For many people, changing careers midlife could feel like a leap into the unknown. For graduate paramedics Tanya Fitzpatrick, Kate Routley and Allison Pook, it has been life changing.

Mandy McIntyre, 52, from Hobart, received a life-saving heart transplant in 2025 after a sudden, unexplained heart condition saw her go from competitive runner to being placed on the transplant waiting list within weeks.

Ahead of her upcoming show at Theatre Royal, we spoke with Donna Young, who has spent over 35 years practicing as a Spirit medium, after a near-death experi­ence inspired her to work in this space.

Hayden Tonazzi is the CEO and artistic director of the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). Next month, they’re bringing their latest show, Saplings, to Theatre Royal in Hobart.

Dr Hannah Moore is a Scottish volcanologist who works from Tasmania. Next month she’s leading a tour of the Tasman Peninsula as part of the upcoming Beaker Street Festival.

Since 2023, Christian Watson’s hand-drawn animated skeleton, Mr Skelly, has amassed more than eight million followers on social media platforms. Elle-May Watson captures the world through her camera lens. Together, they’ve built a creative life in Tasmania that’s as inspiring as their art.

Outside, winter is felt before it is seen. The air sharp, the light low, the land­scape more defined. Be drawn out this winter, into forests, rivers, snow and sky. Rug up and be a part of the elements – there’s so much waiting for you.

It’s all about how you settle in. This Off Season is an invitation to slow the pace and reconnect with the important people in your life, where shared moments take shape around firelight, comfort and unhurried time together.

For as long as we’ve been human, we’ve been drawn to the glow of a fire. And there’s no better time or place to huddle around and watch those flickering flames than Tassie in the Off Season. Maybe that’s roasting marshmallows with the kids, settling in with a glass of something local or simply the comfort of being near others, the fire still calls us in, just as it always has.

Baby, it’s cold outside! We love that crisp, cool air, kids’ rosy cheeks and the rawness of Tasmania in winter. We also love heading indoors. Winter has a way of drawing people together, as we gather in warm, welcoming spaces. Across the state, cosy corners and simple comforts offer the perfect excuse to slow down and settle in for the Off Season.

As psychological distress rises, CEO of Lifeline Tasmania, Liz Brown shares how you can help help raise awareness for better mental health for all Australians

The demented man appears like his old self again, spritelier and more coherent. He requests a pack of Lucky Strike ciga­rettes, those he smoked the same day news of Jimi Hendrix’s death spread around the world.

The Lunar New Year is a time of vibrant celebration for many communities, including Tasmania’s Chinese community. As we welcome the Year of the Horse, we spoke with Hingur Chung, president of the Chinese Community Association of Tasmania (CCAT) about the annual observance.

As Hobart’s Bett Gallery approaches its 40th anniversary, the family-run institution reflects on four decades of championing contemporary art in Tasmania, built on en­during relationships, bold vision and a deep commitment to community. Third general gallerists Emma and Jack Bett reflect on this achievement.

Molly Duncan, is 77 and taught herself to paint six years ago. She also lives with arthritis. Through her “unworkable hands” as she calls them, she uses ergonomic tools to work in oil and cold wax medium. Here is Molly’s story.

Worried about what’s going into your garden? Want to create a lush landscape to enjoy coming into summer? We had a chat with Darcy Pritchard from Horticultural and Landscape Supplies to get the lowdown on going organic in your home garden.

Awareness of perimenopause has grown in recent years, so we reached out to Launceston-based Dr. Natasha Vavrek to learn more about it and discover practical steps for women going through it. Dr. Vavrek is the Director at The Bubble Tasmania and a consulting specialist women’s GP.

When you’re bushwalking deep in the Tasmanian wilderness or winding your way down some lonely, half-forgotten road, you might’ve had this thought: Who actually made this track? It didn’t just appear one day, after all.

James Cuda is the CEO and co-founder of Savage Interactive, a software develop­ment company best known for creating the popular iPad illustration app, Procreate, which is used by millions around the globe.

Professor Councillor George Razay is a physician, geriatrician, and the Director of the Memory Disorders Clinic and Dementia Research at Launceston General Hospital. He recently released a book, Dementia: A New Hope.

Sharing your home with pets doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice style. With a bit of planning, you can create a space that works just as well for your furry friends as it does for you.

South Hobart’s Richard and Jan Gould have privately purchased a former student accommodation that can house up to 10, and are turning it into low-rent housing for older women at risk of homelessness. It’s hoped to open in October.

