The Brighton municipality exists in a part of Southern Tasmania that contains many different landscapes including majestic ranges, fertile vineyards, meandering watercourses. Here are a few highlights of a visit to Brighton:

• The beautiful walking trails along the shores of the Derwent River. See Bridgewater’s surprising secret for an account of the flocks of native waterbirds and majestic views across the water towards kunanyi/Mount Wellington (south-east), Mount Dromedary (north-west) and the hilly northern suburbs of Hobart.

• The historic village of Pontville for fine examples of colonial architecture including sandstone churches (such as the beautiful St Marks Church (1839), with its distinctive Romanesque architecture), a convict-built bridge, hotels, stately homes and workmen’s cottages.

• The Bridgewater Parkland – a leading new regional park in the region. Or, for the more adventurous, play some ball at the Gagebrook ‘Rage Cage’.

• The vineyards and wineries in the Coal River Valley in and around Tea Tree – particularly fertile grounds for pinot noir and chardonnay. Visit Wine Tasmania for local wine trails and vineyards in the Brighton area and beyond  – Wine Tasmania – Southern Wine Trails

• Bonorong – a native wildlife sanctuary rather than a zoo. Bonorong is a social enterprise that operates Tasmania’s largest 24/7 Wildlife Rescue Service. On a visit to the sanctuary you could meet wombats, devils, quolls, native birds, koalas, lizards, snakes and emus.

• Tea Tree Golf Club offers a deceptively challenging 9-hole course for golfers in a scenic semi-rural setting. It was founded in 1929.

• Baskerville Speedway – Australia’s longest continually run motorsport racetrack.

• Zoodoo – Get up close to a wide range of exotic animals at Zoodoo Zoo.

• Tasmanian Stories – 3-D Augmented Reality Experience – Enjoy a walk around the former Brighton Army Camp, an amazingly rich site with many layers of history and stories. Immerse yourself in an augmented reality experience that brings to life stories from the site, such as Tasmania’s first commercial flights, trade between aboriginal bands, training for WWII, the housing of Italian prisoners of war and refugees from Eastern Europe, a temporary home for Tasmanians who lost their homes in the 1967 bush fires and a refuge for Kosovars escaping the Balkans War.  To explore the site with Augmented Reality download the Uist app from the apple store.