Damn it. Just missed it.

When people find out where I am from, they firstly challenge me on my accent. After I have firmly convinced them that I am indeed Australian, we discuss how much they would like to visit my country someday. It is a place that seems to rate quite highly on many people’s bucket lists.

Yet, so many of those who step foot on my country’s shores do themselves a rather large disservice. They fly over from the opposite end of the earth. Landing in Sydney or Melbourne, they’ll take a few days to explore either city. They might venture up north to check out the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsundays or any one of Queensland’s millions of tourist destinations. If they possess an excess amount of funds, they might schedule in a trip to Uluru. Then they’ll get on a plane and fly home, perhaps stopping in Perth on the way to break up the taxing 8-14 hour flight out of the country.

In doing so, they miss out on what I think is the most stunning part of Australia. If a trip to the land down under is on your radar, you really need to set aside some time in your itinerary for visiting Tasmania, the country’s smallest state.

I first stepped foot in Tassie, or T-mania as anyone awesome would call it, in 2011. My then-boyfriend hailed from the tiny island state and invited me to fly down with him to meet his parents.

Hobart was our first destination and its beauty completely and utterly blew me away. Unfortunately, I was a broke student at the time, so what I could afford to do was limited. We skipped Port Arthur, visited MONA, saw Submarine at the local cinema (the book is better, quelle surprise) and ate fish and chips on Hobart’s beautiful harbour. There was a stand-out activity one can partake in that will cost you next to nothing. If you do ever find yourself in the capital city of Australia’s most southern state, I implore you to do the following:

For the love of all that is good, climb Mt. Wellington

I am deceiving you and for this I am sorry. For we did not climb Mt. Wellington – we drove it. Both are good options, as they have the same end result – they get you to the top of this glorious mountain.

Australia, is of course associated with intense heat. How the Tasmanians must throw back their heads and howl when they hear this. Please note, this particular holiday was taken in October, heading into the Australian summer. People up north will have donned their swimmers by this point, to spend the better part of their days lazing at the beach. I am wearing a jumper and and space pants. There is also snow on the mountain – and having never seen it before, I felt compelled to take advantage of the situation.

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

Naturally.

What I love most about Tassie is its almost untouched beauty. 513,000 people live on this island state and they have strict regulations on what you can bring in. As a result, you can do things I would never dream of doing in my home state of New South Wales, such as drink the water, unfiltered, directly off the side of the mountain.