Long summer days plus school holidays equals time for some epic family adventures. Whichever part of the state you’re in or travelling to, there is plenty on offer for the kids and the young at heart.

Beat the heat

The beach is awesome, but sometimes you just need to retreat from that heat. Easy Tiger Cinema (easytiger.au) is alongside a very cool brewery, cafe and beer garden, all family-friendly and housed in an old ice skating rink in St Helens. Spend hours out of the sun – or summer rain – at one of Tasmania’s wonderful museums: we love Launceston’s Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (qvmag.tas.gov.au) and in mid-December they’ll present the first ever public exhibition of the works of Tasmanian artist, Michael McWilliams. There are wonderful kids areas in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart (tmag.tas.gov.au), including the mapiya lumi / Round Here gallery for kids up to seven years, and the interactive Islands to Ice exhibition. At the Bass Strait Maritime Centre (bassstraitmaritimecentre.com.au) on Devonport’s waterfront you can helm a world-class ship simulator as you attempt to navigate the Mersey River and the tough Bass Strait. Kids will love exploring the Hastings Caves and Thermal Springs (parks.tas.gov.au), a one and a half hour drive south of Hobart. Join a tour of Newdegate Cave, enjoy a forest walk and take a dip in the thermal springs.

Animal Encounters

Seahorse World (seahorseworld.com.au) in Beauty Point promises the chance to “hold the mysteries of the ocean in the palm of your hand” and they mean it quite literally: you can hold a real live seahorse at the end of a tour! They’ve also recently added 3D printed seahorses so visitors with low vision can better experience the aquarium tour.

Nearby Platypus House (platypushouse.com.au) guarantees monotreme magic with platypus and echidna viewings. Long, mild summer evenings are the perfect time to view penguins in the wild in Tasmania. Every dusk, Bicheno Penguin Tours (bichenopenguintours.com.au) take groups on a short bus trip to their private rookery: a unique bit of rehabilitated farmland turned penguin-friendly habitat perfect for watching little penguins doing little penguin things. In the North there’s also the Low Head Penguin Tour (penguintourstasmania.com.au) while in the North West, Friends of Burnie Penguins (burniepenguins.com) volunteers offer a free interpretative guided tour of the Little Fairy Penguin colony each evening. See devils, quolls, wombats, snakes and birds and handfeed some free range Forester kangaroos at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary near Hobart (bonorong.com.au).

For a specialty snake experience go directly to Serpentarium Wildlife Park in St Helens (serpentarium.com.au), where you can see (and potentially hold!) a variety of exotic pythons, plus they have lizards, birds and tortoises.

The Great Outdoors

Did you know you can take the canine member of your family on the Tahune Airwalk (tahuneadventures.com.au) near Geeveston in the Huon Valley? Or that parts are wheelchair and stroller accessible? Frolic amongst the treetops 30 metres above the ground – or at one point, 50 metres above the Huon River – and enjoy incredible views into the nearby World Heritage area. If you’re still feeling brave, try the hang gliding experience or river rafting adventure. Contact the Tahune Adventures ticket office for more access-friendly information. For more action up high, the Treetops Adventure at Hollybank (treetopsadventure.com.au) takes you among the lush forests of northern Tasmania with ropes courses and zip lines, and Penny Royal Adventures (pennyroyallaunceston.com.au) in Launceston has ziplines, rock climbing and a bunch of other family- fun adventures.

Check out West Coast Tasmania’s fascinating mining history among some of our most magnificent ancient forests with a Lost Mines and Ancient Pines tour (roamwild.com.au), departing from Queenstown. You’ll get to explore pioneer mines from the copper mining boom dating back to the 1890s. Try your hand at gold panning or rockchip mineral sampling and mine your own glittering ore – whatever treasures you find are yours to keep – then enjoy an underground miner’s ‘crib break’ for an authentic worker’s rest and meal break. Still on the wild West Coast, the Ocean Beach Mountain Bike Trail (mtb.westcoasttas.com.au) takes you alongside a snippet of Tasmania’s longest beach. At just 1.8 kilometres long, it is perfect for littler legs and beginners.

Created in partnership with Tourism Tasmania

For more discovertasmania.com.au/longerdays