Arrive in Launceston on suggested flights and make your way to the hotel. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including flights, pre-tour accommodation and a room category upgrade.

At 5:00pm meet your tour leader Mark Dickenson for a welcome briefing, before enjoying a welcome dinner at a local restaurant.

(D)

Journey south-east of Launceston, through the hills and valleys of the Tasmanian countryside to Glover Country, where the colonial artist John Glover lived and painted his fascinating landscapes.

Enjoy a private visit of Patterdale, where Glover enjoyed the final years of his life. The farmhouse has been lovingly restored by the current owner and Glover’s studio and garden painstakingly rebuilt after one of his paintings. After lunch at Patterdale, visit the nearby chapel where Glover is buried.

In the afternoon explore historic Evandale before a private guided tour of Clarendon House, built in 1841 as a testament to the extraordinary success of a prosperous English wool merchant.

Return to Launceston in the late afternoon.

(BL)

In the morning, check out of the hotel and visit the recently renovated Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Royal Park. In the new extension to the gallery, admire a reinterpretation of the collections which presents Tasmanian stories and histories in a fresh and contemporary context.

Continue to the Brickendon Estate, a UNESCO World Heritage site, owned by the same family since 1824, and boasting more than 20 heritage buildings and rustic historic cottages, all nestled in an enchanting landscape of gardens, farms, and riversides.

Enjoy lunch in the village of Longford, known for its Georgian architecture, historic homesteads and magnificent colonial estates, and explore the town’s charming atmosphere.

After lunch, visit one of Tasmania’s grandest mansions, Panshanger – regarded as Tasmania’s pre-eminent Neo-Classical house. Wander through maritime pines, oaks, lindens and laurels that date back to the 1840s when the grounds were first landscaped.

(BD)

This morning, check out of the hotel and to travel the historic Woolmers Estate – acknowledged as one of the most outstanding examples of 19th-century rural settlements in Australia and continuously occupied by the Thomas Archer family from circa 1817 to 1994. The estate provides a rare insight into six generations of one family. The National Rose Garden provides a unique and fascinating insight into the evolution of the rose.

Then, enjoy lunch in Devonport before travelling west along the northern coastline towards the perfectly preserved town of Stanley, sheltering under the imposing shadow of The Nut headland.

This evening, enjoy dinner at the hotel.

(BLD)

Discover Stanley with a local historian on a privately-guided heritage walk. The town boasts a well-preserved concentration of magnificent Georgian architecture, stone buildings and workers’ cottages, including the humble single-storey weatherboard house where Australia’s only Tasmanian Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons, was born in 1879.

Continue to Highfield Historic Site for a private guided tour of the house, convict barracks, private chapel and cottage garden. This elegant Regency home was built using convict labour for Edwin Curr, chief agent of the Van Diemen’s Land Company, and is the site of the first European occupation in the north-west of Tasmania.

After lunch, travel by chairlift to the top of The Nut and enjoy the glorious views of Stanley and surrounds.

(BD)

Today, step aboard the M.V Reflections for a unique cruise on the Arthur River to appreciate the wild beauty and remoteness of the West coast. The Tarkine area of North West Tasmania is a recognised wilderness area of world value with myrtles, sassafras, celery-top pine, laurels, blackwoods and giant tree ferns. An abundance of bird life can be heard and seen in this part of Tasmania. Catch a glimpse of Azure Kingfishers with their distinct brilliant blue and orange colouring.

After lunch on board prepared with fresh Tasmanian produce, return to Stanley in the late afternoon.

(BL)

Check out of the hotel and depart for the highland moors of Cradle Mountain. En route, visit the Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden and see over 24,000 rhododendrons and companion plants set among 11 hectares, laid out by geographical origin of the natural rhododendrons, within themed environments.

After lunch continue travelling along the Old Park and Black Bluff Nature Reserves and encounter Tasmanian devils, quolls, platypus, echidna, wombats and the highly inquisitive black currawong.

Check in to the hotel at Cradle Mountain in the late afternoon and enjoy dinner at the hotel.

(BLD)

Begin the day with the “Enchanted Walk”, a gentle excursion through the outstanding scenery of Cradle Mountain, past cascading rivers, wombat burrows and precious old-growth rainforest.

Then, admire the sublime natural grandeur of Cradle Mountain’s Lake St Clair National Park, characterised by glacial lakes, heathlands, jagged peaks and forests. End with a guided stroll around the shores of picturesque Dove Lake, surrounded by alpine forests.

After lunch, visit a unique Tasmanian Devil conservation sanctuary located at the entrance to the spectacular World Heritage-listed Cradle Mountain National Park. Have a close-up encounter with the closely related Spotted-tail and Eastern quolls as well.

Enjoy the remainder of the afternoon at leisure to relax or further explore the surroundings of Cradle Mountain at your own pace.

(BLD)

Depart Cradle Mountain and descend through beautiful scenery into the scenic Meander Valley. Afterwards continue to Launceston Airport for flights departing after 3.00pm, or continue to the Launceston CBD, where tour arrangements conclude. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including additional nights’ accommodation either before or after the tour, and travel insurance (highly recommended).

(B)

Note: At time of publication (February 2024), most but not all garden visits were confirmed. Private owners, in particular, are reluctant to commit more than two to three months prior to the visit. Therefore, while we undertake to operate the tour as published, there may be some changes to the itinerary.