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Eco-tourism: Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people: The International Ecotourism Society

The last time I checked green was still a colour. But increasingly for some people it is becoming a way of life. For others still, being green can be serious business.

The island of Tasmania is perhaps best known for tracts of wilderness where Tasmanian devils, platypus, wallabies and wombats cavort about in diverse and ancient landscapes. Visitors can carouse with temperate rainforests, dolerite mountains, wild rivers, alpine plains and deserted coastlines all before morning tea on a day dedicated to touring. What is far less known about Tasmania is it is home to a whole lot of green people.

In the 1980s when much of the world was consumed by Reaganomics and shoulder pads, Tasmanians came up with Australia’s first ever Green Party. In 1982 some of its foundation members helped successfully lobby for Tasmania’s wilderness to be World Heritage listed. The Tasmanian World Heritage Area (WHA) includes four contiguous national parks and covers almost 1.4 million hectares or, incredibly, some 20 per cent of the island.

In 2009 Tasmanians still take all their wild greenery seriously. There are 17 World Heritage Areas in Australia but perhaps none influence a state’s psyche as much as it does for Tasmanians. This is not a new fashion trend inspired by the need for climate change. It is, in part, a lifestyle. Even Tasmanians who don’t feel the need to plunge into the wilds can be proud of the existence of the great swathe of WHA.

Many tourism operators in Tasmania share with visitors this fetish for genuine shades of green. While ‘ecotourism’ and ‘sustainability’ have been fashionable words in travel for some time now the words can be overused to such an extent their meanings can be unfortunately diluted. Indeed, when it comes to being green, dab hands at deceit are having a riot of a time. Car makers and even mining companies have been caught turning their corporate ways to comic schtick and fudging their green credentials.

But Tassie’s green folk seem to have crafted a bewitching doublespeak-free potion. As you might expect there are generous portions of wilderness and adventure in its mix. But the only boot-camp privations are the ones you volunteer for. Good fresh food, local wines and sometimes even day spas are other magical ingredients.

Below are some of the Tasmanian operators and products who colour their guests a comfortable shade of green.

Bay of Fires Lodge
Along parts of the Bay of Fires coast, stretching some 30km from Binalong Bay to Eddystone Point on the north-east coast of Tasmania, there are more extraordinary white sand beaches than houses.

Since it was built in 2000 the lodge has become something of an exemplar for stylish and sustainable accommodation. Sitting low among the sand dunes and rocks the sea-side lodge has a light footprint. Rainwater is collected and stored for use in the bathrooms and kitchens. Solar panels provide power for all lighting and the composting toilet ventilation. Somehow this ensures that not only the house but also the guests blend to the environment. Yet visitors might remember the lapping waters of the Tasman Sea and encounters with indigenous wildlife before the surreptitious highlights of the sustainable lodge.

From 9 May to 15 September 2009, Bay of Fires Lodge is offering a daily rate of AUD$450 per person. The price includes accommodation, all meals, a selection of Tasmanian wines at dinner and daily activities including kayaking and guided walks. At other times the lodge is used by walkers on the Bay of Fires Walk, a four day experience that includes upmarket camping, walking and two nights at the lodge experience. www.anthology.travel

Australian TASafari 4WD Camping Adventures
If you ever ask a 7th-generation Tasmanian what they love about Tasmania make sure you have a few hours to spare. Jenni Fraser for example has a long list to work through. Jenni has been living adventure tourism in Tasmania since she was old enough to have a job. Now she owns and operates TASafari – a small business with very big environmental and sustainability ethics.

TASafari 4WD Camping Adventures – four to 10 day adventures (departing from Launceston, Devonport, or Hobart) – are active camping tours to remote areas of Tasmania.

Each adventure includes bushwalking, learning about endemic animals, visiting national parks and spending time in World Heritage wilderness. Evening entertainment can consist of a campfire, a delicious dinner prepared using local ingredients (maybe a just-caught fish) and a snug sleep in a swag, an Australian outdoor bed, in the biggest hotel room in the world – the great outdoors.

