New Zealand Versus Tasmania
I heard many times that traveling in Tasmania is very similar to traveling in New Zealand. After being in both places I have to say that there is something similar, but there are so many differences!
The first huge difference, of course, is the size. Tasmania is much smaller than, for example, the South Island of New Zealand. Tasmania covers an area of 68,401 square kilometers while New Zealand’s South Island alone covers 151,215 square kilometers!
Tasmania is a very beautiful island. It has 19 national parks covering total area of 1,431,305 hectares, which is about 21.06% of Tasmania’s area. The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area has a greater range of nature values than any other region on our planet. Because of it’s relatively small area, Tasmania doesn’t have many multi-day hikes. During my trip in Tasmania I visited 9 National Parks. In each National Park I did a full one-day hike. I enjoyed these hikes very much though they weren’t long.
Of course there is the Overland Track – a very famous five day hike. I did a part of it, which lies in the Cradle Mountain area. During spring and early summer, there are still fields of snow laying on several sections of the track, and the views of the lakes from above are magnificent.
For me the most important “advantage” to Tasmania over New Zealand is that you meet wild animals! To see Echidna in the wild was such an amazing experience for me: At first you see only a spherical object with spikes, but if you have patience, and stand still for about a minute, this object starts to move and then you see this wonderful creature with long nose walking slowly away from you. I also had the luck to see platypuses which are pretty difficult to spot.
Tasmania is also less touristy (at least it was in 2007), though there are visitor centers everywhere, in which you can get very good maps of the island and all other information you might need.
As to New Zealand – there are much less animals there, mostly birds. You have possums and deers in the forests, but your chance to see them are close to zero, since they are being hunted, so they afraid of humans very much. One advantage of the lack of animals is that there are also no poisonous animals or insects, such as snakes and spiders.
The nature is definitely different and because of the country size, it is also more diverse. For example there are no fiords in Tasmania. There are many long and very exciting hikes involving mountain passes and river crossings. One great feature that exists in New Zealand but doesn’t exist in Tasmania is the Backcountry huts, which are very useful, but on popular hikes huts are crowded during the summer, and in certain places you have to book a place in the hut weeks in advance. But don’t be disappointed – there are still many other less popular but not less beautiful and exciting hikes in New Zealand that are not crowded even during the peak season.
The amount of rainfall is very difficult to compare between Tasmania and New Zealand. In Tasmania annual rainfall ranges between 3600mm in the west and 500mm in the east. In New Zealand annual rainfall ranges between less than 500mm in certain areas of central South Island to 10,000mm (!) in Fiordland, while most of the areas have annual rainfall between 1000mm to 2000mm. So it is really depends where exactly in New Zealand you are traveling.
To summarize, Tasmania and New Zealand are both very beautiful and unique places but they are also very different, and therefore are difficult to compare. I suggest visiting them both if you have the will, time and means to do that.
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