04 December 2023
A wildlife guide to Tasmania
Long separated from the mainland, Tasmania harbours a unique blend of wildlife with species you can find nowhere else. Here’s where you can find them…
Long separated from the mainland, Tasmania harbours a unique blend of wildlife with species you can find nowhere else. Here’s where you can find them…
If you’re looking for a wildlife adventure, Australia abounds with cute, curious and utterly unique creatures. Tasmania’s varied landscapes are home to some of the most fascinating of them all. With great swathes of wilderness, you can easily get off the beaten track and be alone with nature. Meet some of the island’s show-stealing inhabitants and discover how Audley can help you witness them in their natural habitats.
Credit: Shutterstock
Incredibly cute, furry and surprisingly hefty, the wombat is the second largest marsupial in Australia (after the kangaroo). There are three sub-species of the common wombat and Tasmania is home to two: one is found in many of its national parks and the other, known as the Bass Strait Island wombat, now only on Flinders Island. As part of conservation efforts, this slightly smaller subspecies was introduced to Maria Island, which is now home to thousands of them. You’re guaranteed to see these champion diggers on the island sanctuary and may even spot joeys in the pouch. Keep a look out for their distinctive square droppings – they leave little piles of cubic dung (which doesn’t roll away) to mark their territory.
Just a 30-minute ferry ride from Triabunna, Maria Island is a veritable zoo of wombats, wallabies, echidnas, Tasmanian devils and endemic birds. Audley's Wine + the Wild - Maria Island and the Coal Valley tour will reveal its wild side on guided hikes that promise plenty of wombat encounters. A picnic lunch is included, as is a look around Darlington, site of the island’s creepy convict ruins. Stay all day or head back on the ferry to toast your adventures on a private tour of a winery or distillery (whatever tipple most tickles your fancy) in the Coal River Valley.
Credit: Kathryn Leahy
The world’s largest carnivorous marsupial and the island’s most iconic creature, the Tasmanian devil is a shy, nocturnal scavenger. It’s also endangered. These black-and-white creatures were once found on the mainland, but now only inhabit the coastal heathlands and forests of Tasmania, preserved by a lack of predators. Sadly, though a facial tumour disease became rife in the species in the late 1990s, destroying 80% of its population. Conservation projects are the best place to see them, including Maria Island which has a disease-free colony. The sound of their bone-chilling snarls and shrill shrieks and the sight of their frenzied communal feeding is something you won’t easily forget.
Admire the bone-crunching Tassie devil up close and learn about its threats from knowledgeable guides on Audley's Tassie Devils and Tamar Valley tour of Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary. This privately run 70-acre sanctuary is also home to wombats and forester kangaroos. After watching the devils chow down on their favourite delicacy (be warned they are very noisy eaters) you’ll enjoy some local treats of your own. The tour includes lunch at a winery in the beautiful Relbia wine region and a tasting of Tamar Valley wines.
Credit: Shutterstock
From the giant humpback and southern right whales that migrate along the east coast and playful Australian fur seals to the weedy seadragons that hide in its kelp forests and little penguins that burrow on the island’s shores, Tasmania has marine creatures great and small. There are many ways to explore its pristine waters, which are protected by seven marine nature reserves, and witness their myriad wonders. You can paddle out on sea kayak expeditions to navigate its bays and coves or join wilderness cruises to visit rugged little isles like Bruny Island, home to seals, cetaceans and seabirds.
An easy day trip from Hobart, Bruny Island has some of the country’s highest sea cliffs, brilliant vantage points for watching migratory whales pass breathtakingly close to the Southern Ocean-pounded headlands. Join a cruise to Bruny Island with Audley to admire its dramatic shoreline from the water and spot the animals that flourish in its wild waves. Seals are a likely sighting, especially around the Friars, as are dolphins, albatross and short-tailed shearwaters. The world's smallest penguin has a colony along the isthmus known as Bruny Neck.
Credit: Rob Burnett
Part of the macropod family, so named for their big feet, wallabies are one of the most likely wildlife sightings you’ll have in Tasmania. There are two species, the largest of which is the bennetts wallaby, recognisable by its black nose and paws and white stripe on its upper lip. Go to Bruny Island and you’ll see white wallabies, a result of a genetic mutation. The other is the pademelon, a smaller brownish-grey short-tailed species of wallaby that lives a solitary life in the island’s wet sclerophyll and rainforests. Another of its hopping forest-dwellers is the forester kangaroo. Tasmania's largest marsupial can be found in north-eastern Tasmania and pockets of central Tasmania, as well as Maria Island.
Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in northeast Tasmania, home to rainforests, alpine heaths and glacial lakes, is alive with native creatures: wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, echidnas and iridescent birdlife are all widespread. On Audley's Active Cradle Mountain walking tour you can opt to follow the Dove Lake Circuit Track or the more challenging trail up to Marion’s Lookout. Whichever you go for you’ll soon be immersed in its untouched landscapes. Keep an eye out for movement in the scrub as you stroll, wallabies are the park’s most commonly encountered species, along with possums.
Credit: Shutterstock
A truly extraordinary creature, the platypus has fur, a rubbery bill, paddle-like tail and webbed feet. It is one of just two monotreme species, a mammal that lays eggs, along with the echidna – the short-beaked Tasmanian echidna also lives on this biodiverse isle. Tasmania is one of the best places in Australia to see these semi-aquatic and elusive nocturnal creatures with healthy populations living in its lakes, rivers and streams. For the best chance of spying them, go at dawn or dusk when platypus return or leave their burrows after a busy night of ducking and diving.
Audley's Canopy Capers evening tour in northeast Tassie, takes you in search of the shy species in a reliable spot in the late afternoon – an expert guide at your side gives you an even better chance of spotting them. A three-course dinner by the campfire in a native forest setting follows. As darkness falls, the forest stirs. You’ll feel the beady eyes of brush-tail and ringtail possums staring down at you from the trees and hear the rustle of wallabies bouncing by as you take a guided nighttime walk.
Bursting with unique flora and fauna and among Australia’s best kept secrets, Tasmania’s pristine environments invite adventure. Audley’s Tasmanian specialists can help you plan your wildlife explorations around this wild and wonderful isle. With in-depth expertise and first-hand knowledge of where best to go and when, the team can create tailor made itineraries that connect you to the land and get you up close to its precious creatures.
Start planning your Tasmania adventure
Get the very best of Wanderlust by signing up to our newsletters, full of travel inspiration, fun quizzes, exciting competitions and exclusive offers.