The great Aussie dream of living in a pristine, low-populated area with everything you could want at your doorstep, plus beautiful beaches, snow-sprinkled mountains, rich farmland and lush forests is still possible - in Tasmania.  Life under down under is perfect living - it’s remote, adventure-laden, stunning and it’s affordable.

Situated at forty degrees south, just 240 km across the Bass Strait from the mainland, Tasmania is truly a land apart...a place of wild and beautiful landscapes, clean and green environment, a temperate maritime climate, wonderful wine and food and a relaxed island lifestyle.

If you’re looking for both a lifestyle change and a heavenly place to live, stay on  the bus until the last stop.  Tasmania - the smallest and southernmost of Australia’s six states -  is often left off the map of OZ, and the locals don’t seem to care.

It is difficult to believe such a compact island, with so few inhabitants, can have so much to offer.   (There are more sheep in Tasmania than there are people, about 500,000, or fewer than many US suburbs!).

There are 17 national parks surrounded by rugged coastlines, making Tasmania a favourite for hikers from the world over; they have branded it  “the wilderness state.”  Last year, Lonely Planet produced a free guide for backpackers and independent travellers called Tasmania: Adventure Island.

That  publication and the recent marriage of a Tasmanian commoner to the Crown Prince of Denmark have contributed to Tasmania being the flavour of the  month amongst international and domestic travellers.

Selling Mania in Tasmania

Real estate in Tasmania has always been more affordable than the rest of Australia.  And while the mainlanders have recently plucked up many of the Apple Isle bargains, there remain many opportunities for investors  wanting “rent-now, retire-later” properties or those wanting a seachange.

Earlier this year, when the property market was getting too hot on the mainland, many buyers tuned their attention to Tasmania, which drove prices up 42% in the last year.  For many months, it was not uncommon for the rental car companies to be fully booked every weekend by Sydneysiders and Melbournites coming over by plane loads (Sydney 2 hrs., Melbourne 1 hr. flight) with fistfuls of money to scarf up blocks.  Farms with acreage, bed and breakfast inns ready for a turnover, shacks, and waterfront blocks on secluded Bruny Island, where just a few years ago you couldn’t give away your vacant lot.

Selling a heavily mortgaged property in either of those two cities can allow a person relocating to purchase a house in Tasmania and still have funds to invest, buy a business, or perhaps a weekender shack on Bruny.  A small cottage facing Adventure Bay - where Capt. Cook and later Capt. Bligh on The Bounty once took refuge - currently will fetch $330,000.

While there are still opportunities on the west coast, one of the most remote and spectacular parts of the state, word has it that many more developments will be popping up along the east coast, from the Freycinet Peninsula to the Bay of Fires. The imposing red granite peaks and white sandy beaches in this long stretch of coastline has been long cherished by naturalists, bush walkers, artists and writers and, of course, it has become a hangout for the rich and famous once since billed as “a luxury wilderness getaway.”

The capital city, Hobart, has a spectacular setting in one of the finest natural harbours in the world. The harbour is  crowded with elegant cruising yachts, fishing boats, and Antarctic resupply vessels anchored aside fish punts and waterside cafes - and a newly opened five-star boutique hotel chock full of art treasures.

There is an abundance of high-quality housing, ranging from mansions with million dollar gardens, to luxurious modern apartments in renovated schoolhouses for under a million.

The Albuera School, located at the end of one of the most beautiful streets in Hobart, s a grand example.  In fact, I’m surprised the units did not sell for more, given the fact that Errol Flynn was once schooled there.  Flynn is revered in Hobart, despite being expelled from every school he ever attended and later becoming a notorious film celebrity in Hollywood.

As Roger Gallo says, locations are like romances.  Investors should buy in a place they want to live. Young professionals want to live in Hobart, and seachangers are choosing the tiny east coast villages like Swansea by the sea.

After many sleepy years, Swansea is awakening to the herds of expats visiting and settling on the glorious east coast.  Currently, 432 residents call it home, up to 1200 live and work there in tourist season. Hence the demand for rental properties; most landlords are from interstate or around Tasmania.  One of the favourite pit stops for the coach-loads of tourists is the Swansea Wine & Wool Centre.  It is housed i the Swansea Bark Mill, which used to process black wattle bark for leather tanning.  The for sale sign has just been posted:  $735,000 AUD.

Because tourism is on an upward swing, and several other tourism businesses are on the block.  While there’s an oversupply of B&B and Boutique Accommodations at the moment, there are some established ones, with the profitable mixture of size and location, for sale.

