The Overland Track is a 65km bushwalk through stunning wilderness.

Photo: Tourism Tasmania & Don Fuchs

Tasmania - the oft-overlooked island state south of the Australian mainland - has 3,000 kilometres of well-maintained walking tracks.

Thanks to steadfast campaigning by environmentalists in the 1980s, much of Tasmania is protected wilderness, and here bushwalkers can commune with nature at its wettest, wildest and most isolated. Windswept coastlines, remote mountains peaks, pounding waterfalls, glacial lakes, alpine meadows and beech tree forests are all waiting to be explored via hundreds of hiking tracks.

The Overland Track is the most famous bushwalk in Tasmania, traversing 65km of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. Although many people choose to camp, rustic huts are located at five locations along the way, and despite boardwalks covering a fair chunk of the track, it's fairly impossible to avoid the squelching mud or blood-sucking leeches. The track's popularity means bookings are required for the walking season, which runs from November 1 to April 30.

Meanwhile, the South Coast Track is a gruelling five-to-10-day bushwalk which confronts swampy plains and negotiates two mountain ranges. It follows a route used by Tasmanian Aborigines and requires being dropped off or picked up in a light plane.

For something less demanding try the Frenchmans Cap hike, the Port Davey track in the southwest, or the coastal track through Freycinet National Park.