Tasmanian Odyssey - the UK’s first travel company dedicated to Australia’s Island State

LONDON - A new travel company specialising in tailor-made holidays to and around the Australian island state of Tasmania has been launched. The majority of product has never before been available to book through a UK travel specialist, such as Margate Cottage B&B, a charming bed and breakfast, just a 20 minute drive from Hobart with breathtaking views across forested valleys and its own river, perfect for swimming.

Tasmania, which is so often sold as an ‘add on’ to mainland Australia, or even left off the map altogether, is in fact the size of Sri Lanka or Ireland, an archipelago of 334 islands, and has a massive diversity of wildlife and tourism experiences. The world’s first Green Party started in Tasmania in 1983 during the Franklin River Blockade, which put the last major tract of pristine temperate rainforest under the global spotlight, and today almost 50% of Tasmania is now protected by UNESCO World Heritage and National Park status. It is regarded by many as offering some of the best walking, wildlife and fishing in the world, all of which are now available to experience through Tasmanian Odyssey.

The new venture has been established by Susie de Carteret who ran the UK office of Tourism Tasmania from 1998 until May this year. Susie’s exceptional knowledge, close personal contacts with local operators and huge experience of travelling throughout Tasmania over the course of the past decade and a half will be an invaluable resource to visitors. The new website has extensive information including a page of top tips based on fifteen years’ experience to help potential visitors in their itinerary planning and to make the most out of their trip. Tips include “Try a curried scallop pie” – a Tasmanian delicacy,  and “Never talk to a mainlander – they know less about Tasmania than you do”.

Through Tasmanian Odyssey, visitors can choose from a range of charming, authentic and affordable bed & breakfasts along with farm stays, convict-built cottages, self-contained wilderness cabins and beach house accommodation, city retreats and boutique hotels. Walking and cycling holidays, fishing and wildlife tours, sea and air charters, golf and diving experiences are all available to book.

Most of the accommodation featured is sold exclusively by Tasmanian Odyssey in the UK, and some do not even have their own websites.  A 'Meet the Locals' section of the website even introduces visitors to many of their Tasmanian hosts and guides before they book.

Wildlife experiences available through Tasmanian Odyssey include guaranteed sightings of mammals found nowhere else on earth, including the highly endangered Tasmanian Devil, Eastern Quolls, White Wallabies, and both species of monotreme (egg laying mammals) – the Echidna and Platypus - and all twelve endemic bird species.

Island hopping is also a new experience available through Tasmanian Odyssey with visits to many of Tasmania's 334 offshore islands featured on the website including the virtually unknown and spectacularly beautiful Flinders Island, the final refuge for Tasmania's aboriginal community and now a haven for wildlife. Flinders Island, which at 800 square miles is the largest of the Furneaux Group of 52 islands, is a short flight from Tasmania and an ideal stopover from Melbourne. Last year it welcomed less than 30 visitors from Europe despite its beauty, accessibility and range of charming accommodation.

In 2014 Tasmania's trout fishing will celebrate 150 years since brown trout were successfully transported from Scotland and today most fishing experts regard Tassie as having some of the greatest wild trout fishing on earth. All Tasmania’s fishing guides and top lodges can be booked through Tasmanian Odyssey along with guided and unguided cycling holidays, five of the seven Great Walks of Australia, exhilarating adventure trips to all Tasmania's icons by seaplane, and whale-spotting eco-cruises along 300 metre high sea cliffs.

Tasmanian Odyssey is being supported collaboratively by the private sector and the Tasmanian state government's agency, Tourism Tasmania, in what is the state’s first partnership of its kind. It is launched as the state announces a 10% rise in UK visitors in the past year bucking the mainland trend, and is enjoying unprecedented widespread publicity with a six part series, Aussie Animal Island, currently airing on ITV 1. The series follows the selection and transport of ten Tasmanian devils to the east coast national park of Maria Island (also featured by Tasmanian Odyssey) for a quarantine population in the wild.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews