Your Tassie Road Trip Now Starts in Geelong – Aboard the New Spirit of Tasmania

You pack the car, load the caravan, squeeze in the bikes, tell everyone they’ve brought too much stuff, then drive to Geelong and roll the whole lot straight onto a ship.

No airport parking. No baggage carousel. No hire car counter. And, most importantly, no argument with an airline about whether your suitcase is 1.7kg overweight.

From 31 October 2026, that experience gets a serious upgrade when the new Spirit of Tasmania IV and Spirit of Tasmania V begin carrying passengers between Geelong and Devonport.

And for us, this isn’t really a cruise story. It’s a road trip where somebody has temporarily replaced the road with Bass Strait.

Geelong – where the drive really begins

The beauty of taking your own vehicle to Tasmania is that the holiday starts when you leave home.

Whether you’re travelling in a hatchback, family SUV, touring 4WD, motorhome or towing a caravan, you arrive at Spirit of Tasmania’s Geelong terminal, check in and eventually drive aboard.

The new ships are 212 metres long and can carry up to 1,800 passengers, with 4,098 lane metres devoted to vehicles. More importantly for the touring crowd, they have considerably more high-clearance vehicle space for caravans and motorhomes.

That matters. Tasmania is one of those destinations where having your own vehicle changes the holiday completely. You can bring the camping gear, golf clubs, fishing rods, hiking boots and enough jackets to cope with Tasmania experiencing four seasons before morning tea.

Your overnight “road stop” happens to float

Once parked, you leave the vehicle deck and effectively check into your accommodation for the night.

The new Spirits have 301 cabins, including family cabins sleeping up to six, accessible accommodation, deluxe options and, finally, pet-friendly cabins. There are also business recliners for travellers who don’t need a private room.

For a driving holiday, I’d take a cabin.

You’ve got a full day behind the wheel waiting on the other side, and saving a few dollars only to arrive looking like you’ve slept folded inside a shopping trolley rather defeats the purpose.

Dinner becomes part of the trip too. The new ships introduce several food and drink options including Tasmanian Market Kitchen, Maatsuyker Bar, Cradle Lake, Mersey Cafe and Bar and the Bass Strait General Store.

There’s a nice logic to eating Tasmanian produce while Tasmania is still somewhere beyond the windscreen – metaphorically speaking.

There are cinemas, lounges, kids’ areas, gaming and spaces to simply sit with a drink, but one of the more useful additions for road trippers is the onboard Tasmania Concierge. You can browse tourism experiences, build an itinerary, book with operators and send the plans to your phone before you arrive.

Which is considerably more civilised than frantically Googling “things to do near Devonport” while waiting for the vehicle deck doors to open.

Devonport – wake up, drive off

This is where the whole idea makes sense.

You go to sleep while crossing Bass Strait, wake up in Tasmania and walk downstairs to find your own car waiting for you.

Then the road trip simply continues.

Rather than immediately disappearing south towards the headline attractions, spend some time around Devonport. Grab breakfast, stretch the legs along the waterfront or visit Home Hill, the former home of Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and Dame Enid Lyons.

Then point the bonnet west, east or south.

Cradle Mountain is roughly 90 kilometres away, Tasmania’s north-west food country is virtually on the doorstep and Launceston is an easy drive east. You haven’t flown into Tasmania and started a holiday – you’ve driven there.

There just happened to be a rather large boat in the middle.

Who will love this drive?

Caravanners and motorhome travellers are obvious winners, particularly with the extra vehicle capacity, but this trip also makes enormous sense for families carrying half the contents of their house, couples planning a longer self-drive holiday, motorcyclists and travellers taking pets.

It’s also perfect for anyone who believes a good road trip should start at their own driveway.

DSP Pro Tips

Book the cabin. Arriving rested makes your first Tasmanian driving day far more enjoyable.

Measure your vehicle properly. If you’re towing or carrying bikes, roof racks or other gear, book using the complete dimensions of your travelling setup.

Pack an overnight bag. You can’t wander back down to the car halfway across Bass Strait because you left your toothbrush in the glovebox.

Don’t rush Devonport. Everyone wants to charge off towards Tasmania’s big-ticket destinations, but give the north-west coast some time.

And finally, when those big doors open in Devonport, resist the temptation to immediately drive 400 kilometres.

You’re in Tasmania.

The whole point is taking the long way.

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