Top 10 live-able towns in Tasmania + 5 I DON'T recommend.

thank you [Music] hi guys welcome back to my channel my name is Louisa if you're new don't forget to subscribe and if you're coming back welcome back today I wanted to give you an Insider's insight into really good places to live in Tasmania so I've been in Tasmania since pretty much the end of 2018 with a brief stint back in Queensland so all up it's between four and five years and before that I visited a few times just on holidays so I have explored quite a bit of the state since I first came here this video is primarily for people who are thinking of coming here for a sea change or a tree change so I'm not really covering the major cities in this video there's four major cities there's Hobart which is the biggest one Launceston devonport and Bernie so those are kind of what I would consider like the no-brainers in terms of like where to move if you're trying to move to Tasmania and you're not worried about like going for a tree change or a sea change you just really want to come here and work and kind of live in Suburbia so this list isn't about those sorts of places by the way apologies if I'm a little bit snuffly today I am currently recovering from covert it actually took me this long to contract it and I think ultimately it's probably because I live on an isolated island so we're going to look at the top 10 little towns that I think are actually worth living in and we're also going to look at the five places that are gorgeous and which I love visiting but I would never advise anyone to move there so if you're wondering how I came up with this list what the criteria was for actually making it onto this list let's have a look through the criteria in no particular order essentially how I decided on these towns is based on lifestyle scenery such as the sea change or tree change aspect career opportunities Supply chains to the actual towns proximity to Major services and cultural events and generally just the population vibe so some of those are kind of quantitative measurements in terms of like job opportunities and Supply chains and other ones a kind of qualitative ones so this is my personal opinion about these particular places so take it with a pinch of salt and if you have a list of your own feel free to drop it in the comments and let other people know what you think are the top places to live in Tasmania so at number 10 let's start with Scottsdale Scottsdale is a town in the north east and it's a relatively easy drive to Launceston so in terms of proximity to major resources and infrastructure it's pretty good Scottsdale is a tree change kind of place rather than a sea change kind of place and it's surrounded by beautiful farmlands it's fairly close to the Tamar Valley wine region and it's a place which is renowned for its Agriculture and its foodie kind of chops Scottsdale produces a lot of export quality beef and various other things like that it is at the bottom of my list because it's not particularly livable in terms of career opportunities and also the supply chains to the place because it doesn't have a huge amount of shopping within the town but it's not too far from the major Center of Launceston so it kind of balances out in that respect number nine is the town of Saint Helens St Helens is the biggest town on the east coast and the east coast in general is quite isolated so it's not a great place to live if you're thinking about career opportunities however the East Coast including Saint Helens is absolutely gorgeous in terms of a sea change it is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my entire life as the biggest town on the East Coast it does have probably the best shopping that the East Coast can offer although that shopping is not particularly great none of the East Coast towns actually have a Kohl's or a Woolworths they only have IGA supermarkets for food which can become quite expensive choice and variety are limited pricing is not really negotiable because you can't go that far to stock up on things however if you really want a lifestyle change that offers you the cuteness of a small town without being too small and if you want to be close to the beach and if you want to see the best beaches in Tasmania then Saint Helens is really a topic number eight on the list is Latrobe and Latrobe is kind of a little bit iffy in this category because it's so close to devonport that it almost becomes a suburb however at this point in time it is still a distinct town in its own right and there is a little bit of Farmland between Durham port and Latrobe so it still counts as a separate Town Latrobe has the most gorgeous Main Street it's got beautiful old shops the parking is free unlike the major centers so all the four cities Hobart lawn session Davenport and Bernie all charge quite large amounts for parking living in the major centers can actually be a bit painful in that regard because parking is difficult it's pricey and yes they do have public transport but it's not fabulous Latrobe is a major Contender because it actually has one of the bigger hospitals on site so the hospital used to be in devonport itself but when they knock down the old hospital that was in Davenport they actually built it in Latrobe and so that's where technically the Davenport hospital is it's called the mersey Latrobe is also on the way out of devonport towards Launceston so it does make it a little bit easier to get to Launceston than other places on the northwest coast Latrobe is a tree change but it's also not very far from beautiful beaches such as Port Sorel which is probably only about a 10 or 15 minute drive it's also in an area which has a lot of fabulous produce so it's got shops in it which are like farmers markets permanently nearby is also the little Hamlet of sprayton which is kind of part of Latrobe and that's where you find straight Insider so the area is full of orchards there's Vineyards and there's farmers markets and because it's so close to devonport it's actually a really great place to live and commute if you want to further your career and to have a good career in Tasmania so Davenport is the third largest city in the state and Latrobe is probably only about 10 or 15 minutes out in a similar vein is number seven on the list which is Richmond so Richmond is down south it's not that close to Hobart but it's far enough out that it is actually properly a little town separate from the city it's far removed from Suburbia and it has beautiful old buildings it has Boutique shopping antique places which are fabulous to visit and it's in a wine region however if you do need to maintain a career Hobart is not too far for commuting because it's so close to the city Richmond has decent Supply chains and it's