While summer gets the crowds, spring is when Tasmania’s wildlife is actually at its most active, and its trails at their quietest. Wombat joeys are following their mothers out of the burrow, platypuses are hunting for longer stretches of daylight, whales are moving south along the east coast, and the island’s rainforests are breaking into flower, including the season’s first native orchids in wild places like the Tarkine.
Around 55 per cent of Australians are planning a domestic spring trip this year, with 20 per cent looking to travel interstate. Tasmania’s isolation, having separated from the mainland around 10,000 years ago, gave its wildlife room to evolve on its own terms, and today almost 40 per cent of the state is protected as national parks, reserves and World Heritage wilderness.
Platypus hunting in daylight
Minutes from Hobart’s CBD, the Hobart Rivulet holds a population of wild, urban platypus. Small groups of eight join a two-hour guided walk from the C3 Convention Centre to Cascade Gardens, learning to read the water for signs of activity, with ticket revenue going directly toward the platypus’s ongoing conservation and rescue work.
In the historic township of Deloraine, a free evening walk along the river foreshore is timed to the local platypus population’s habits. Departing most evenings from The Empire Hotel, the hour-long walk suits first-time visitors hoping for a wild platypus sighting, though as with any wildlife encounter, seeing one depends on the animals’ own movements that evening.
Wombat joeys and Tasmanian devils
At East Coast Natureworld, free-ranging kangaroos and wallabies share the grounds with visitors alongside a resident population of Tasmanian devils. Grace, one of the park’s wombats, is a familiar face near the feeding areas, with joeys beginning to appear this spring. The Devils in the Dark tour places visitors in a hide overlooking the enclosure after sunset, watching devils feed just metres away.
Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary, set across 70 acres of bushland, has been part of Tasmanian devil conservation since 1979 and helped establish the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program. Three daily tours cover wombat and devil interactions, including a social feeding where several devils compete over the same carcass. Younger visitors can join the Joey Club, taking on junior ranger duties for an afternoon among the sanctuary’s more than 35 resident species.
Whales moving south along the coast
From September to December, migrating humpback and southern right whales pass along Tasmania’s east coast, and Pennicott Wilderness Journeys’ Tasman Island Cruises offer one of the state’s more reliable ways to see them. Dolphins and, occasionally, orcas add to the sightings, though as with all wild encounters, what guests see on any given cruise depends on the animals passing through at the time. The cruises run against a backdrop of rugged coastal scenery, with humpback and southern right whale populations both considered a genuine Australian conservation success story after decades of recovery from historical whaling.
Rainforest immersion in the Tarkine
The Takayna/Tarkine holds the largest tract of unbroken cool-temperate rainforest left in the Southern Hemisphere, and a four-day guided walk takes travellers deep into it, through moss and fungi-covered understorey that guests have described as genuinely life-altering. The itinerary is designed for a broad range of fitness levels, balancing full days of forest immersion with evenings built around local produce and valley views.
For travellers short on time, the self-drive Tarkine Drive offers a more flexible alternative, taking in the Arthur River settlement and the Edge of the World lookout. Picnic spots at Milkshakes Hills Forest Reserve sit among the eucalypts, and the region’s waterways can be explored by canoe, kayak or riverboat cruise.
