The Roaming Redhead

5 Unmissable Walks Around Cradle Mountain

There are heaps of tracks all around Cradle Mountain – Lake St. Clair National Park. They vary in difficulty and length, ensuring that there is something for everyone and with so much to see – waterfalls, lakes, fairy-tale forests, buttongrass plains, mountain ranges and an abundance of wildlife, I would definitely recommend spending a good chunk of time here. We spent a week…

Quad-Biking & Horse Riding with Cradle Country Adventures

During my stay at Cradle Mountain Hotel, I was very lucky to be introduced to Cradle Country Adventures. Owner of the company, Ray, who was quite possibly the most Australian man I have ever laid eyes on, picked us up one rainy morning along with another couple and drove us to his stables a short…

Climbing Mt. Amos and Walking the Hazards Beach Circuit

Mt. Amos makes up part of the Hazards mountain range, dominating the landscape and towering dramatically above Freycinet Lodge, which can be found nestled comfortably at its base. After being kindly invited to spend the weekend at the Lodge, I was super excited to explore its surrounds and the National Park in particular. Unlike the walk to Wineglass Bay…

Hiking the Three Capes Track

The Three Capes Track opened to the public in December 2015 and takes you on a truly wild adventure across some of Tasmania’s (and the world’s) most stunning wilderness. Over 46km and split across 4 days, the experience encompasses access to the Port Arthur Historic Site, an adrenaline fuelled boat trip, 3 nights accommodation in…

The Fluted Cape Circuit, Bruny Island

Our first taste of Bruny Island was back in November 2014, when two rookie backpackers with limited time and a dwindling money supply attempted to cram the entire East Coast of Tasmania into one week. Needless to say, it was a blur, and the one night we had allotted ourselves over on Bruny was nowhere…

West Coast Wanderings | Off-Roading Adventures

On Good Friday, myself and Yasmin got together with our neighbour, fellow explorer and photographer, Andrew, to spend the morning doing something a little different. Having recently purchased ‘Freddie’, Andrew was raring to take us sight-seeing and before he could even finish his morning brew, we were eagerly perched on the bench outside his house…

Hitching a Ride in Zeehan

It was a perfect day for a ride, so last Wednesday I slathered on some sun cream and made my way to Zeehan to meet friend, co-worker and crazy animal lady, Gaylene. First things first, I just had to get my animal fix and surrounded by her menagerie of pets, I was in my element. Zeehan…

West Coast Wanderings | Montezuma Falls to Macquarie Heads

Tourism season is in full swing all over Tassie right now and Strahan is being bombarded by waves of tour bus groups, bikers and campervans galore. As a seasonal hospitality worker, it has been non-stop; early mornings, late nights, 10-15 hour days back to back… some mornings I wake up and have to weigh up…

A Launceston Getaway

A few weeks back myself and Yasmin were granted the rare luxury of two days off… TOGETHER. This miracle required action, so without haste, we chose a new location to explore and booked ourselves into a hostel. We packed weekend bags and plenty of car snacks for Yas (she gets cranky without a constant supply of…

West Coast Wanderings | Mt. Zeehan & Henty Sand Dunes

A couple of weeks back I was somehow persuaded to climb a mountain. The mountain in question, Mount Zeehan, is not particularly large in size (702m) or striking in appearance, when compared with some of Tassie’s more famous climbs, meaning that it is mostly overlooked by walkers and hikers passing through. It had been a good 2 months…

Horsing Around on Ocean Beach

After finding out my lovely work colleague Gaylene was as horse mad as myself, it wasn’t long before we were off on our first outing to Ocean Beach with her boys Socks and Harley. Horse riding selfies are not as easy as they look. The ride was comfortable and relaxed, until Socks suddenly decided he fancied a nice…

West Coast Wanderings | Birthday Cruising the Gordon River

On November 25th, I turned the ripe old age of 27 and thought what better way to celebrate than jump on a boat mostly filled with pensioners and cruise up a river. Something about it just felt… right. Coincidentally, exactly one year before I celebrated my 26th birthday over on Bruny Island followed by some horse riding in the…

