Photographing Tasmania Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect
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Photographing Tasmania Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Tasmania is Australia’s smallest state, so it is possible to plan a holiday that takes in many sights in a short time. However, it is best to take time to explore and appreciate, wander from the beaten track and discover little-known treasures side by side with more famous features. If you have seven days (but preferably thirty) and love to wander country roads in search of Australia’s natural and built environmental treasures, then this is your state. Above: Do not let overcast, misty and or rainy days lower your spirits. In these conditions head for the waterfalls and forests! Hobart, Tasmania’s capital and the second oldest capital in Australia, is a beautiful, prosperous city with a superb harbour situated at the mouth of the Derwent River. Second only to Hobart is Launceston, the northern “capital”, a picturesque city on the Tamar River. Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect When you visit Tasmania, look for wilderness where every step brings discovery, historic ruins where the past comes vividly to life, delightful towns full of charming gardens, and a seacoast unequalled for scenery. Touring, camera at the ready, alone or with a friend, pausing in delightfully maintained heritage towns and villages, or wandering a rainforest trail to a magnificent waterfall presenting a stunning composition from every view, is as pleasant an occupation as I can imagine. If you want to get serious and backpack for a seven-day hike into the wild mountains, then Tasmania can provide that experience too. Wilderness scenes that would make even the hardest heart crack wide open are just around the corner. In every direction there is a new viewpoint or vantage point for a stunning image; it is easy to create photographs of which you will be proud. Arthur Ranges, South West National Park, Tasmania Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Tasman Peninsula National Park, Tasmania Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Hobart in twilight Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Russel Falls, Mount Field National Park, Tasmania Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Wineglass Bay, Freycenet National Park, eastern Tasmania Lake Dove, Cradel Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park with late November snow Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Bruny Island has many cute chistorical farm house cottages Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Tasmania’s weather can change in a moment, which makes photography on this island quite spectacular. The Nut at Stanley, Tasmania Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect The Common Wombat is commonly encountered feeding close to roads and may be easily encountered in more remote areas. This is especially so in and around the resorts at Cradle Mountain Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect During sunny weather Tasmania’s beaches with their white sandy coves make great photographs Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Early morning stillness provides great opportunities at Straun in the states west Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect The Tasmanian Echidna, often seen roadside while travelling When some Tasmanians refer to mainland Australia as “our northern island”, they are only half joking. Tasmania is a small world in itself; it is surrounded by seas rich in marine life and cradles within its 68 000 square kilometres just about every known landscape form except for hot sandy deserts. Tasmanians love to share their natural treasures and rich heritage, which comes from an eventful past, with visitors. While Tasmania has a thriving tourist industry, in my opinion the most impressive and well managed in the nation, I do believe that the secret has still not got out! Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Above: Hobart’s Constitution Dock is a popular photo subject Southern Tasmania For many years Hobart Town was a roaring seaport for whalers and sealers. Today the city’s waterfront, which centres on Franklin Wharf, is still a focus of activity. Its magnificent restored sandstone warehouses are home to galleries, shops and restaurants. Sandy Bay, site of Hobart’s yacht clubs, stretches from Battery Point past the dominating tower of Wrest Point Hotel Casino. Southern Tasmania is full of visual delights for photographic travellers, some immediately available and others only attained after considerable effort. While the forests and falls of Mount Field National Park are within easy reach of Hobart, the mountains and lakes of the south-west are much harder to reach, but well worth the energy expended when you get there. This is World- Heritage-listed wilderness, remote and magnificent. The south-east corner of the island is notable for both its beauty and its grim relics of the convict system. Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Mammals include the endemic Tasmanian Devil and Tasmanian Pademelon, Sugar Glider, Common Wombat, Platypus, Short-beaked Echidna, Bennett’s Wallaby, various possum species, and the rare Eastern Barred Bandicoot. These delightful creatures are quite likely to visit your camp site during your stay, so keep your head torch, electronic flash and cameras at the ready at all times. The birdlife is also spectacular. Above: During a November visit to Cradle Mountain I awoke to find the entire landscape covered in a light snow dusting. Northern Tasmania Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Northern Tasmania has some of this island state’s most spectacular rural and wildness landscapes. Take, for example, Wineglass Bay, a lovely, picturesque, eastward-facing bay on the Freycinet Peninsula: few bays and headlands anywhere else in Australia would rival this special place for its incredible natural beauty. Then there is Cradle Mountain – a pleasantly rural drive from Launceston takes you to World-Heritage-listed Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park, a wild place that dominates the northern central area of the state. Then there are the picturesque seaports of St Helens and Stanley, both of which rely of the tourist and fishing industries for their survival. For the flora and fauna and wild-place photo buffs there is a lifetime of challenge, particularly at places like Mount William, Asbestos Range and Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Parks. Travelling to Tasmania Many holiday-makers put their vehicles in the hold of a ferry that leaves the TT Lines terminal, Port Melbourne, and makes the voyage to Tasmania overnight. They may travel on the same ferry, or cross Bass Strait by air to meet their vehicle or hire one. Cars, campervans and touring buses are all good ways to see the island, and the athletic may even tour by bicycle. Bed and breakfast accommodation is readily available and of high standard in most towns, and there are plenty of places to dine or snack. Ferry berths (600 vehicles, 1300 passengers per trip), hire cars and campervans should be booked well in advance, especially in summer. Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Above: The Tasmanian Devil may be seen roadside in remote areas, especially in the wilderness areas of the Tarkine in the State’s west Tasmanian Travel Regions 1. Southern Tasmania 2. Northern Tasmania 18 Top Tasmanian Photography Locations Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect 1. Bicheno 2. Bridport 3. Cradle Mountain 4. Freycinet Peninsula 5. Gordon River 6. Hobart 7. Lake St Clair 8. Launceston 9. Macquarie Harbour 10. Mount Field 11. Mount William 12. Port Arthur 13. Richmond 14. Southwest National Park 15. Stanley 16. Strahan 17. Tasman Peninsula 18. Tarkine region Share your favourite photography localities in Tasmania Join us on the next Photographic Tour to Tasmania and Visit Steve's shop for books on photography Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect Photographing Tasmania - Steve Parish Nature Connect.