Step into the Tasmanian Tardis and you'll discover an island lost in the mists of time with national parks, wilderness zones and rainforest-filled valleys offering everything your heart could ever desire. Looks can be deceiving and although Tassie is just 364km north to south by 306km east to west, this little island packs a punch to floor even the most ardent of travellers seeking natural wonders Down Under.)

Freedom underpins Tasmania to stand in stark contrast to its penal past, and as you walk across the island's track-covered national parks and surrounding islands and you'll undertake your own journey, way beyond average Aussie expectations. Walk a little longer over the Freycinet Peninsula Circuit, Bay of Fires Walk, or the 65km Overland Track in Cradle Mountain Lake within St Clair National Park. Mix things up a little as you swap footprints for paddles as you kayak Ansons River in the Bay of Fires or, after trekking in the Tarkine Rainforest region, paddle down the Pieman River.

Ever since Tasmania cut the cord to mainland Australia, thanks to rising sea levels some 10,000 years ago, its wildlife has fared rather nicely with white wallabies and 12 other marsupials on Bruny Island; Tasmanian devils and flocks of birds on Maria Island; and no end of duck-billed platypus abounding in the Central Highland's lake systems, to ensure wildlife watchers are in their absolute element. Whether it's wombats and wallabies in Narawntapau or dolphins and whales off west and east coasts, wildlife watching holidays in Tasmania let you find your feral just as readily as leafing through the pages of an animal encyclopedia. From fairy penguins on Bonnet Island to forty-spotted pardalotes and orange-bellied parrots, Tassie by day is a rainbow of colours whilst, by night, owls hoot and possums peer in torch light so tread carefully as you take a walk on the wild side.

“If you like an adventure, take the road less travelled – the Western Explorer or ‘Road to Nowhere’ which is an old logging track that runs down the west coast from Smithton to Strahan through ancient forest and across the wilderness via the old mining village of Corinna. The road is entirely unsealed, there is no mobile phone signal and you are unlikely to see more than one car a day so take plenty of food, water and fuel and be prepared for a long wait if you breakdown, but it is absolutely stunning. You cross the Pieman River on the single vehicle ‘Fatman Barge’ after you leave Corinna.”