TASafari guides are passionate about the environment and knowledgeable about minimal impact travel. TASafari is a carbon neutral business and are eco certified through Ecotourism Australia. Jenni thinks her company is one of only two dedicated tour operators in Tasmania to run Advanced Eco Certified tours.

A four day East Tassie tour costs AUD$680
A five day West Tassie tour costs AUD$860
A 10 day tour covering much of Tassie costs AUD$1,390
www.tasafari.com.au

Huon Bush Retreats
The Huon Valley is just south of Hobart. There are hills and forests, rivers, orchards, small villages and restaurants and cottages where wood fires warm patrons on crisp, cool evenings.

Michael Higgins and his partner, Paul Dimmick, run Huon Bush Retreats. Accommodation options include studio and family cabins and deluxe tipees. Each building has its own independent solar electric system, water heater, wood fire, composting toilet and wastewater treatment system.

Senator Bob Brown, founding father of the Greens Party, opened the retreat in 2005. Perhaps in testament to the success of going green there have been substantial infrastructure development here over the last 18 months: 5km of walking tracks have been sculpted through the forest and a 30 panel interpretation project tells of Aboriginal and early European history and the more recent human contact with this land. Higgins and Dimmick have also found time to produce a 14-page food and wine guide to the region.

Huon Bush Retreats is a part of the Mount Misery Habitat Reserve. The reserve is made up of co-operatively managed private properties spreading over some 8 square kilometres. Much of the land is covered by legally binding conservation covenants.

Tepees from AUD$95 a night for two people
Studio cabins from AUD$200 a night per couple
Family cabins from $300 per night for up to four people.
www.huonbushretreats.com

Arthur River Cruises
Arthur River is about a one hour drive south-west from Stanley. It’s on the coast and sits by a river with the same name as the town. Which one pilfered from the other is not apparent. Arthur River, the town, is built by the Arthur River’s mouth, near where the river spills into the often thrillingly crazed Southern Ocean.

Some 30 years ago a local bushman named Turk Porteous built a boat from scratch, cleared a landing area from the rainforest and in 1985 began Arthur River Cruises. Today visitors cruise on the same timber and steel boat, the MV George Robinson. Cruises depart from the mouth of the Arthur River and cruise 14km up to the junction of the Arthur and Frankland Rivers. There is a barbecue lunch at the landing Porteous cleared.

Visitors can experience an easy grade guided one-hour walk through the overtly green Tarkine rainforests, reportedly one of the largest tracts of temperate rainforest remaining in the world. You’ll be in good company to get the low down on the Tarkine. One of the guides, Greg Cash, has an environmental science degree and though he is not on every cruise all the river boat guides share this passion for place.

The stories of the redoubtable pioneers who settled the region are not lost to this remarkable wilderness. Captain Rob Hutton belongs to a 5th-generation Tasmanian logging family. He still pulls logs from the forest with a bullock team and during the cruise there are tales from pioneer history as well as an insight into the state’s original inhabitants’, the Aborigines, connections with the Tarkine (the forest takes its name from the Tarkiner tribe of Aborigines).

The cruise also stars performances by local wildlife. Spotting one or more regal sea eagles is nearly guaranteed. These commanding birds, two pairs live along the river, have been fed tidbits from the boat for 15 years.

Clint Walker manages a hotel, the Stanley Seaview Inn, in Stanley. “I have been recommending our guests take the Arthur River Cruise for almost eight years now,” he says. “In that time I don’t think there has been a single guest tell me that they didn’t enjoy it. When I ask people about their cruise they start raving about what a fantastic day they had. They regularly comment on how knowledgeable and down to earth the guides and skipper were. And they love the walk through the Tarkine rainforest.”

Adult cruise tickets cost AUD$83 (the price is rising to $92 for next season but afternoon tea is to be included), children’s tickets cost AUD$35 (those under 5 years old travel free). Morning tea and a barbecue lunch are included in the price. The boat departs at 10am and returns to Arthur River around 3pm. The cruise is not available during June, July and August.
www.arthurrivercruises.com

NatureWise
Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) is a not for profit organisation. For some 25 years CVA has been packaging conservation holidays in Australia. Their trips are one way to meet people who study and observe wildlife with the passion Elvis had for cheeseburgers.

