Tasmanian Whiskey Named Best In The World One of Tasmania's whiskies has been named the best in the world, with connoisseurs offering big money to get their hands on a bottle Stunning cliffs, 'super-cool' Hobart and a colourful convict past: How Tasmania became the only destination in the country to make Lonely Planet's Top 10 for 2015 (despite often being left off maps of Australia) It’s the Australian state that is often overlooked, left off maps and even this year omitted from the national Commonwealth Games sports kit. But little old Tasmania is now outshining the rest of Australia when it comes to being a recommended tourist destination. The home of the Tasmanian Devil has made it into travel guide Lonely Planet’s 'Top 10 Regions to visit in 2015' list thanks to its fine food and stunning outdoors, with almost 1.6 million people already visiting its shores in the last year. 'The visitor numbers are now pretty much double the population of the state,' a Discover Tasmania spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. Hop 240 kilometres across the Bass Strait from the south of the Australian continent to the 26th largest island in the world and you will discover historic gems like more than half of Australia’s World Heritage Listed Convict Sites. Tassie is also home to the oldest Catholic Church in use in Australia, St John’s Roman Catholic Church in Richmond, and the oldest bridge in use in the country – the historic Richmond Bridge. Lonely Planet compared areas from around the globe and placed Tasmania fourth, recommending travellers visit Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art and an extension of the Three Capes Track in the state's southeast - due for completion in the new year and offering walkers a ‘stunning’ view of sea cliffs in the Tasman National Park. ‘Modern Tasmania has adopted a fresh, hip and inclusive attitude sparked by the brilliant revival of its now super-cool waterfront capital, Hobart, and the development of an eclectic year-long events calendar,’ Lonely Planet's Chris Zeiher wrote. He called the food scene a ‘gourmet's paradise’ and said Tasmania has emerged from its humble convict origins to become a ‘wild and dramatic, cultured and quirky, isolated yet accessible’ travel destination. Discover Tasmania issued a comedy apology to the rest of Australia when the result was announced, saying Tassie should have in fact come number one. Their reasoning is that their ‘culinary delights are the pride of the state and the envy of others, with the majority of our food bred, grown or caught within an oyster shell throw of where it’s prepared and served’. ‘Not to be outdone our beers, ciders, whiskeys and wines are among the world’s finest. Sure, having the world’s purest water helps and is perhaps why one of our whiskies was named best in the world. ‘And while we’re not necessarily famous for our weather (beautiful one day, even more beautiful the next), it does attract some of the greatest wine makers on earth,’ they added. The blog post described how in Tasmania you can find four of the 7 Great Walks of Australia and ‘in our seas, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) recently reported an influx of NSW octopuses travelling down to make love here rather than “doing it” in their own backyard.’ Almost 45 per cent of Tasmania is part of a reserve, national park or World Heritage Site. Before the island broke away from mainland Australia 10,000 years ago it had already been inhabited by Tasmanian Aborigines for around 25,000 years. The first European to site the state was Dutch man Abel Tasman on November 24 1642 and early settlers were mostly convicts and their military guards. They were given the job of developing agriculture on the island and other industries. Many of the convicts lived in Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula and the area has now become Tasmania’s most popular tourist destination

• published: 22 Oct 2014
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