IT DOESN'T directly affect Victorians, but the collapse of the Sydney to Devonport ferry service on Monday has huge ramifications for domestic tourism in Australia. It's a headline-grabbing event that exposes the troubles facing the holiday business that have scarcely been reported.

- Cruise from Melbourne to Devonport on the Spirit of Tasmania from $74 a person, one-way. Book online and save a further $5 a person, one way. Available for passenger fares on day sailing and cruise seats on night sailing until August 31. Phone 132 010 or go to spiritoftasmania.com.au.

Place: Mizu Spa, 175 Devonport Drive, Fingal (Rye), Mornington Peninsula. Tel: (03) 5988 6088; e-mail: mizu@bathe.com.au; online: www.bathe.com.au

ONE of the attractions of a Tasmanian touring holiday is the chance to stay in many different types of accommodation including historic mansions and more modest weatherboard colonial cottages and farmhouses. Many of the owners of these grand homes, cottages and farmhouses have banded together to

ONE of Tasmania's unique features is the vast number of heritage accommodation houses dotted across the Apple Isle. These range from cottages built and lived in by the colonial working classes, to grand Georgian and Victorian mansions. Many are decorated in keeping with the era in which they wer