Like it or not, kids’ birthdays come around every year, and each time, there’s pressure to pull off something special. Ever catch yourself googling ‘kids’ party venues near me’? You’re not alone. Finding a spot that ticks all the boxes, keeps the kids entertained, and the parents happy, can be a lot. But don’t stress, we’ve got you. Here are some top spots around Tasmania that are perfect for kids’ parties. And hey, many of them work just as well for grown-up gatherings too, whether it’s a catch-up with mates or an office work party. Because adults can have fun too.

Beloved children’s entertainer Emma Watkins, former Yellow Wiggle and holder of a doctorate in sign language, is bringing her new show as Emma Memma to Tasmania.

Rewilding your backyard can make it a haven for native birds and insects. Planting native Tasmanian species in your garden is one of the best ways to attract local wildlife, perfect for birdwatchers or anyone who loves Tassie’s unique plants and animals.

Pickleball – which has nothing to do with pickles – is a sport that has loudly taken over the world. Between 2021 and 2024, it was the fastest-growing sport in the United States. Amid that global rise, pickleball found its way to Tasmania in 2019 from a small band of locals.

In the postwar decades, the world looked to the stars and so did its architects. Inspired by the atomic age, the space race, and the optimism of a technologically advanced future, a new aesthetic emerged called Googie architecture (not to be confused with Google). This style is identified by upswept roofs, neon signage, flying saucers, and curves. Picture The Jetsons and you’re most of the way there.

Having a few indoor plants around the house is never a bad idea. Not only do they improve your mood, but they also look great, add personality to your space, and give you something to care for. Lauren Chandler is the director at Chandlers Nursery in Sandy Bay, and she shared some pro tips with us on how to keep your indoor plants happy.

Looking for truly family-friendly dining in Tasmania? We’re not just talking kids menus with nuggets, we mean places where kids are welcome, noise is okay, and there’s space to feel comfortable in. From healthy kids meals to play spaces and outdoor areas, these restaurants and cafes in Hobart, Launceston and more make dining out with little ones easy.

Ever find yourself wondering, where’s a food special near me in Tasmania? We’ve rounded up the best food offers and dinner deals in Hobart, Launceston, and around the island.

Ever find yourself wondering, where’s a happy hour near me in Tasmania? We’ve rounded up the best happy hours in Hobart, Launceston, and around the island.

We’ve all done it. Held on to things we’re convinced we can’t live without – perhaps clothes we hope to fit back into or an extra cutlery set received as a housewarming gift from…who was it again? Australians are notorious for accumulating stuff. We even spend an average of $163 a year on self-storage to house it all. The kicker is that almost a quarter of those paying for storage can’t even remember what’s in there!

As Tasmanians, we take great pride in being an island set apart from mainland Australia. Well, we’re here to shatter those illusions.

Good, consistent sleep is essential for health, supporting everything from heart function to memory and mood. Yet many struggle to sleep well.

Frederick Matthias Alexander is internationally known as the founder of the Alexander Technique.

As we head deeper into winter with crisp days and longer nights, Tasmania’s Off Season reminds us that this season has something special to offer everyone.

There’s having a stash of wine bottles, then there’s creating an entire space devoted to them. A wine cellar is the ultimate indulgence, the final boss move, for anyone who considers themselves a true oenophile. A place where your love of wine moves beyond the bottle and becomes part of your home, your own little cellar door.

Looking to refresh your home with new ideas? The rich cultural diversity of our planet offers an endless array of interior design styles. Join us as we take a journey around the world to discover which country will inspire your next project.

Zodiac Check-in: Your Monthly Astro Update- April 2025

The Woman Booker Prize Club is a local Hobart book club. Here they share their thoughts on books by Tasmanian authors, set in Tasmania, or about Tassie topics. Over to the club!

In just 1 minute and 45.83 seconds, Max Giuliani’s life changed. This was his winning time in the men’s 200m freestyle final at the Australian Swimming Championships in June – a thrilling victory that secured the 20-year-old Tasmanian a coveted spot in the Australian Olympic Team heading to Paris.

This is a story of two families, two sisters; told between travel, break ups, weddings, births, changes in jobs, and lifestyle.

A group of local women have taken up knitting needles to help raise funds for those affected by the war in Ukraine. Tassie for Ukraine is a community knitting project determined to make a difference.

There’s a story about a group of scientists who travelled to Nepal scanning the brains of monks to better understand the secrets of the mind, equanimity, and resilience.

