Twitchy Twitchers, Rock Parades and a Mirror on a Stick. What's On in Tassie This Spring

Bruny Island

It's Spring in Tasmania and we're ready to show you our island as we shrug off the chills. Flowers are blooming beautiful, the festivals are rocking, and our talented locals are opening their doors, offices, theatres and wineries to the world.

Mona, House in the Hunt, on now

What happens when you take a mirror, a stick and a famous painting and create an exhibition around it? House in the Hunt is based on Tim Jenison's discovery of a technique of photo-realism painting using a mirror on a stick. The exhibition features several highly accomplished painters attempting to use this optical technique to re-create paintings by Johannes Vermeer, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Willem Heda. All this will play out on the museum floor and visitors can watch in real time as the experiment unfolds.
www.mona.net.au

Blooming Tasmania Flower and Garden Festival – 24 – 25 September

With the theme 'Tasmania Is My Garden', the Blooming Tasmania Flower and Garden Festival, held on 24 and 25 September, wants visitors to experience unique Tasmanian gardens (even some under the sea!), explore the local wilderness and savour the food and wine. Be sure to visit the exhibition and guest speakers in the magnificent heritage Albert Hall building, and display gardens at the beautiful Launceston City Park.
See the program at www.bloomingtasmania.com.au

Tastings at the Top – 23 – 25 September

Could it get any more Tasmanian than this – our finest wine and produce, served within a stones throw of our favourite icon, Cradle Mountain. Tastings at the Top, held at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge from 23-25 September kicks off with a Producers Village for guests to sample the fresh local produce whipped up into innovative canapés while chatting with the producers. On Saturday step into the producers' shoes for a guided walk with charcuterie and wine tasting, massages in the Waldheim Alpine Spa, a cheese making workshop with Red Cow Dairies and a Masterclass with executive chef, Karl Wulf. The weekend culminates in a six course Gala Dinner hosted by Josef Chromy head winemaker Jeremy Dineen.
Information and bookings via www.cradlemountainlodge.com.au

Bloomin' Tulips Festival – 8 October

Tulips from our North West coast are so good, the bulbs are exported all the way back to Holland! Come and see the tulips in full bloom in Wynyard on Saturday 8 October when the town explodes with colour - from the rows and rows of spectacular tulips adorning Table Cape, to the quirky tulip-throwing competition and foreshore colour run. Added to the bill are the Bloomin' Tulips Cocktail Party and Mayoral Ball; they've sprouted as part of the lead up to the main festival day.
See www.bloomintulips.com.au for more information.

The Unconformity - 14 – 16 October

The isolated ex-mining town of Queenstown sits atop a geological feature, Haulage Unconformity, which drove it's boom time. But fortunes change and Queenstown's mining has ceased, leaving the residents to carve out a new niche. Enter The Unconformity, a new heritage and arts festival held from 14 - 16 October celebrating sense of place and otherworldliness, and the peoples' connection to the dramatic landscape and way of life. Local, national and international artists will come together to share their visual art, contemporary dance, music, sound art and theatre, as well as open the doors of the unusual former industrial sites. From The Rumble, a dazzling procession featuring light, music and some huge mining machinery; to a range of innovative multimedia events will be featured including popup radio station Unconformist Radio and Flux will see artists, musicians and poets reclaim an old limestone quarry where bones will be blown and refreshments will be served.
See the full (and awesome) program including a number of premieres atwww.theunconformity.com.au

Artentwine Biennial Symposium – 14 – 16 October

It's a marriage made in arts heaven – the Artentwine Biennial Symposium and the Artentwine Sculpture Biennial – held at various locations across the Tamar Valley from 14 – 16 October. Through lectures, public discussions, seminars, master classes and workshops, the Symposium will examine physical, emotional and ephemeral sculptural responses as well as the interconnection of Tasmanian culture and history. Artentwine Sculpture Biennial showcases niche sculpture exhibitions, set in the grounds of five Tamar Valley wineries.
Find out more at www.artentwine.com.au

Bruny Island Bird Festival – 14 -17 October

The twitchers are twitching over this one – the Bruny Island Bird Festival returns from 14 – 17 October to celebrate Bruny's beautiful birds, habitats and landscapes. From avid birdwatchers to novices, there are events for everyone, including kids. Join bird watching tours and walks in forests, on beaches and at sea and into private properties not normally open to the public. Enjoy a seabird cruise, shake your tail feather at the Bird Ball or get along to the art exhibition opening with Michael Luenig. With so many local experts on hand, this is a bird festival not to be missed.
www.brunybirdfestival.org.au

Tasmanian Eco Film Festival – 17 – 20 November

The Tasmanian Eco Film Festival (TeFF) returns to Hobart's State Cinema from 17 – 20 November. During the festival, which aims to foster an appreciation of the natural world that supports us, enjoy screenings and Q&A sessions of five Australian premiere films, an Australian Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a National Geographic oceanographer. The festival also premieres an Australian virtual reality film at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and don't forget the closing night eco dinner at Room For A Pony with a celebrated guest chef.
Tickets on sale from 6 October, more information at www.tassieff.com

