Bass Strait Islands

The Bass Strait Islands — King Island to the west and Flinders Island to the east — sit in rough, Roaring-Forties water between Tasmania and the mainland. King Island is best known for its dairy, beef and wild-harvest seafood; it’s also home to a small distilling and brewing scene that leans heavily on local botanicals (kelp, pepperberry, coastal herbs). Flinders Island, the largest of the Furneaux Group, has a quieter culinary identity built around its Aboriginal heritage and remote farming. Wine production on either island is limited; the appeal for drink-travellers is context and provenance — tasting spirits and beers that could only have come from a windswept Strait island, eaten alongside cheese, beef and crayfish pulled from the same landscape. Both islands are reached by small plane from Launceston or Melbourne; plan for at least a long weekend.