Being heavily pregnant with my belly in full bloom, I’m often asked, “So, have you got everything ready?”

The We ARE Enough Art Project is centred on telling women’s stories.

Many women think of a glass of wine at the end of a stressful day as self-care – but it isn’t. Drinking alcohol puts us in a cycle of trying to take the edge off stress, while negatively impacting our anxiety and mood.

Ah Spring – the season of new begin­nings. Flowers blooming, lighter days, and a general sense that the earth is coming alive again. A time when we feel energised and motivated to clear out the cobwebs and commence new projects. But often, we overlook the most important spring clean – our mindset.

“Yup, that’s all of it”, the woman standing in front of me says as she drops her two overflowing bags, clearly having stuffed them hurriedly. She has just managed to flee from her wealthy, controlling husband of eight years, who earnt the majority of the household income. She cared for his children and has “nothing to show for her efforts” until matters are finalised in slow and arduous court proceedings.

We live in a world where everything is so messed up and upside down, sometimes I wonder how we get through each day.

For all of us 2020 was a year like no other, punctuated by rapid change and plenty of new challenges. For vulnerable people in Tasmania, including people facing homelessness, those on low incomes and those facing increasingly higher rents, it was very challenging. We are seeing a growing demand for homes in Tassie from international travellers returning home, people moving for work and others seeking the lifestyle that our Apple Isle has to offer.

How to genuinely celebrate other people’s wins.

The borders were declared shut in Tasmania on the 30th of March, 2020; the first stare to do so amid the COVID- 19 pandemic and hard lockdown of Hobart followed.

With the Sorell Municipality recently commemorating their bicentenary, one can reflect on how it has evolved from a largely remote rural outcrop, to an important south east town and road junction to our East Coast or Tasman Peninsula.

I was 19 when my dad died. After some months passed, I put on a CD he had made and hearing his voice again, I fell apart. The sound of him singing did something to me and to this day, when I play his songs, it creates an experience more powerful than looking at pictures of his face.

A simple cave provided the perfect hideout for one of Tasmania’s most brutal bushrangers – and you can easily walk to it from Fern Tree. Sarah Aitken went in search of the story of Rocky Whelan.

Imagine getting everything you ever wanted, anytime you wanted it – instantly. How amazing would that be? Keen on a successful career? No need to climb the ladder, you’re handed the keys to the executive office. A desire to travel the world again? “Welcome aboard.” Suddenly you’re greeted at the terminal with a glass of champagne. Seeking the man or woman of your dreams? Well don’t you worry, they’re waiting for you right behind door number one. House, car, money, possessions, weight loss, entertainment? Whatever you want, it’s yours the moment you want it. No need to work for it. No need to try. Your reward is more instant than downloading an app.

You don’t need a psychologist to tell you that your nervous system is one of the most extraordinarily complex, sensitive, and intelligent structures in the Universe.

Hey parents! Happy first anniversary of sending the kids back to school after Covid-induced home-learning! Did you, like many, rejoice when the school gates reopened in May last year? Or did you consider ongoing homeschool? Sarah Aitken meets a family who never got the school uniforms back out.

Drenched in euphoric excitement of being in my adopted country I began afresh my journey of finding me some mates.

What you need to know before you DIY.

We have a rich history in Tasmania. From the 1840s, photographers started documenting Van Diemen’s Land.

Can an optimist and a pessimist live in harmony? It’s a typical day on the therapeutic couch and my client Jake begins.

We all know Tassie is cold – but could the end be in sight for our mild summers?

Take a look inside this family home that was once part of networks of buildings used to communicate with ships more than 150 years ago.

Agnes Frith opened the Golden Wattle Cafe to give people with dementia and their caregivers a safe and non-judgemental space where they can socialise and interact with each other and members of the community in a relaxed environment. Here she shares her story.

Before Ned Kelly cut a blazing trail through Australia’s collective imaginations, Tasmania had its own dashing bushranger who captured the hearts, and inevitably, material possessions of its populace.

‘We’re reclaiming a space that was full of hatred, a place of oppression’:how drag queen bingo is delighting Hobart audiences.

What would you buy from a tip shop? While Hobart is working hard to reduce its waste, we can still do more to cut down.

The Slag Queens were once described as the Worst Band in Launceston’ but now having won the 2020 National Live Music Award ‘Tasmanian Live Act of the Year’ and performing at MONA FOMA for the fourth year in a row, they’re feeling pretty good.

