Area
68,400 square kilometres (26,409 square miles).
Population
480,000 people (the official estimate for 2003).
Population
Density
7.0 people per square kilometre.
Capital
Hobart.
Population of Hobart
199,886 people (the official estimate for 2003).
Geography
A separate island located 240 kilometres (149 miles)
south of Melbourne across Bass Strait. Roughly heart shaped, Tasmania
is 296 kilometres (184 miles) long, ranging from 315 kilometres
(196 miles) wide in the north to 70 kilometres (44 miles) in the
south.
The island has a varied landscape comprising rugged
mountains (snow-capped in winter), dense bushland (including the
Horizontal Forest, so called because the tree trunks are bent over
parallel to the ground), tranquil countryside and farmland. Approximately
40 % of Tasmania is protected in national parks and other reserves,
over half of this being the World Heritage listed temperate wilderness
in the west of the island.
Situated midway between Victoria and the northwest
of Tasmania in Bass Strait lies King Island. This
lush and fertile island, famous for its beef and dairy products,
is regularly serviced by air carriers and is a popular tourist destination.
To the north east of Tasmania, also in Bass Strait, Flinders Island
can be found, part of the Furneaux group of islands.
Flinders Island is also popular with visitors and is particularly
well known for its brilliant coastal fishing and
pristine beaches. Bruny Island, south of Hobart across the D’Entrecasteaux
Channel, has excellent beaches and an abundance of marine wildlife.
The 2 parts of the island are joined by a narrow isthmus of sand
dunes, the home of Fairy Penguins from August to April.
Time Zone
Greenwich Mean Time + 10 (GMT + 11 from first Sunday in October
to the last Saturday in March). |
