📍Hobart, Australia

The sandstone warehouses of Salamanca Place wake up early on Saturdays, with nearly 300 stalls unfurling under white tents along the harbor. Arrive by 8:30am and the aisles are still loose enough for a stroller to glide through, woodsmoke curling from the first grill stations and vendors offering free tastes of jam and cheese to anyone who slows down — including small, curious hands. By 10:30 it thickens into a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, so this is the window to let kids point at berries, watch a street musician, and stretch their legs after travel.

Fourteen hectares of manicured calm unfold along the Derwent, eucalyptus scent mixing with roses and the constant soft chatter of birds. Paths are flat, wide, and fully stroller-friendly, looping past lily ponds and a Japanese garden that kids can wander at their own pace without any real risk or rush. Arrive before 10am on a weekday and you'll have the paths nearly to yourselves, well before weekend crowds settle in around midday.

The drive up switches from suburban streets to eucalypt forest to bare pink dolomite in under half an hour, ending at a summit where wind whips across exposed rock and the entire city spreads out below like a map. This is a look-and-go stop for young families — the enclosed viewing platform lets kids peer through glass out of the worst of the wind, and there's no strenuous walking required. Aim for late morning, well before the 2-5pm sunset-seeker crush, and keep the visit brief given the cold wind and thin air.

This is the day's centerpiece and possibly the trip's highlight for young kids: free-roaming kangaroos amble up to take pellets straight from small palms, joeys nose curiously at fingers, and Tasmanian devils, wombats, and quolls hold court in naturalistic enclosures nearby. Arrive at opening (9:30am) to beat both the heat and the 10am-2pm crowd surge, when queues for the kangaroo feeding area lengthen considerably. Sessions are unhurried by design — no long standing, no rushing — just soft grass, dappled shade, and animals who are used to gentle little hands.

The hour-plus drive southeast rewards with a dramatic, wind-scoured peninsula and sprawling sandstone ruins overlooking the Tasman Sea. For young families, this visit is kept deliberately shorter and lighter than the full historic experience — a stroll through the open grounds, a look at the main penitentiary ruins from a comfortable distance, and time on the grassy lawns rather than the more intense solitary confinement exhibits, which can feel unsettling for young children. The site's harbor cruise (weather permitting) is a nice low-effort way to see the Isle of the Dead from the water without a long walk.