“So, what do you do with yourself?” Ah, the standard nice-to- meet-you-question that highlights how so many of us have our identity wrapped up in what we do for work, where we do it, and who we do it with. But how can we not?

This January marked eight years since Mitch McPherson lost his little brother, Ty, to suicide. Through his grief, he started SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY with one very small but very significant action, a bumper sticker.

What do you get when you combine an architect, a bush block and a budget of $275,000? Casa Acton is a moveable 53sqm bush dwelling in Tasmania designed and built by Josh FitzGerald (a founding director of Archier) along with his partner Millie Ashton.

Birds like Tasmania. Firstly it’s an island, which birds like in general because they can flaunt their ability to come and go as they please to those dumb landlocked mammals. Secondly we’ve got a lush, sexy, biosphere with grassy moorlands, coastal heaths, temperate rainforests and eucalyptus bush, all in one conveniently compact package.

It isn’t always as easy as it looks on the ‘gram. Here’s your guide to hiking Tasmania’s photogenic tracks.

Mark Richards and George Radford took their mark for a race in Hobart, but they didn’t know they’d never make it to the finish line.

The green fairy has left bohemian Paris and come to Hobart.

With over 100 boats registered to compete, the 2020 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is set to be one of the biggest events held anywhere in Australia in the post-lockdown era.

Tasmania, despite its small size and population in comparison to the mainland, has produced more than its proportionally predicted percentage of significant figures and heroes of Australian history. 

For an iconic flower, such as the Tasmanian Waratah, to bloom into its fullest potential, it must first go through a period of severe discomfort. To germinate, the seed must break through its hard exterior, spend time in the cold, wet dirt, and navigate through darkness before it can feel the warmth of the sun. Only then, does this special native brighten our wild landscape. Only then, we are gifted with its captivating beauty.

These women have been suiting up Tasmania’s front-line workers for more than 30 years. 

Tasmania, despite its small size and population in comparison to the mainland, has produced more than its proportionally predicted percentage of significant figures and heroes of Australian history. 

A traditional Federation villa on Lower Jordan Road in West Hobart has had a beautiful facelift, conceived by Hobart-based architecture firm Taylor and Hinds.

With Summer on the way, it’s time to plan your next adventure in the great outdoors. It pays to remember that while nature may be healing to the soul, it is capable of being dangerous to the body. To totally freak you out, let’s have a good look at five of the most dangerous predators you may encounter in Tasmania this summer.

Although stretching your gut to make room for that last slice of pizza could technically be construed as an exercise, it’s unfortunately not what I’m here to talk about today. I’m talking about the impact of physical exercise on your gut health.

John Franklin was the Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania from 1837 to 1843. Many things around Tasmania are named after him, or his impressive wife, Lady Jane Franklin. In Franklin Square he is depicted in statue, towering over the park on a plinth inscribed with his epitaph, composed by Lord Alfred Tennyson;

Finding yourself fantasising about your colleague even though you can’t stand them most of the time? Faked your orgasm and feel terrible about lying when your partner asked about it? What about your new lover informing you they’ve contracted genital herpes?

Bums on aeroplane seats is one thing, but attracting a legion of people who will enhance life on the island will ensure long term prosperity.

Bums on aeroplane seats is one thing, but attracting a legion of people who will enhance life on the island will ensure long term prosperity.

Hobart would have to be one of the toughest places to be homeless in winter. While there are some organisations like Bethlehem House and the Hobart City Mission who are doing great work, there are still too many people slipping through the net.

We’re surrounded by history in Hobart and now you can take a virtual trip through time to plant yourself in the 1820s. The brains behind the app is John Stephenson of Digital Heritage Studio.

It’s almost unbelievable that Mum technically only gets one day a year where their superhuman efforts are celebrated. So on that day, it’s your job as a husband, wife, partner, child or loved one, to put that Mum in your life on the pedestal she deserves. Here’s our wrap up of some of the best ways you can show your love on Sunday 13 May.

4:30am: Wake up, check the weather (bluebird day!) and drive up the mountain to the staff room to clock on – with no room left at the Cascade Depot area, the most logical place for a staff room was up top. Unfortunately, get stuck in the sunrise traffic driving up the mountain, bloody photographers and all their equipment.

Kate McCarthy is the Marketing Manager at Destination Southern Tasmania, the people who represent Tasmania’s southern region, stretching across the municipalities of Hobart, Glenorchy, Clarence, Brighton, Sorell, Kingborough, Huon Valley, Derwent Valley, Tasman, Central Highlands and Southern Midlands.