If you want a contemporary property and none of the management headaches, you can buy into the 5 star spa retreat at Piermont, a time share with a twist and a million-dollar view of the Great Oyster Bay and the Hazard Mountains.  If you prefer overlooking your own grapevines, a good-producing vineyard with 3 bedroom house is available for $650,000.

If supplemental income is not your goal, there are plenty of prestige properties and shacks available.  Some old beach shacks are coming down and big houses going up, although it’s being done sensitively and not in great numbers - yet.  As coastal towns like Bridport north of Launceston and tiny Triabunna east of Hobart are expecting large golfing/retirement communities (like Greg Norman’s signature development) to come on line in the next five years, this will accelerate.

Finding Gold

Real estate bargains and favourable business opportunities are not the only reasons expats are flocking to the land of “no worries.”  Tasmanians are the happiest Australians - and why wouldn’t they be.  They  enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle, four seasons of weather (some days you get all four in one), lots of space, zero “rush hours” and they are genuinely relaxed.  A Tasmanian will take the time to look you in the eye and engage in conversation.  It’s their friendly, welcoming way. Old fashioned, charming.  When was the last time you caught up with your neighbour for a conversation in the middle of main street or in the corner grocery store?

Besides the author, other expats who have made the east coast sea change are running a 5-star B&B, a cooking school, a bush-to-beach adventure tour company, serving serious coffee for the cafe society, growing prolific crops of cherries and strawberries, and playing very relaxing rounds of golf for $10  on the “honesty box” system.  Many of them had first come to Tasmania on holiday, and enjoyed their experience so much, they eventually moved here to live, to study, to work and to enjoy the good life.

Better hurry. You won’t latch onto an abalone fishing license, but you could buy a marine farm and harvest scallops, oysters and mussels. You could grow garlic, mushrooms, walnuts, olives or saffron, buy and sell wool, or export  the new “black gold” - truffles.  Big money that, and local producers are looking for investors.

Resources

Tasmania is probably only for a specific type of migrant who's not looking for an especially warm climate (Tasmania's climate is similar to that of North West Europe, with average daytime temperatures in high summer of 22C/72F). Leaving climate aside, Tasmania can offer a very good lifestyle provided you can find a job. The state has traditionally lagged the rest of Australia, and unless you have specific skills in demand there finding a job may be difficult. Once you do find a job, salary levels won't be as high as elsewhere in Australia, although the cost of real estate is still affordable.

The cost of living in AUS is about 10% less than in the US, and the cost of living in TAS is below all-other Australian states. While you are less likely to line your bank account in Tassie, you do get the option of walking to work and breathing clean air, living in a temperate climate in relative safety, sans traffic congestion or crowds.

If you do not wish to undertake a wholehearted move to Tasmania, but would rather live there for a few years to see if it is really for you (highly advised if isolation, lack of people and cooler climate are concerns), there are a couple of options.  Study. Temporary work. Business.  An independent business executive visa is good for four years. Work visas are subject to quotas.  It’s tougher to get a business visa since this year when new restrictions went into effect, but not impossible.  After four years, if you meet the requirements, you can apply for permanent residency, and eventually for citizenship, if desired.

TAS is famous for its clean green reputation, and for its exceptional quality foods and wines. Major industries include Tourism, Aquaculture, Mining and Forestry as well as Agriculture and Viticulture. Population is spread widely throughout the Island with the greater Hobart area accounting for about 194,000, greater Launceston area about 98,000 and the northwest coastal towns about 78,000 people. The rest are scattered, with most towns having less than 1,000 inhabitants. The west coast, although accounting for 15% of area has only about 6,000 inhabitants.

There are numerous tourism and economic development government websites and a handful of private sites that provide insight to the business and social environment of the island-state.  The best of the lot include www.brandtasmania.com for business entrants and skilled migrants, and www.discovertasmania.com for those seeking a summer hideaway or a better way of life.  Check out tourismbusinessforsale.com,  and businessforsale.com.au if you don’t want to relocate your own business.

Two helpful publications are “Commercial Visitors Services Information Kit,” and “Tasmania: The Right Time...the right climate, the right lifestyle, the right education, the right housing, the right opportunities, the right contacts...for manufacturing, tourism, forestry, agriculture, aquaculture, mineral resources, and IT.”

Be sure to bookmark the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania, www.reit.com.au, and other leading real estate sites, www.domain.com.au and www.buytas.com.au.

No worries, mate.  Tasmanian businesses have access to the latest technology, thanks to fibre-optic cable between the island and continental Australia that provides high-speed voice and date links with the rest of the world.

Dee Farrell enjoys life under down under at a year on in Tasmania.  She runs a food & wine travel business and uses other ex-pat experts as tour guides and networking resources.