I try to always leave town on my birthday and do something ‘cool’. A couple of weeks ago, I did a fabulous 2½ day walk in the North of Tassie in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. Having done the Three Capes Track and Overland Track in 2020 and Frenchman’s Cap in 2022, it had been a while since an overnighter in Tassie. The “Walls” was high on my priority list and I was determined to do it this year. A colleague of mine had been the weekend prior and did the hike in to the Wild Dog Campground and the next day to Dixon’s Kingdom and back out, which is fairly common to do, but we decided we would do the circuit going out to Lake Adelaide. They had clear skies and 19C sunshine.

When traveling north with the family to explore, we often take an alternate route from Hobart, avoiding Highway 1 in favour of the scenic journey via Miena. This less-travelled path allows us to take in the stunning alpine scenery of the Great Lakes region and explore some of the special towns along the way.

Historically, one associates Tassie with freezing temperatures, tonnes of the fluffy white stuff aka snow, road closures due to weather, amazing winter festivals but we have had a strange winter so far. We had a Winter Feast and Nude Solstice Swim highlighting Dark MOFO, the last Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival, and weather that can only be described as crazy. Yes, there have been some very cold days causing us Tassie folk to rug up, but when the precipitation arrived it’s been so warm that whatever little snow might have been around melted which is unfortunate. In the last 3 days, the mighty Kunanyi/Mt. Wellington would’ve received almost 200mm of rain in the middle of July which should be one of the coldest months. We should have had metres high walls of snow along the Pinnacle Road leading up to the summit, but instead we have water flowing all over the mountain which has caused the ‘Disappearing Tarn’ to appear.

We had an epic day of great weather down in Southern Tasmania last Saturday – blue skies and sunshine. A day which simply called out to me to take a trip down to the Tasman Peninsula with stunning vistas.

This is the kind of tip you're torn about sharing because you cherish the location so much. The Mersey Forest is a stunning area that might surprise you on the way to Cradle Mountain or Tamar Valley, just past Deloraine and Mole Creek, or you might hear about it from locals or friends.

I've always wanted to visit the South Cape Bay Track – the southernmost of the “60 Great short walks” in Tasmania. I've read great reviews, seen beautiful photos, and heard exciting stories from friends. There's something special about seeing a place for yourself, and I got to do just that.