CVA’s two day Naturewise Wildlife Encounter takes place primarily on Bruny Island, some 40km south of the Tasmanian capital, Hobart. The tour though begins in Hobart and before Bruny there is a visit to the Bonorong Wildlife Conservation Centre. The Tasmanian devils, the state’s endemic icon, are for many people the stars of the park.

After Bonorong it’s the hop to Bruny Island and to Inala, a 500-acre property that is a refuge for a number of threatened birds including the forty-spotted pardalote. Dr. Tonia Cochran owns Inala. She is a doctor of zoology and takes visitors on tours of her forested property.

When not involved in the CVA tours, Dr Cochran also organises her own wildlife tours around Australia as well as her Bruny Island property. According to Dr Cochran, “this is a great way to learn how easy it is [in some cases] to help threatened species”. “Sometimes people are surprised to learn it’s just a little modification in people’s habits that can help protect a whole species.”

The CVA tour also takes in an evening visit to a little penguin rookery and a short-tailed shearwater haven. On this tour volunteers will help out on a penguin rookery restoration project as well as do some work on bird habitat at Inala. But the tour isn’t all about soft hands developing calluses: there is also a visit to South Bruny National Park and the Cape Bruny Lighthouse.

The two day tour costs AUD$380 per person (It operates from March – October each year).
www.naturewise.com.au
www.bonorong.com.au
www.inalabruny.com.au

Eat Tasmanian
You can eat your way around Tasmania with the help of some carefully produced local fare. Just west of Launceston, Tasmania’s largest city after Hobart, there are rich pickings from farm gates and specialty producers who use passion, smarts and Tasmania’s pollution-free environment to nurture safe, bursting-with-flavour produce.

At the Chudleigh Honey Farm there are more than 50 varieties of honey including chilli and chocolate versions. The rich honey ice cream is as fine as a Friday night beer. The family who run this business also stock a skincare range and bees-wax candles. There are food themes to both lines, however. One of the skin care items is a Honey Mango Body Butter. The candles are often used to decorate tables for dinner parties.

The 41˚ Degrees South Aquaculture farm is only a few minutes’ drive from the honey. But it’s further from the sea than many points in Tasmania. But the fact that this salmon farm produces achingly good smoked salmon and salmon rillettes in a bush setting is only part of the interest. The Pyka family own the farm and have built the entire operation themselves, including a wetlands area. This filters and recycles the water from the salmon ponds (the fish are reared in 20,000 litre holding tanks) before it works its way back into the Montana Creek from where it first came. Visitors can tour the farm. All the Pykas’ salmon products are available from a shop at the farm. The Pykas are also developing a line of ginseng products and from their shop sell nougat, ginseng chocolate (styled on a Belgium dark chocolate) and ginseng cream.

The people at Ashgrove Cheese produce English styles – Lancashire, Cheshire, Double Gloucester, Red Leicester – of cheese. Traditional style cheddars are turned by hand until mature. The cafe and tasting room by the factory has views of the curds and whey.

Free tastings of the full Ashgrove Cheese range, including a wasabi infused cheese, can be a feature of any visit here. There is also a range of other Tasmanian good food and drink – Anvers Chocolates, Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce and beers from the Two Metre Tall Brewery. The shop is open daily except (Christmas Day)

The Tamar Valley is just a short distance from Ashgrove. If you fancy wine with your food, some of Tasmania’s finest wineries are sprinkled through the valley.

www.thehoneyfarm.com.au
www.41south-aquaculture.com
www.ashgrovecheese.com.au
www.winetasmania.com.au

Bruny Island Charters
Bruny Island Charters is a family owned business which takes visitors on a cruise along parts of the Bruny Island coastline. The waters off the island are a marine game park. Risible dolphins, albatross, penguins and pelagic seabirds gambol frequently hereabouts. Nearby islands, or very large rocks, are home to a colony of Australian fur seals.

The owner of the business, Robert Pennicott, and his family live on Bruny. Robert is a former rock lobster fisherman. They started with one boat but such is people’s appetite for the cruises and the crew’s bonhomie, there are now three purpose-built and thrillingly powerful boats.

