the few places on the state's east coast where the sun sets over the water.

We enjoy the view with pre-dinner drinks on the large deck before dining on a seafood feast of lobster, abalone, oysters, mussels and scallops, followed by a mouthwatering chocolate pannacotta dessert.

The next morning, we awake in comfortable wooden cabins surrounded by bushland, to the sounds of birds tweeting, before taking a morning boat cruise, then a 2km hike to one of the most anticipated places on the itinerary, Wineglass Bay. Getting there early has been worth it aside from a single boat in the distance, it is all ours.

Bathed in spring sunshine, we follow seagull footprints along the pure white sand of the crescent-shaped beach, which is consistently named one of the best in the world.

On the hike back we stop occasionally to watch the odd wallaby foraging in the bushes.

But there is other fauna we are still to meet.

At Tasmania Zoo, near Launceston, we get to pat an adorable 16-month-old Tasmanian devil named Ida sitting safely in her keeper's arms. She is one of 70 devils at the zoo, which are part of a breeding program to combat the contagious cancer that is threatening the species.

Devil facial tumour disease, which spreads when they bite or scratch each other while feeding or mating, has caused their numbers to shrink by 90 per cent over the past decade. While they look cute and cuddly, keeper Rob Warren tells us Tasmanian devils are 12 times more powerful than a pitbull.

We see their ferociousness first-hand when Ida nips him in the arm as he is leaving her enclosure. Rob assures us it's all in a day's work.

 The writer was a guest of Inspiring Journeys.