What is homesteading like in Tasmania?

As a Canadian homesteader and permie approaching retirement age Ive been looking various places in the world to relocate to.  If I do move its probably  Greece or Latin America.  But what about Tasmania!  How much does land go for per acre (hectare?) The climate seems pretty ideal. What are the downsides of living there.  Not sure if Australia is welcoming to retirees who will likely use the health care system more than we contribute.

i was hoping you'd hear from someone local!
we have a number in Australia but i don't remember anyone in Tazzie recently. A good friend of mine lives there (has a vineyard), it's gorgeous but FAR and also quite cold for my taste, and from what she's told me things are rather pricey. As with most places, visa/immigration may be an issue-- from what I understand, if you dont have family ties there you need to finagle an investment retirement visa. Bright side, they speak English.

Thanks Tereza,

As long as they dont get 4 feet of snow and freezing rain its an upgrade for me. Mainland Australia seems too hot for me and I come from a place with zero poisonous snakes, frogs, reptiles, trees, or marine life. I seriously doubt I'd last a month !  

Steve Solomon, the gardening guru who founded Territorial Seeds and wrote the book "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades," decided to move to Tasmania more than 20 years ago. He was all about soil fertility and making sure that your plants have all the nutrients they need, so that you can get all the nutrients you need. I take it that he is very happy there. His book on the subject is Growing Vegetables South of Australia.

Jeff,
Tasmania is an island of wonder.  We have a number of permies there.  The West coast is wild and wooly where as the east coast on the whole is much more open to a gentler climate.  But safe to say it is very cold in our winter June - August and can be extremely hot in summer.  I will PM one of the Tasmanian homesteaders to see if we can get a reply.  Try this website to get a feel for the island: https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/
   Australia has a number of islands for retirement.  One thing to consider is that we have basically a free health care system, but unless you are a permenant resident or are naturalised (takes about 5 years), it will cost a bomb to see a doctor or go to hospital.

Best wishes.

I’ve lived in Tasmania most of my life, I will try my best to answer your questions.

Land price varies a lot depending on the type of land, how big it is, and the location. How many acres do you need? And what kind of homestead are you thinking of having there? Pasture? Forest? Many acres? or 1/4 acre?

Land at the moment is really overpriced, in a bubble that is going to burst at some point, it’s hard to say when this will happen though.

I like the climate here, some people find it too wet though. Different parts of the island have different climates, east coast is more similar to the mainland and is a bit warmer and drier, west coast is very wet and doesn’t have much farming, other parts of the island, some are similar to Northern California, some to Southern England, generally there is more rain in winter and spring and less in summer.

Rainfall varies a lot - some parts of the midlands might have around 300mm rain a year, many other places have around 1000mm- 1200mm.

There is the La Nina/El Niño cycles here where some years are wetter (or drier) than others - dry years we might have summers with 6 week without any rain at all, so that is something to keep in mind.

Downsides… wildlife can be difficult - they will eat everything unless it’s fenced appropriately, or have dogs, or can cull them at night (or have neighbours culling). Bushfires happen, so property needs to be selected and designed carefully.

There are venomous animals here - all Tasmanian snakes are venomous (but usually not aggressive, just a matter of being careful where you tread), we are home to the world’s most venomous ant, and a bunch of other biting insects, but snakes are the only real danger.

Tasmania has a lot of retirees and the sick care system is pretty strained - there are long wait times in the hospitals.

maps.thelist.tas.gov.au is a really good site to look at if you’ve found a block of land (or an area) you might like, you can put in a bunch of map overlays such as nearby transmission lines, 10m contours, farming suitability for various crops (which will tell you the pH, soil depth and other information about the land), I used this tool a lot when we were looking for land.