WEST COAST
Enter the western wilds. This is where Tasmanian tigers roamed and pioneers forged rugged wilderness.
Step back in time and unearth stories of convict courage and boom-and-bust mining fortunes. There are real-life ghost towns here.
The west is a region of World Heritage-listed wilderness: cool-temperate rainforest, alpine plains, mountains and glacial valleys, wild rivers, deep lakes and windswept coasts.
Remote. Raw. Untamed. Like nowhere else.
Things to do
Find your kind of adventure. Climb a mountain, chase a waterfall, cruise the waterways, ride the rapids, go fly fishing. Or slow right down. You choose.
Best of the west coast
The journey
Plot a Western Wilds road trip: a drive journey full of detours and stories. Drive past buttongrass plains framed by snow-peaked mountains. Wander through mossy rainforest on the Franklin River Nature Trail. Stretch your legs on a short walk to gushing Nelson Falls. Descend the 99 Bends through a surreal moonscape into Queenstown.
The wilderness
Cruise into silence and sensation on a day trip along the remote Gordon River, cutting deep into Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. Explore a nature trail, take one of the 60 Great Short Walks to a waterfall, or follow a historical rail track into forested former mining country with the West Coast Wilderness Railway (currently under restoration and reopening with full services in summer).
The history
Visit Sarah Island, one of the harshest penal-colony settlements in Australia. Watch a play re-enacting a daring convict escape from the colony. Take a tour of Lake Margaret, a hydropower ghost town. Check out Zeehan, aka Silver City, with its pioneering history and heritage streetscape.
The waterways
Take a cruise past Hells Gates before basking in the serenity of the Gordon River. Spot rare Huon and King Billy pines as you raft the rapids of King River. Explore a glacial lake on a rowboat from a luxe retreat. Catch some trout at Lake Burbury. Kayak through ancient rainforest.