South of Hobart, you will find yourself following the D'Entrecastreaux Channel, through the Channel Region, the gateway to the Southern Trove. Driving this, gem of a coastal drive will take you through Margate, Snug, Kettering, Birches Bay and around to Cygnet and the beautiful Huon Valley, home of the famous Huon River, where gin meets cider and hand-made gourmet cheeses meets freshly shucked oysters - although perhaps don't mix them all together!
Bruny Island
Explore the uniqueness of Bruny Island, accessible only by car ferry, where you will find a foodies heaven. Oysters straight from their beds, cheese made on the island, fresh berries and honey, locally grown and produced, will have you wanting to extend your stay from a day trip to an overnight stay, and that is just the food.
Bruny Island is also famous for its albino wallabies and abundance of native wildlife, on land as well as air and sea life. Stay a while and feel your body reset into a healthier rhythm as you shed the weight of a busy life, although we won't promise that you will shed the weight of the other kind, thanks to all that glorious food!
Bruny Island is home to two of the 60 Great Short Walks and families will enjoy the easy Fluted Cape walk, or for the more active walker the longer Fluted Cape to Grass Point option takes in the visible remains of structures associated with the bay whaling industry. From this area of the Island from June to late October, you might be lucky to see the migration of the Southern Right Whale along this section of the coast. Parents are advised on the Fluted Cape walk that there are cliff faces along the walk, so please keep the little ones close. For those wanting to take in a longer walk the Labillardiere Peninsula Walk is a five hour circuit track with fantastic views of the Southern Ranges.
Bruny Island also offers several options to see the area from the water, with sailing experiences as well as wilderness cruises available on a daily basis, where you'll encounter marine bird life, seals and, if you're lucky, dolphins and even whales. Tours to and around the island are extremely popular, if travelling between December and March, we highly recommend booking ahead, particularly if a Bruny Island tour is on your bucket list. Call us so we can make this life goal a reality.
Staying overnight on Bruny Island provides the opportunity to visit The Neck, a spectacular lookout walk during the day, and to see the Little Penguins come ashore to their burrows. Anyone can do this, but as the penguins are wild and in their natural habitat, it's important to remember that they are wary of noise and flash photography can hurt their eyes. It's also exceptionally important to stay on the provided paths - the penguins really do burrow anywhere and everywhere and they can be very close to the path. If their burrows are disturbed, they may leave it and seek another burrow, which can interfere with their breeding and feeding routines.
If staying overnight, we would suggest that you book a car with us to make the most of your time on Bruny Island. If time is limited booking an organised tour can provide you with a journey to one of our most memorable destinations.
Huon Valley
Back on the Tasmanian mainland, stay in the Huon Valley and explore Willie Smith’s Apple Shed, a museum dedicated to the Tassie apple industry, which spans generations and single handedly led us to be known as ‘the apple isle’. The Shed was home to the Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival, now at its new home in Ranelagh six kilometres away. The Mid-Winter Festival, as the name suggests is a festival held deep in the winter and provides an opportunity for locals and visitors to Tasmania to dress in their warm winter woollies, gumboots, furs and masks and head into the apple orchards for a good old wassail… A wassail what you say? According to Historic UK it is an “Anglo-Saxon tradition dictated that at the beginning of each year, the lord of the manor would greet the assembled multitude with the toast waes hael, meaning “be well” or “be in good health”, to which his followers would reply drink hael, or “drink well”. Wassailing is generally practiced in the countryside, particularly in fruit growing regions, where it is the trees that are blessed. So as suggested by this we are encouraged to drink cider, sing really loudly and make a lot of noise dancing through the orchards to encourage a good harvest of cider apples later in the season. If you want to get your Pagan on, this is the ideal event for you.
Just a few minutes down the road, experience the picturesque Huon River in whatever style takes your fancy. Be it a kayak, a stunning wooden boat, or an exhilarating jet boat ride, the Huon River can easily absorb half a day and provide an experience you will remember forever. Afterwards, head to Franklin and explore the Wooden Boat Centre, a fascinating museum dedicated to the art of wooden boat making and a school in its own right.
While visiting the Huon Valley, a drive through the Channel region will find you at Grandvewe for a taste of the Old Man, a sheep milk cheese described as a semi hard matured style with sweet, nutty characteristics, reminiscent of many of our old friends! A cheesery with a sense of humour has to be a great place to check out. Also on site is the Hartshorn Distillery, producing their now famous Sheep Whey Vodka winning Best Australian Vodka 3 years in a row.
Far South
South from Huonville and Geeveston, you'll find the Far South region starts to peek through the agricultural landscape and invite you back into the wilderness. The Dolomite caves of Hastings Caves and Hot Springs provide a cool, yet grand experience, echoing manmade cathedrals in the depths of the earth. Afterwards, take a dip in the hot springs or tread quietly on the short walk nearby and, if you're lucky, you might even come across a platypus!
The southernmost access point along the road is Cockle Creek, which provides beautiful camping in a remote part of the world. Part of the Southwest National Park, Cockle Creek resides on the shores of Recherche Bay, where tannin stained streams flow into the Tasman Sea. You may stumble across old Aboriginal sites and pause to imagine the connection to place that has been felt through thousands of years to this area. There is also evidence of European settlement, now in ruins, but once a thriving township. Local residents are now made up of native animals, including possums, wombats, kangaroos and wallabies.
Image credits: Tourism Tasmania & Rob Burnett (Cape Bruny Lighthouse), Lusy Productions (Huon Valley Mid-Winter Fest), Alice Hansen (Port Davey)