A place unlike any other, except another place elsewhere with the same name. Photo: Tasmania For Everyone
When it comes to rude, baffling and hilarious place names, Tasmania really outshines the mainland.
Western Australia has Other Side of the Moon, and Queensland has Mount Breast and Ugly Creek, but the Apple Isle seems to have a much higher concentration of oddly-named locations, and even mapmakers agree. UK mapmakers Strumpshaw, Tincleton & Giggleswick have produced a map of Australia that only includes rude and funny place names, and the company’s founder recently told the BBC that Tasmania stood out for being the most colourful. Here is just a small selection of the many place names in Tasmania that would brighten any roadtrip.
Promised Land
Photo: tascampertrailerhire.com
Those looking for the Biblical land of milk and honey probably weren’t expecting Tasmania’s answer. Promised Land is home to the ‘Tasmazia’ maze complex, which has eight life-size mazes and a gift shop. The other attraction of Promised Land is Crackpot Village, a small-scale art installation of more than 60 miniature buildings.
Eggs and Bacon Bay
Photo: tripadvisor.
Eggs and Bacon Bay is a glorious locality and popular camping spot in Southern Tassie, near Bruny Island. In news that reads more like satire, earlier this year animal welfare group PETA petitioned to have the bay’s name changed to a vegan friendly alternative, but it was decided the original name is just fine, thanks. Why aren’t more places named after breakfast foods? In future we could have Vegemite Toast Bay or Pancakes with Lemon and Sugar Bay. Now some of you are going to point out that this place was actually named after a local wildflower. But that’s just silly, who would name a wildflower after breakfast foods?
Penguin
Photo: Think Tasmania.
About 4000 humans live in Penguin on Tasmania’s north coast. The town, settled in 1861, is home to one of the country’s greatest, and most realistic, fibreglass tourist attractions, The Giant Penguin.
Milkshake Hills
After you’ve been to Eggs and Bacon Bay you can pop round to Milkshake Hills for afternoon tea. Milkshake Hills is within the State Forest in north western Tasmania, and has free camping and lots of calcium goodness.
Lovely Bottom
Photo: Google Earth.
Somehow, this is a real place name. No one is brave enough to live at Lovely Bottom, a flat plain west of Hobart.
Granny’s Gut
Photo: Pelican Point Sanctuary
Only in Tasmania can you kayak around Granny’s Gut. You can also swim in it if you don’t mind freezing water. Granny’s Gut is a lake in a pelican sanctuary near St Helens on the state’s east coast.
Dismal Swamp
Photo: tripadvisor
Dismal Swamp has come a long way since it was first named, and it is currently not at all dismal. At the heart of Dismal Swamp is Tarkine Forest Adventures, a treetop adventure park and ecotourism accommodation, with a 110-metre slide. Nearby are Mt Dismal and a hill named Little Dismal – a whole dismal family of landmarks.
Awesome Wells
Photo: orsonwelles.org
Awesome Wells is an underground cave, near Lake Pedder in the state’s south, and it’s also arguably one of the state’s best puns. The cave is not to be confused with Orson Welles, an American actor and director, pictured above.
Nowhere Else
Photo: tumblr.
There’s nowhere else like Nowhere Else, Tasmania, except for Nowhere Else, South Australia. The Tasmanian town near Devonport is the older of the two towns, but neither is like each other, or like anywhere else.
Satans Lair
Satans Lair in Tasmania is home to a population of these little guys. Photo: Janie Barrett.
No it’s not the shopping centre carpark on Christmas Eve, Satans Lair is a cave that’s great for spelunking down. There aren’t many pictures of said cave, but it is within Mount Field National Park which is, fittingly, a habitat for Tasmanian Devils.
Stinkhole
Photo: Google Earth.
Stinkhole is a bay on the Northwest coast that has clear blue waters. If this is considered a ‘stink hole’ in Tasmania then we’d like to see what a ‘beach’ looks like.