Effervescence Tasmania – 3 – 6 November

Effervescence Tasmania 2016 returns over four days from 3 – 6 November, showcasing world-class sparkling wines, Michelin-starred chefs, award-winning winemakers and experts. This year, we're privileged to have legendary chefs Tetsuya Wakuda and Jacques Reymond participating – Tetsuya in the Grand Degustation dinner and three-course local producer lunch, and Jacques in The Essence of Effervescence lunch at Quamby Estate. Author and wine expert Tyson Stelzer will host a Champagne and Tasmanian Sparkling Wine dinner and masterclasses, and some of our leading winemakers, Dr Andrew Pirie (Apogee), Ed Carr (House of Arras) and Louisa Rose (Jansz) are on the pour. Add to that the festival's decadent garden party, Bubbles and Beats event and food-matching masterclasses for the ultimate food and wine weekend.
More information at www.effervescencetasmania.com

Tasmanian Craft Fair - 4-7 November

This is big, really big! The Tasmanian Craft Fair is Australia's largest craft fair and showcases the work of Tasmania's finest craftspeople and cottage industries. See woodcarvers, glassmakers, leather and metal workers, potters, lead light artists, embroidery displays, silver and goldsmiths, and painters, whose work is all for sale. Keep an eye out for this year's featured artist Esther Shohet, a painter who produces her work on silk, and the chosen emerging artist, local student Myles Kirkman, the youngest ever recipient at only 18, who makes his collectible knives from Tasmanian timber and recycled, high carbon, metal-cutting bandsaw blades.
www.tascraftfair.com.au

Pearn's Steam World Annual Steam Spectacular Weekend - 5-7 November

Since the 1950's, when the age of steam was giving way to tractors, the Pearn Family began collecting examples of the steam engines and farm machinery used in Tasmania at the time. The collection has now grown to over 200 pieces, housed at Pearn's Steam World in Westbury. During the Annual Steam Spectacular Weekend, from 5 - 7 November, many of the machines will be operating and visitors can enjoy a ride on the traction engines, tractors or miniature trains.
www.pearnssteamworld.org.au

Mona, On the Origin of Art exhibition – 5 November onwards

It's true that Mona opens minds and they want you to think about art for yourself – it's not about a cultural elite telling how it is. So with that, Mona have lined up four unlikely art curators, bio-cultural scientist-philosophers Steven Pinker, Geoffrey Millier, Brian Boyd, and Mark Changizi, to ask the biggest and most exciting questions about the origin of art. Each curator will create 'an exhibition within an exhibition' in separate spaces across the museum, selecting works to support his position. Ancient and contemporary artworks from multifarious cultural sources will include antiquities, paintings, works on paper, ceramics, textiles, audio visual and contemporary installations, selected from Mona's collection and elsewhere.
From November 5, more information at www.mona.net.au

Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival (BOFA) – 10 – 13 November

The Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival (BOFA) is an intimate and thought-provoking showcase of the best festival films released in 2016, without the usual film festival airs and graces. There's a BOFA session for everyone – Doco BOFA with documentaries to challenge, Foodie BOFA including a program of local food and wine tours, Family BOFA with kids films and a drive-in, and Screen BOFA for masterclasses and Short Film awards. Showing from 10 - 13 November, including the Festival Lounge open every night.
Book at www.bofa.com.au

Australia v South Africa Test Cricket -12 – 16 November

Bats and balls at the ready, Hobart is hosting the second cricket test between Australia and South Africa from 12 – 16 November at Blundstone Arena. See the excitement of international cricket in the flesh, as Australia tonks it against their long time rival, South Africa. It's the opposition's very first test match in our southern city; let's show them how passionate a Tassie home crowd can be.
Tickets are available at www.ticketek.com.au

Bicheno Food and Wine Festival – 19 November

The award-winning Bicheno Food and Wine Festival returns for 2016 with a program of unique events with leading local wine and beer makers, chefs, food producers and gourmet innovators from Tasmania's East Coast. Indulge in the world famous crayfish, mussels, oysters, tacos, paella, sweet treats and more. Kick back on the grass or take a cooking class for adults and kids, see the results of the beer brewing competition, and there's even a pop-up café that only serves chocolate cake. Toast the coast on Saturday 19 November!
www.bichenofestivals.com.au

For a full and up-to-date listing of Tasmanian events, and information on travelling to Tasmania, visit the Discover Tasmania website www.discovertasmania.com.au.

Travel to Tasmania

Travellers can fly to Tasmania on Jetstar, Virgin Australia, Qantas, Qantaslink, Tigerair, Sharp Airlines or Rex Airlines, or take the Spirit of Tasmania ferry from Port Melbourne (VIC) to Devonport (TAS).

Tourism Tasmania is the Tasmanian Government's tourism marketing agency. Its main purpose is to connect people to Tasmania through domestic and international marketing programs that create demand for Tasmanian holidays and attract more visitors to the state.