Tasmania: Hobart to Devonport on the Midlands Highway

Across Tasmania from south to north. About 275 km from Hobart, the capital of the island state, over the rolling Midlands to Launceston, then west along the north coast to Devonport, where the ferry Spirit of Tasmania sails to the mainland. About 3½ hours without stops, but the road is full of 19th-century history.

The route. Hobart – Richmond – Colebrook – Oatlands – Tunbridge – Ross – Campbell Town – Epping Forest – Longford – Carrick – Deloraine – Sassafras – Devonport.

On the way. Richmond, near the start, has the oldest stone arch bridge in Australia still in use (1823–25) and the Richmond Gaol, a convict-era prison. In Oatlands, the Callington Mill (1837) is a working windmill. Ross has the Ross Bridge of 1836, carved by convicts, and the former Female Factory, a workhouse for female convicts. In Campbell Town the Red Bridge (1838), built by convicts, is made of about 1.2 million bricks. Near Longford the Woolmers and Brickendon estates are part of the UNESCO Australian Convict Sites. At Deloraine, the Great Western Tiers rise above the Meander river valley.

Good to know. Watch for wildlife on the road at dawn and dusk, especially wallabies and wombats. Tasmanian weather changes quickly: expect frost in winter and four seasons in a day.

Picture: The convict-built Ross Bridge (1836), JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.