also a bit of a gateway to the rest of the state it's well connected to the Midlands and to the north and it's also kind of on the way to the Tasman Peninsula one drawback to Richmond is that it can get a bit dry in summer a lot of people don't really anticipate Tasmania being a very dry place but the Midlands and even Hobart itself is actually a very dry region so like other places in Australia you do have to watch out for bushfires number six on the list which is actually rating higher than somewhere like Richmond is Sheffield Sheffield is about 45 minutes south of devonport so it is potentially somewhere that you can live and commute and theoretically you can also commute to Launceston although I wouldn't really recommend it it's still a good hour or two away depending on the roadworks Sheffield is a tree change which offers very close access to places like Mount Roland and also cradle Mountain National Park if you're a hiking Enthusiast if you like waterfalls things like that then Sheffield is amazing it's also surrounded by beautiful farmland it has an international Rowing Club nearby at Lake Barrington so you can go down and work on your rowing it's also a nice little swimming hole I used to take my dog there when I was staying in the area the town itself has a few shops and supplies so it's not too badly off although the only shop is an IGA and a lot of people who live in that area tend to do the bulk of their shopping in devonport number five on the list is Stanley and you might think that Stanley is a bit too far on the western side of the state but I don't know it's just a town that is really inspiring to be around and it's actually not that far from places like Smithton which has quite a few job opportunities and Bernie to me Stanley is one of the ultimate sea changes and it's not very far from places that you can visit for hiking either it has a decent amount of shops places to eat out boutiques things like that and it's got a really nice little quaint fishing Village Vibe it was actually the setting for a Hollywood movie called The Light Between oceans and it has a landmark called The Nut which is actually not that strange on the northwest coast if you explore the area you will find a lot of volcanic plugs which have turned into plateaus and this is one of them so you can either climb it if you're really keen on walking or you can take the chairlift the views from the top are spectacular and I mean people complain about the weather in Tasmania but strangely enough it always seems to be gorgeous when I go there even though it might be about an hour's drive from Bernie there is a lot in between those two places so there's a lot going on on the north west coast that you might be surprised at there are still career opportunities between Bernie and Stanley and who doesn't want to spend their weekends at a gorgeous Beach okay so before we get into the top four I wanted to talk about five places that I love visiting but I would never recommend for someone to actually move there so number five is bridport and the reason why it's not like top of the list is because I'm kind of in two minds about whether it is livable or not it has some industry it's not super far from Launceston but it's kind of far enough that you wouldn't really be able to work anywhere except the local area maybe as far as Georgetown and Georgetown is not a great place however Bridgeport is a gorgeous little Seaside town and it does have the ferry over to Flinders Island so it's a great place to base yourself if you want to go exploring nice place to visit but probably a bit too small for most people to live number four on the list is Port Arthur and that's because it kind of does have some career opportunities because of the Port Arthur historic site there is a lot of tourist industry in that area but there's really not much else going on if you visit the Tasman peninsula there are very few shops it's very wild down there not many large settlements there's a lot of kind of Beach Shack towns around the place and it's surprisingly far from Hobart you sort of look at the map and think oh yeah that would only take a couple of hours but it actually takes a really long time even just driving around the peninsula itself can take a few hours however it is definitely one of my top places to visit it is absolutely gorgeous the scenery is epic it has some of the highest sea cliffs in the world I love visiting the historical site I love visiting the lavender farm it would be an amazing place to go on a hike which I haven't really done yet but it's definitely on my to-do list it's a fabulous place for going boating which I highly recommend it is a really popular spot for foodie kind of culture and if you're a massive history nerd like I am then you'll be like a pig in mud down there number three on the list is Swansea on the east coast and really I probably could have listed almost any town on the east coast in this category because they're all kind of really far from the major centers they're quite isolated there's not a lot in the towns themselves but it's such an amazing place to visit the fraysane National Park is one of the best places for hiking there's so much to see on the water you can take boat trips which are breathtaking and wonderful you can see dolphins there's beaches that are to die for and it's one of my favorite wine regions in the whole of Australia so I grew up around wine regions and I visited a lot of them this is definitely one of my top picks however in terms of getting supplies and also having a career it really doesn't have enough for most people and even though Swansea isn't like a terribly small town it doesn't have a high school the nearest high school is at triabana which is a good half hour drive south so like a lot of the places on this particular list they don't really have much to offer in the way of schooling if you have children and that can be something to take into consideration number two on the list is strong on the west coast the West Coast in general is pretty hard to live on my mother tried it when I was a teenager we lived in Queenstown for about two months and that was hell it's very isolated the weather is wild and I don't know the the local Vibe is very unfriendly however Strawn is in a beautiful spot and the west coast is something that is very epic to see if you're looking for a tourist destination I do recommend it but in terms of a place to live definitely not and even though Strawn was almost my number one pick on this particular list number one is actually Ross so the town of Ross is in the Midlands which means that it's not really very close to Hobart and not really very close to Launceston it's somewhere in the middle so you can't really commute to any major centers