Strahan Life: An Introduction

The day after we arrived in Strahan, we were taken to our new home for the next 6 months, a cute little two bed unit in the staff village. When we realised that we each had our own bedroom complete with double bed, we couldn’t contain our excitement. For over a year, me and Yas have shared a bedroom and at…

From One Island to Another | Kangaroo Island to Tasmania

Leaving Kangaroo Island was incredibly emotional and many tears were shed. Over the three and a half months, we forged some great relationships with an incredible bunch of people and also fell in love with the island itself. That’s the thing about travelling, saying goodbye is an all too common affair and something you have…

88 Days Farm Work: Conquering the Island

During our time at the sanctuary, myself and Yasmin made it our mission to explore just about every corner of the island. We revisited some of the places that we had previously been to with Groovy Grape, but also discovered just how much more the island had to offer. Being winter, the lesser known beaches…

88 Days Farm Work: Please Do Not Feed the Animals

During our time on the island, we came across an awesome array of animals other than koalas. Being a massive animal lover with perhaps a little too much love to give, and to the despair of nearly everyone, I often found myself touching and feeding things I shouldn’t. I also had this slight obsession with trying…

88 Days Farm Work: Sticks & Stones

I am now going to excite you with my outstanding ability to talk in phenomenal detail about… rocks. Along with the basic, day to day jobs around the farm (which I mention in my previous post), there were also a couple of large, ongoing projects, that kept us busy over the entire 88 days that we…

88 Days Farm Work: The ‘Woofers’

Being the first of our kind at the sanctuary, we soon became known as ‘the woofers’. This title was actually pretty inaccurate and confused the hell out of everyone, including ourselves. ** ** WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, hence the nickname. The sanctuary wasn’t exactly an organic farm, hence the confusion….

88 Days Farm Work: Arriving at the Sanctuary

The sanctuary sits on roughly 3500 acres, at the south-west end of the island. The main attraction is the koala walk; a beautiful, long avenue lined either side with eucalyptus trees. On closer inspection, which generally involves a lot of neck craning, squinting and patience, you can often make out numerous little round, grey balls…

88 Days Farm Work: Leaving the Mainland

I would like to begin by sincerely apologising to the overwhelming amount of concerned readers (i.e. my mum and Yasmin’s mum), for my lack of blogging over the past four months. For anyone unacquainted with the Australian government, I have my reasons and here’s the low down: I was incarcerated… for grand theft marsupial. Just…

Day 5: Horse Riding in the Huon Valley

I awoke on the morning of my 26th birthday with a fuzzy head. Once more, we were up and away at sunrise, as we had an early ferry to catch back to the mainland. The weather had improved a little so we stopped off at Bruny Island Neck on the way, with the promise of…

Day 4: Hopping Over to Bruny Island

It was a cold, drizzly start. The sun that we had enjoyed so much the day before, had obviously decided that one day was enough for us. We set off at the crack of dawn and headed to Kettering, where the car ferry would take us on the 15 minute journey across to the northern…

Day 3: Exploring the Tasman Peninsula

We skipped breakfast and set off from Coles Bay early, anticipating that we would be doing our usual drill of frantically stopping at every beach along the way to our next destination. For the first time since we had arrived in Tassie, the sun was properly out and it was hot – we even turned…

Day 2: Bay Watch

Our second day began with somewhat of a hangover, but we were raring to go so it didn’t last. We scoffed some breakfast, said goodbye to the French guys and German girls and hit the road once more. We began by heading towards Binalong Bay, the southern end of The Bay of Fires. We then…

Day 1: Getting Acquainted with ‘Bruce’

We were up super early the morning of our road trip, mostly due to excitement. Neither of us had driven in a few months and missed the freedom of doing things at our own pace. We practically skipped over to the car rental garage; the nice lady on the desk handed us our keys and…

Tasmania Road Trippin’

The flight from Melbourne to Tassie was short and sweet. Flying over land once more, I could already tell that I was going to fall in love with this place. Below me lay a blue-green blend of mountains, valleys and water and small bush fires littered the landscape, sending thin, white clouds of smoke as…