Pick your own fruit farms in Tasmania

What Tasmania is famous for picking

Cherries

Tasmania's cherry season is one of the shortest and most sought-after on the calendar — typically just six to eight weeks from December into January. The Huon Valley produces some of the state's finest fruit, with farms like Sorell Fruit Farm (which grows cherries alongside a dozen other crops at Pawleena Road) and Platinum Ridge Cherries at Glaziers Bay offering picking or tree-rental schemes. Further north, the Tamar Valley adds Aunita Cherries on the East Tamar Highway and Lees Orchard at Dilston. Plan for mid-December and call ahead — the window can close in days once a warm spell hits. See all cherry picking farms in Australia.

Apples

The Huon Valley has been apple country for more than 150 years, and while large commercial orchards have mostly scaled back pick-your-own programs, multi-fruit farms still make it possible. Sorell Fruit Farm opens its apples, pears and nashi from around December through to May. In the Tamar Valley, Lees Orchard at Dilston picks apples and pears from March into December. The cooler Tasmanian climate means fruit holds its crunch longer into autumn than in mainland orchards, making March and April particularly good months to visit. See all apple picking farms in Australia.

Berries

Berries are Tasmania's longest and most accessible u-pick season, running from roughly October through to April or May. Hillwood Berries at Hillwood on the East Tamar — about 20 minutes north of Launceston — grows strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and more, with a licensed farmgate café on site and a kid-friendly set-up that makes it a full day out (historically around $5 per punnet). Longford Berries at Longford, about 25 minutes south of Launceston, offers a similarly wide variety including jostaberries and silvanberries on a no-entry-fee, pay-for-what-you-pick basis, open Wednesdays and weekends through the season. For a short specialist window, Crestview Blueberries near Lebrina opens for blueberry picking in January and February at around $7 per kg — call ahead as it only opens when supply is good. See all blueberry picking farms in Australia.

Through the year in Tasmania

Spring (September–November): The earliest berry farms — including Hillwood Berries and Longford Berries — start opening from October as strawberries ripen. Conditions can be unsettled and some farms hold off until November, so check Facebook pages before making the drive.

Summer (December–February): Peak season. Cherries come in fast through December and into January at farms across the Huon Valley and Tamar Valley. Raspberries hit their stride from December to February, blueberries at Crestview open in January, and the full berry range is in swing at Hillwood and Longford. This is the busiest and most rewarding window for a picking trip.

Autumn (March–May): The pace eases but the value is excellent. Apples and pears are at their best from March to May at Lees Orchard and Sorell Fruit Farm. Berries continue at several farms through April before the season winds down. Stone fruit — nectarines, peaches and apricots at Sorell — rounds out the autumn harvest.

Winter (June–August): Virtually all Tasmanian u-pick farms are closed. The gap between seasons is real here in a way it isn't in Queensland or New South Wales, which is part of what makes summer and autumn on a Tasmanian farm feel genuinely special. Use the quiet months to plan — bookmark farms now and follow their pages so you catch opening announcements in October.

Tasmanian produce — why seasons run later and cooler

Tasmania sits between 41° and 44° south, making it the coolest Australian state by average temperature. That latitude means summer arrives later — Tasmanian cherry and berry farms typically open two to four weeks behind their counterparts in Victoria or the Adelaide Hills — and it means fruit develops more slowly, with a firmer texture and more concentrated flavour than faster-ripened mainland crops. The trade-off is a compressed season: what Queensland spreads over four months, Tasmania often delivers in eight weeks. That intensity is what draws picking visitors from the mainland each summer, and it's why farms like Sorell Fruit Farm can grow a dozen different crops that ripple through the calendar from November all the way to May.

Fruit-picking jobs in Tasmania

Tasmania employs thousands of seasonal fruit pickers each summer, with demand concentrated in the Huon Valley, Tamar Valley and Coal River Valley from October through to May. Cherry thinning and picking, apple and pear harvest, and berry picking are the main roles. Many farms recruit through Working Holiday visa backpacker networks as well as local job boards; the Seasonal Worker Programme and PALM scheme also bring international workers into the state each year. If you're looking for paid picking work rather than a leisure visit, the guide to farm work in Australia explains how to find harvesting jobs, what to expect from pay and conditions, and how to satisfy the regional work requirements for a second or third WHV.