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Wineglass Bay, Tasmania

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Travel to Tasmania

Flying to Tasmania

All direct flights come from the Australian mainland. Direct flights to Hobart arrive from Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, with quick connections available from Cairns, Canberra, Darwin and Perth. Launceston, Devonport and Burnie also receive flights from the mainland.

Airlines serving Tasmania include Jetstar (JQ) (www.jetstar.com.au), Qantas (QF) (www.qantas.com.au), Rex - Regional Express (ZL) (www.regionalexpress.com.au), Tiger Airways (TH) (www.tigerairways.com.au) and Virgin Blue (DJ) (website: www.virginblue.com.au). Airlines of Tasmania (www.airtasmania.com.au) flies to Flinders Island. King Island Airlines (www.kingislandair.com.au) and TasAir (www.tasair.com.au) fly to King Island. Both islands are directly accessible from the Australian mainland, as well as from Tasmania.

Departure tax:

None.

Travel by rail

There are no passenger services. However, the West Coast Wilderness Railway (tel: 1800 420 155; www.federalgroup.com.au) runs a tourist service between Queenstown and Strahan; it is a reconstruction of the original Abt railway that carried ore from the mines to the coast. The railway's steam locomotives use a rack-rail system to climb the steep gradients of the rainforest wilderness it passes through. It runs for 35km (22 miles), crossing a number of small rivers and passing through restored stations including Lower Landing, Dubbil and Baril (journey time - approximately 5 hours).

In the northwest, the Don River Railway (tel: (03) 6424 6335; www.donriverrailway.com.au) also runs regular excursions using both steam and diesel locomotives. The rail trips usually take half an hour, to Coles Beach and back.

Getting to Tasmania by boat

Devonport (www.tasports.com.au) on the northwest coast of the island.

Ferry operators:

The Spirit of Tasmania (tel: 1800 634 906; www.spiritoftasmania.com.au) sails daily in both directions across the Bass Strait between Melbourne and Devonport though schedules are subject to change depending on demand (journey time - 9 to 11 hours).

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