A bakery in a tiny, rural town in northeast Tasmania has become an unlikely pilgrimage site for Japanese tourists and Studio Ghibli animation fans alike.

No one is quite sure how or when the Ross Village Bakery became a cult tourist destination, but it's believed that the shop, located in a quaint former convict settlement, was the inspiration for a key location in the Hayao Miyazaki animated classic "Kiki's Delivery Service" ("Majo no Takkyubin").

Bakery owner Carl Crosby explains that visitors first started arriving about 25 years ago, back when his partner's parents ran the business.