In 2007 the Pennicotts established the Tasmanian Coast Conservation Fund. The family contributes a percentage of their cruise profits to the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service to help in the management of national parks and marine reserves. The Pennicotts believe this partnership for conservation is the first of its kind in Tasmania.

The three-hour Bruny Island Charter cruises depart from Adventure Bay each day from 1 October through May. You can either take a day trip from Hobart or join the tour at either Kettering (a 20-minute drive from Hobart) or Adventure Bay on South Bruny Island.

The tour costs AUD$100 for adults and AUD$55 for children. A family ticket (two adults and two children) costs AUD$300
www.brunyislandcharters.com.au

Pepper Bush Adventures
Craig and Janine Williams operate Pepper Bush Adventures from Launceston in Tasmania. Their wilderness tours feature encounters with indigenous wildlife and gourmet bush tucker.

There are one-day and multi-day itineraries across Tasmania. State icons including Cradle Mountain and the Freycinet Peninsula are variously on the itinerary, but these tours focus also on off-the-beaten-track experiences. The viewing of native animals in their natural habitat in remote and lesser known areas of Tasmania is something of a company specialty.

The Quoll Patrol tour departs from Launceston in search of the indigenous eastern quoll, a small cat- sized marsupial, in its natural habitat. There are visits to old growth forest east of Launceston, and a Tasmanian game food dinner with local wines before the night-time watch for the quoll. Possums, wombats, kangaroos and the Tasmanian devil might also be happened upon. The tour departs around 12pm and returns to Launceston around 9pm. Later in the summer. The Quoll Patrol tours costs AUD$520 per person www.pepperbush.com.au

Prized Platypus
Bernard Atkins regularly encounters what might be Australia’s largest platypus. Frederik is some half-metre long and weighs about 3kg.

Tasmanian platypus (apart from those on King Island) are definitely bigger than their mainland cousins. They might well be more productive. Frederik has a harem of three females. All three have been named Mary. Their names are taken from Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark who married Tasmanian Mary Donaldson.

Frederik and Mary(s) are regularly seen on Atkins’ three hour platypus and penguin tour out of Stanley on the northwest coast. Spotting a platypus, or any animals, on a wildlife tour can never be guaranteed but Aitkins thinks there is a 98 per cent chance of seeing at least one of Frederik or Mary(s) with his tour.

Aitkins’ Platypus and Penguin tour leaves daily. Two hours are spent with the platypus and an hour is spent with the 60-70 little penguins on the reserve at the base of Stanely’s iconic Nut, an extinct volcano that dramatically stands over the charming colonial-era town.

The tour costs $50 for adults, $25 children (up to 14 years), $150 for a family of five.
www.wildernesstasmania.com

Cradle Mountain Lodge – Waldheim Spa
The Waldheim Alpine Spa is built by a rainforest within Tasmania’s acclaimed the World Heritage Area. Some spa suites look out to this ancient forested wilderness.

At this spa and treatment centre, part of the Cradle Mountain Lodge, there are four therapy rooms, including double treatment rooms for couples, a steam room and a hydrotherapy spa bath.

When you are not feeling the need to be pampered there are more than 20 walking trails around Cradle Mountain Lodge. Walk amid ancient rainforest species – some trees are up to 1,000 years old. After dark much of the wildlife – wombats, wallabies, potoroos, pademelons, possums, Tasmanian devils and the spotted quolls can be spotted feeding. Take a tour or go spotting yourself. The wildlife is abundant. Take a torch if you go for a night walk.

Rooms at Cradle Mountain Lodge start from AUD$288
The Total Well Being Experience at the day spa is 55 minutes of foot pampering for walkers – it includes a feet treatment, exfoliation with milk bath, warm booties, back and leg massage and costs $115. www.cradlemountainlodge.com.au

Quite where a day spa fits into an eco world I’m not sure yet. But one thing is certain, this is one fine place to ponder an answer. Just don’t let the masseuses scrub too hard and rub off all that Tasmanian green.

www.discovertasmania.com is a comprehensive guide to the island

The information was correct when published in 2009. Prices and information may have changed.