New York, Thursday Jan 9, 2025- Tasmania, Australia's island state has plenty of news to share in 2025, with new hotels and boutique stays, wellness and culinary offerings and adventure, including exploring the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Tasmania's ancient landscapes and endemic flora and fauna make it the ultimate walking destination. Tassie also boasts one of the world's best private art museums, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). MONA's Dark MOFO is set for a big return in 2025 and beyond. Other highlights – a new sauna trail across the island (think cold water plunging in the sea and lakes in one of the world's most pristine and remote environs) and stunning new food and wine trails to explore.

NEW WALKS -

Tasmania has long been a mecca for walkers and has received many accolades for its world-renowned walks in the Tasmanian World Heritage Wilderness Area. Tasmania has several iconic multi- day walks including the Overland Track in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, the Three Capes Walk in south-east Tasmania, and the award-winning wukalina Walk in north-east Tasmania.

New walks include Flinders Island, Australia's newest Great Walks of Australia and the new Five-Day Three Capes Adventure Walk by Tasmanian Walking Company. This guided walk is now bigger than its earlier versions, with more days, more steps, and more challenges. Traversing 75 kilometers, it's the only guided walk that physically steps foot on all three iconic Capes in the iconic Tasman National Park. Stay the first night at its stylish new eco camp which boasts breathtaking views of Tasman Island before settling into private use and secluded lodges - the sole accommodation within the Tasman National Park - for the rest of the walk. Each night, relax and unwind with chef-inspired meals

Tasmania has a plethora of other short and multi-day walks through diverse landscapes, from glacial alpine mountains to beaches and coastal environments.

For a dose of Tasmania's beautiful alpine mountains, venture to Hartz Mountain. There is a variety of short and longer walks. Meander on further to Tahune Adventures for a unique treetop view of the life cycle of the forest.

Hastings Caves and Thermal Springs, a one-hour drive south of Huonville, is a walk through Newdegate Cave, one of the largest dolomite caves in the southern hemisphere and where you can see spectacular crystal straws and stalactites, columns and shawls. The cave is only accessible on a guided ranger tour, but a 28-degree thermal spring is set among the towering trees, for a magical mid-winter dip experience.

CULINARY NEWS

Hobart has incredible new restaurants with young creative chefs at the helm sourcing local seafood and produce. Contact us for a full list for some of the best. They are already winning national awards.

Head 30 minutes south of Hobart to the Huon Valley which extends to the southernmost point in Australia. Serving as Hobart's abundant food bowl, with idyllic countryside, wilderness and waterways, the Huon Valley combines gourmet foodie experiences with natural beauty.

The Huon Valley originally gave Tasmania its namesake as The Apple Isle and in recent years has become known for its cider houses. Head to Willie Smith's Apple Shed and check out the museum and sample the ciders.

New for 2025, chef Analiese Gregory's 10-seater restaurant at her farm house, launching second half 2025 and new stays.

The Port Cygnet Cannery, a winery and a farm, 50 minutes from Hobart in the Huon Valley. Chefs Asher Gilding and Franca Zingler use produce from small farms in the Huon Valley for their restaurant, café and beer garden, called Cannery Kitchen.

Fat Pig Farm, a paddock- to-plate destination by farmer and chef Matthew Evans delivers an ever-changing menu from ingredients grown on the farm. Guests can book cookery classes, learn about “the ethical hierarchy of food”, or take a farm tour and discover how to plant and harvest in harmony with the seasons.

Agrarian Kitchen, offers foodies new experiences in the restaurants' kitchen garden. Guests can now begin their dining experience with the first course set amongst the raised herb and vegetable beds in the centre of the garden, forging a direct connection to the source of the produce right from the first bite.

Provenance lies at the very heart of The Agrarian Kitchen, a principle that has guided Co-Founders Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet since the inception of the cooking school in Lachlan back in 2008. Now, the kitchen garden stands as the cornerstone of the enterprise at the Willow Court location, spanning the restaurant, kiosk, and newly renovated cooking school. 

MONA museum - Dark Mofo set for big return in 2025 and beyond. Dark Mofo 2025 will be held from 5-15 June 2025, with the Nude Solstice Swim on 21 June. The 2025 iteration of the festival will also include the Winter Feast, Ogoh-Ogoh and Night Mass.

MONA, with ancient, modern and contemporary art, was founded by philanthropist, collector and professional gambler, David Walsh. Mona's wing named Pharos, has four specially commissioned installations by James Turrell and other individual works by artists including Richard Wilson. Mona's Pharos explores light as a medium in art, as well as being a contrast to some of the darker ponderings of the rest of the museum.

Pharos is also home to stunning restaurants, including Faro. Mona has its own pavilions for guests to stay, as well as a vineyard, Moorilla. Next up –plans for Ladies Lounge – ladies only – at MONA going global, and an art curator's eating invasive species project.

ADVENTURES

Enthusiasts are invited to come down to Tasmania for golf, fly fishing, walking and mountain biking, in ancient, pristine wilderness.

MOUNTAIN BIKING

In Tasmania, you can ride from the mountains to the sea. The Bay of Fires trail starts at Blue Tier, near Derby, and ends at the east coast. This epic 42-kilometre ride traverses rainforest and sub-alpine terrain, climbs through giant granite boulders and emerges on the white sand at Swimcart Beach. The St Helens Mountain Bike Trails over scenic routes for all experience levels on a whopping 66 kilometers of trails with eight stacked loops.

FLY FISHING

Tasmania is one of the world's last great wild fisheries and regularly hosts the World Fly Fishing Championships. Visitors can fish for wild brown and rainbow trout, from more than 3,000 lakes, rivers and streams.

RiverFly Wilderness Huts boasts direct access to the Western Lakes fishery and Walls of Jerusalem National Park. At Driftwater, step into a boat specially designed for its stability and ability to drift quietly in shallow water. Pair fishing with luxury boutique highland accommodation at 28 Gates in the Derwent Valley, or Thousand Lakes Lodge near Liawenee, a World Heritage Area.

GOLF

Tasmania has some of the most scenic and quirky golf courses in Australia, with links perched on the edge of dramatic coastlines, holes scattered throughout sand dunes and others surrounded by paddocks, dotted with grazing sheep.

Tasmania has four of the top 10 golf courses ranked by Australian Golf Digest in its Australian Top 100 list of 2018. Cape Wickham is a worthy recipient sitting at No 3. This King Island course presents a rare and dramatic mix of coastal holes that lean gently towards the ocean, with the eleventh hole positioned almost in the sea.

Ocean Dunes, also on King Island, overlooks the Great Southern Ocean. On the main island, Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm have wide open fairways and holes overlooking Bass Strait, winding through coast and dunes giving golfers an unforgettable experience and connection to the landscape.

ABORIGINAL CULTURE

Wallaby Walkabout Tours

Discover Launceston through the perspective of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture on a Wallaby Walkabout Tour. Geo McLean, a Tasmanian Aboriginal historian and former lecturer in Aboriginal Studies at the University of Tasmania is behind the tour. Visitors can also explore Cataract Gorge with Tasmanian Aboriginal elders, taste some of the bush tucker, and learn how to create personal souvenirs from natural resources. launcestonwalkingtours.com.au.

Other offerings include wukalina walk, through the stunning Bay of Fires, and palawa kipli, guided Tasmanian aboriginal food tours. 

For further information -Julie Earle-Levine, Tourism Tasmania North America PR

Julie@Julieearle.net