Drifting off
with Anthony O'Hern

To become one with Tasmania’s winter wilds, all you need is a mountain, a kayak and a plucky disregard for cold weather.

Anthony O’Hern has called Cradle Mountain's primeval landscapes home for more than 20 years.

“It’s the most beautiful place in the world, I reckon,” he says. “I’ve been here, I don’t know, hundreds, maybe thousands of times. But every time I’m really amazed by the beauty of the place.”

Following several years as a bushwalking guide, O’Hern co-created Cradle Mountain Canyons, leading guests on exhilarating alpine canyoning expeditions. In the Off Season, when the fast-flowing streams are too wild to traverse, O’Hern offers a more meditative alpine spectacle with his Dove Lake Kayak tours.

O’Hern’s days are spent embracing elemental unpredictability, including those still winter mornings “where it's like glass out on the lake … and there's snow on the mountain”.

Drifting through the highlands

Dove Lake Kayak's three-hour Off Season offer, A morning adrift, is as atmospheric as it sounds. Glide along this expansive tarn’s calm, cool surface in a tandem kayak, stepping onto a pebbled shore for a stroll with O’Hern through a spellbinding rainforest, hot cuppa in hand.

Your senses are heightened when you’re doing that sort of stuff, when you’re outside of your comfort zone.

“It’s a landscape that’s been carved by glaciers,” O’Hern says. “There are rocks that look like they’ve had a giant run their fingernails through them because that’s from the glacier passing over the top of them and scraping them.”

During the tour, encounter one of the largest existing stands of ancient King Billy pine. Some of these contorted conifer trees are 2000 years old, possessing the very timber O’Hern carefully shaped to handcraft his King Billy kayaks.

This protected pine grows only in Tasmania.

“We're not allowed to cut it down and you haven't been allowed to for a long time,” O’Hern says. “It's a really special material and we wanted to be really sure we did it justice.”

The natural north west

Looking to fill your Off Season with Tasmanian winter outdoor adventures? The island’s north-west region sets the scene for more environmental immersion.

Go deeper into the winter wilds, where only a boat can roam, with Leven River Cruises. Bring your woolly attire and snack on melt-in-your-mouth food and drink – from hot chocolate to warm muffins and Tasmanian cheeses. Or take a brisk morning walk through dew-dropped fields at Paradise Road Farm with friendly goats by your side.

And if you’re a winter person, like O’Hern, the joy of all this exploring through the rugged north-west wilderness is made sweeter by what comes after the adventure…

Lay your head in the Cradle

O’Hern relishes a roaring fire and hearty fare at Cradle Mountain Hotel after a wild expedition. The hotel’s Off Season package combines accommodation with wine, dessert and a daily breakfast – all you could need to fuel a day’s exploration in the rugged national park.

Spy wildlife pottering on the powdery snow and hike the 3hr, 6km Dove Lake circuit (perhaps glimpsing O’Hern on the lake). After dark, cheeky Tasmanian devils keep you company by the fire during a twilight joey encounter at Devils @ Cradle. It’s wise to keep your distance from these unique creatures in the wild, but the wildlife park’s expert handlers can give you a close-up experience.

Further afield in north-west Tasmania, it doesn’t get much more romantic than glamping in nature with Gleneagle Tasmania, toasting marshmallows over a glowing fire and steaming up the crisp forest air in a clawfoot bath.

Stay at Stanley’s Horizon Deluxe Apartments, overlooking the arc of an ancient volcanic plug and savour a three-course feast followed by a long hot soak in the spa. Also in Stanley, Rose’s Villa provides a grazing board of local cheese, charcuterie and seafood alongside sweeping views.

Whether braving the cold or relishing the warmth, be warned: if you’re anything like O’Hern, one encounter with Tasmania’s breathtaking Off Season wilderness won’t be enough.