Visit Australia's biggest boat festival

One of Australia's biggest maritime festivals will be taking place in Tasmania this February in a four-day celebration at the height of the island's summer.

The Wooden Boat Festival, which takes place once every two years, will have over 450 boats and sea craft ranging from tall ships to fishing boats in Tasmania's Hobart docks in the island's historic capital.

However, there will be much more to do and see during the festival than just the boats with lots music events, stalls and displays.

One of the highlights for visitors will be the Quick ‘n’ Dirty Boat Challenge, which sees competitors building, decorating and racing a boat around a special course, often getting into the water themselves in the process.

Each stage of the event takes place on a different day, with the main race taking place on the final day of the festival.

New for the 2007 festival will be the Seataste - a food and drink festival led by Tasmania's top chefs who will be doing live shows on cooking seafood dishes, which visitors will then get a chance to taste, along with specially selected wines and beers.

There will also be several model ship displays competing for a cash prize, craftsmen showing visitors how to build wooden boats the traditional way and a chance to go below the deck of tall ships dating from the 17th and 18th-centuries.

The festival takes place from February 9th to 12th 2007. For more information on the boat festival see www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au

Australian Pacific Touring has a four, nine or 12-day tour that includes the festival with prices starting from £595 per person.

The tour departs from Launceston, Tasmania, on February 6th and takes in Freycinet National Park and the Port Arthur Historic site before arriving in Hobart for the Wooden Boat Festival's opening on Friday 9th February.

In Hobart holidaymakers can stay in the Grand Chancellor Hotel on the waterfront, with breakfast and dinner included.

Freycinet National Park is nearly 30,000 acres in size, and contains the dramatic Hazards mountains, known for their pink granite. The park also has wetlands, coastal dunes and a dry eucalypt forest.

Port Arthur was the location of a prison holding over 12,000 convicts from 1830 to 1877, which is well preserved and has a visitors centre.

Admission to the festival costs AU$12 for adults (around £5) and is free of charge for children under 16.

For more information on the tour visit www.aptouring.co.uk

For further information visiting Tasmania see www.discovertasmania.com