there is absolutely no industry in the area there's very little in the way of schooling and shops but it is a beautiful town I actually hope that one day in the future the Midlands gets a lot more expanded and settled because it's such a shame to have such a beautiful place which is on a major connected Highway and very few people live there the area is quite dry as I mentioned before Hobart and the Midlands area tends to be quite dry and so it is subject to bushfires during summer it tends to have extremes of temperature so in summer it can get up to 40 degrees Celsius and in Winter it can easily snow it's also incredibly overpriced so if you're looking at a house in Ross you could easily pay seven hundred thousand dollars for a home at least on the west coast in places like Strawn and Queenstown they do price it appropriately so that was my top five places that are gorgeous to visit and I highly recommend that you visit them but I would never recommend you move there okay so now we are into the top four places that I personally think are very livable in Tasmania in terms of small towns so number four on the list and I really struggled with this one I almost put it number three is deloraine delaurain is actually a fairly well-sized town in its own right it has a Woolworth Shopping Center in it and plenty of services for the locals it's also a gorgeous picturesque little town with fabulous Boutique shops nice cafes to eat in beautiful Parklands to walk around schools other amenities and it's just off the major highway which connects Launceston to devonport so it's kind of halfway between the two although probably closer to Launceston than Davenport so theoretically you could commute to one of those places and there are career opportunities in the town it's also got a really nice Bohemian vibe to the population so I would say that it's very popular with artists and people who enjoy making crafts it's also got a really fabulous food culture but beating de Lorraine on this list at number three is win yet now Vineyard is almost getting up to the level of a minor City but it's still small enough that it only has a Woolworths it doesn't have a Kohl's as well and funnily enough this is like my Benchmark for how big a place is in Tasmania is does it have a supermarket wynyard is gorgeous it's definitely a sea change but it's also close enough to tree changes that you can explore the area Inland it has its own airport so if you're looking for career opportunities there are a few Industries in the area and also some manufacturing I sometimes like to take my dog to wynyard just to explore the place because it's got really good bike and walking trails in terms of the local population it's very much a retirement place so if you're looking for something that's kind of laid back and has an older population then when it is quite a nice spot so first and second place was a really difficult decision for me and I kind of went with penguin at number two and huonville at number one but I feel like they could almost be interchangeable they have different strengths and weaknesses and so I'm kind of curious to know your thoughts on which one you would actually put first because I'm still in two minds so at this point in time number two is penguin penguin is on the northwest coast and it sits between Bernie and ulverston which are two major centers and it's not that far from devonport either we knew it is close enough to commute very easily with Bernie and penguin is in the same category so both of those places you can commute to Bernie quite easily there are only about 15 to 20 minutes out and the thing about penguin is it kind of Beats we need a little bit in that you can also commute quite easily to devonport you can technically commute from Vineyard to devonport but it takes about an hour and a half penguin is a very cute small little town it only has an IGA shopping center but it has a lot of Boutique places that are quite fascinating to visit and it has a really great food culture it's right on the waterfront so you can spend most of your day in town walking around the beach it also has a number of hiking trails nearby and also mountain biking near penguin is a place called Mount nomon Farm which is renowned as a food producer and also a place which hosts different festivals around the year so if you're looking for a vibrant lifestyle and social life it's actually quite good and number one on the list as I mentioned before is huonville so this is down south and it's technically kind of commutable to Hobart although I would actually say that the road in and out of Hobart in that direction is not that easy especially in Winter I imagine it gets quite treacherous but I don't think it would be absolutely necessary to have a job in Hobart you could probably find one in the local area because the huon area is quite happening up and down both sides of the river are vibrant little communities it's pretty much settled the entire way on both sides this is probably the ultimate tree change in Tasmania because you are right on the doorstep of the West Coast with all of the giant forests nearby is the tahun air walk and the hearts mountains and there's also the Gourmet farmer nearby in Cygnet huonville is probably one of the major centers of foodie culture in Tasmania it's a large enough town that it has a Woolworths and it has plenty of other shops to offer as well I actually bought this Jumper in huonville so this is an imported alpaca jumper from Peru and that's kind of humanville it's a little bit Bohemian it's a little bit eclectic and that's quite nice when it comes to Tasmania sometimes the biggest hurdle is to find a community that's very open and accepting and friendly so that was one of the criteria for the list that I made and I think that it's appropriate for the towns that I listed because some of them are friendlier than others so like wynyard has a lot of convenience to it but I wouldn't say that it's necessarily the most welcoming Place whereas huonville definitely is all right guys that is my list for my top 10 picks of small towns to live in in Tasmania outside of the city so let me know your thoughts in the comments let me know if you have other ideas or maybe a different order that you would put these in let me know if there are places that you would definitely not live in Tasmania I'm sure there are plenty of contenders if you enjoy the video give it a thumbs up share it with people and subscribe to the channel and let me know your thoughts on other videos that you would be interested in take care and I'll see you next time bye [Music]

Channel: Tasmanian Wanderlust

Views: 37,915

Keywords: Moving To Tasmania

Id: fccduqZ3Azs

Length: 26min 22sec (1582 seconds)

Published: Sat May 27 2023