Tasmania
Rooms for rent in Launceston
Launceston is small enough to cross on foot, and that is how this page reads it: north end first, then the centre, then uphill, then out to the farm towns. Where you stop on that route decides what your mornings look like.
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Start at the top of the East Tamar and walk in
Begin at the top end, where the university campus sits at Newnham and the cheapest rooms in the city sit around it. The road back to town carries a bus every ten minutes on weekday mornings as far as Mowbray; past that point the routes split, and Newnham and Rocherlea each get their own. It is flat the whole way in, which matters if you are walking or on a bike.
Keep going and the land drops to the river flats. Invermay and Inveresk sit on that low ground behind a levee, so this is the one part of town where people ask about flood history before they ask about the rent. A few minutes further and you are in the middle of the city, with the general hospital and the retail centre that draws shoppers from most of northern Tasmania. It is a short stretch, and it is the stretch where living without a car is simple.
Out of the centre it is uphill, or over the water
Head west out of the centre and the ground starts climbing straight away. West Launceston rises off the CBD streets, Trevallyn carries on above it, and parts of South Launceston do the same thing on the other side. About fifteen minutes' walk from the shopping streets the ground opens into Cataract Gorge. That is worth remembering when a listing says it is close to town, because close here can still mean a steady climb home with the shopping.
North of the gorge is the water. Riverside and Legana are only ten to fifteen minutes out by road, but everyone crossing from that side uses the one bridge, which is the whole story of the morning drive in. Keep going up the West Tamar and the vineyards start, most of them inside forty minutes of the city. Vintage runs roughly February to April, so if you are coming for a season rather than a year, say so early. Plenty of households are happy with a short stay.
South along the highway, then east to the paddocks
Back through the middle and south, the highway threads together South Launceston, Kings Meadows, Youngtown, Prospect and Summerhill, and then Perth further on. Kings Meadows has a shopping strip of its own, which is why people living along here can go weeks without driving into the centre at all. East of the highway the streets flatten out again through Newstead, Norwood and St Leonards.
Then the houses stop and it is paddocks. Evandale is a farm town a couple of kilometres from the airport, and Longford is about twenty-five minutes out by road; both are easy if you fly in and out for work, and awkward without a car. The districts north and east of here take on pickers for cherries and berries from December to February, which is also when the city is at its tightest — the hospital, the university and the food plants all start people in the last week of January and through February. Winter is the quiet end of the year and the easiest time to be looking.
Where people look in Launceston
North along the East Tamar
Mowbray, Newnham, Rocherlea
The cheapest run of suburbs in the city. The ten-minute weekday service comes out as far as Mowbray, and beyond that the branches split, so Newnham and Rocherlea each sit on a route of their own.
The centre and just across the river
Launceston CBD, Inveresk, Invermay
Invermay is flat river land behind a levee. Flood history is a normal question to put to a household here, and people will answer it plainly.
Uphill to the west, and over the gorge
West Launceston, Trevallyn, Riverside, Legana
West Launceston and Trevallyn simply climb away from the CBD, no bridge involved. Riverside and Legana are close in kilometres and slow at eight in the morning.
South along the highway
South Launceston, Kings Meadows, Youngtown, Prospect, Summerhill, Perth
Kings Meadows runs its own shopping strip, so the southern suburbs are less tied to the city centre than the map makes them look.
East, and the towns out past the airport
Newstead, Norwood, St Leonards, Evandale, Longford
Newstead and Norwood are flat and close in. Evandale sits a couple of kilometres from the airport and Longford about twenty-five minutes out by road, which suits fly-in work and not much else without a car.
What Kip Haus is
A free iPhone app that introduces somebody with a spare room to somebody who needs one. Drop a pin anywhere on the map, choose how far around it to look — 2 km out to 100 km — and go through the rooms one at a time.
Rent is shown per week. Browsing, listing and messaging are all free, and signing up is a six-digit code emailed to you: no password, no documents, any visa. It works from overseas, before you fly.
Kip Haus reads incoming messages for the pattern scammers use and warns you in the chat. The rule that does the most work is simpler than anything software can do, though: stand in the room, or have somebody you trust stand in it, before any money moves.
iPhone, iOS 16.4 or later. Nothing to pay, at any point.
Launceston: questions people ask before they move
Is invermay flood prone?
Invermay and Inveresk are built on low river flats behind a levee, and the flats have gone under before, which is why the levee is there. It is the ordinary thing to ask about in that part of town, and households will usually tell you straight out what has happened in their street.
How long does it take to get from riverside into Launceston?
Ten to fifteen minutes when the road is clear, and it is clear most of the day. The catch is that everyone coming from that side crosses on the same bridge, so the run in and the run out are the two parts of the day that stretch. If a room is in Riverside or Legana, ask what time the household leaves.
Is Launceston colder than hobart?
On winter mornings, often. The city sits in a basin, cold air settles in it overnight, and fog comes off the river thick enough that the airport is the most fog-affected in the country. Afternoons are mild and summer evenings are long. It is the mornings that catch people out, so ask what the heating is.
Can you walk into town from trevallyn?
Downhill, easily. It is the walk back up that people underestimate. Trevallyn and West Launceston both climb away from the CBD and a street map will not show you that at all. If you are planning to carry shopping home, walk the street once before you take the room.
Have a look at Launceston.
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