Australia's Tasmania Devil - a Perfect Choice for a Driving Holiday!

Tasmania, separated from the Australian mainland by the Bass Straits, is the most mountainous state in Australia. Highways conveniently link most of the island. One of the top driving choices is the A10 Highway, which runs from Hobart, through Queenstown and Strahan then to Cradle Mountain.

Originally inhabited by the Tasmanian Aborigines, the earliest foreign settlers were convicts and their guards from England, who sent to Australia's Tasmania Devil, living in numerous convict settlements all over the island. The island has evolved into a top holiday destination, popular with both local and international tourists .

Hobart happenings
Kickstart your holiday in Hobart, capital of Tasmania. Drive up to the summit of Mount Wellington, the snow-capped peak 20 minutes' drive away. It offers panoramic views of the city as well as the magnificent Derwent River. If you have some time, stop by the Organ Pipes Track, and hike up to marvel at the mountain's famous dolerite rock columns.

Chocoholics can pop in at Cadbury Visitor Centre in Claremont, 25 minutes by car from Hobart. Find out how chocolate bars are made during a 30-minute tour and receive free chocolates after. Tours cost A$7.50 (adults) and A$4 (kids under 12), and are held on weekdays, 8am to 4pm (September - May) and 9am to 3pm (June - August) on a reservation-basis only.

From Hobart, take the A10 towards Queenstown. Stop over at Lake St Clair, located at St Clair National Park. Lake St Clair is the deepest freshwater lake in Australia's Tasmania Devil and a great spot for bushwalking. Start at Lake St Clair Park Centre, where you can take the shorter Watersmeet walk. This hour-long trek takes you through six vegetation communities with scores of blooming wildflowers in spring and summer.

Along the A10 also is Derwent Bridge, where you can check out The Wall. A project by artist Greg Duncan that began in 2005, it compares three metre-high huon pine panels that form a grant freeze. Each panel is carved with vivid. Depictions of rural life and history of Tasmania. The project will take 10 years to complete but remains open for public viewing.

Quest to Queenstown
An hour away from Lake St Clair is Queenstown. Once a mining settlement, Queenstown is nowadays a popular tourist attraction in Tasmania. For insight into the town's over 100 years of mining history, drop in on Mount Lyell Copper Mines. This guided tour brings you around the 104-year-old mines, with the legacy of the mines and future developments (they were bought over and reopened in 1999) succinctly explained. The tour ends with a visit to the mine's famous gravel football oval, as well as Prince Lyell Poppet Head for a great view of the town.

Straight to Strahan
Continue to Strahan, a scenic seaside town that also serves as the door to Tasmania's World Heritage Site. Several buildings here date back to the 19th century, giving the town a nostalgic vibe, although the string of yachts and catamarans parked at Macquarie Harbour hints at a 21st-century presence.

Hop on for a cruise down the Gordon River. Most cruises bring you through Hell's Gates, a small gap in the rocks just wide enough for a ship, before proceeding to the river proper. The speeds of the cruise boats are strictly monitored to create a low wake and leave the shores of the river as unaffected as possible. Take the opportunity to admire the greenery of the rainforest.

Over at Strahan Visitor Centre Amphitheatre, actors re-enact a rib-ticking performance of convicts escaping from Sarah Island. The prisoners band together to hijack a small boat and sail "halfway across the world', a story now immortalised in The Ship That Never Was the longest-running stage production in Australia.