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.
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.