What’s special about Penguin?
If you are visiting the town on a Sunday, head to the Penguin Market, Tasmania’s largest undercover market. Browse more than 200 modern stalls ranging from fine food and wine to woodcraft and live music. The market is an ideal way to interact with the friendly local community and caters for the whole family.
Enjoy lunch in one of the seaside cafes overlooking Bass Strait where you can’t miss the 3.15 metre (10 foot) high cement and fiberglass penguin erected in 1975 to commemorate the centenary of the town. Around the months of September through to March you can join penguin tours and watch from Penguin Point as penguins make their way up the beach to nest.
Behind the town, you will find the Dial Range which has several walking tracks to the mountain-tops with stunning views over Penguin and the north-west coast.
The average maximum temperature in Penguin is 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) in January and 13.5 degrees Celsius (56 degrees Fahrenheit) in June.
More things to do:
Train ride
Miniature railway
Bushwalking
The story of Penguin:
Penguin was explored by Bass and Flinders and settled in 1861. It was named by Robert Campbell Gunn, after the small seabirds that live in rookeries along the north coast. Penguin was originally a small timber and mining town, overshadowed by Burnie and Devonport.
Travel directions:
Penguin is about 15 minutes’ drive (17 kilometres/10.5 miles) east of Burnie, or a pleasant 15-minute drive west of Ulverstone through the Ling Perry Gardens along the coastal road.
Open