TASMANIA 8 - THE HUON TRAIL

It's an easy drive from Hobart to any area in the Huon Valley. We drove down the western side first and spent our first night at Port Huon in a lovely little camping ground called Shipwright’s Point. It is situated right beside the Huon Yacht Club and costs $10 per night but every fourth night is free.

 

Shipwright's Point is very picturesque.



There are a couple of little jetties to fish for flathead from too!



There are plentiful oysters on the foreshore and we’re told flathead can be caught but we had no success and didn’t see anyone else catch any either. There are toilets here as well as a shelter with free gas barbecues and the view over the river is beautiful. After setting up the van we took a quick drive down to Cockle Creek to take a look at the camps and decide which would suit us best. We chose the camp at Catamaran where the boat ramp is situated. There is only a toilet here but it is roomy and an ideal place to put the tinny in. It is also right beside the Catamaran River so you could shoot up there as well as into Recherche Bay. The camps at Cockle Creek are very small and uneven. There are some nice spots at Finns and Gilhams Beaches as well but they were pretty full when we got there.

Our Catamaran camp. John is becoming quite a dab hand with the axe.

Catamaran boat ramp.

The camp even came with a lovely garden of .



Catamaran River runs parallel to the camp and into Recherche Bay near the boat ramp.



We spent our first morning taking the lovely walk from the whale sculpture out to Fishers Point.

This lifesize sculpture of a 3 month old whale stands at the beginning of the walk.

Most of the walk is along the beach with occasional rocky outcrops to traverse. There is also a lovely little section which passes through the forest. At the end are the remains of the old pilot’s house a grave and the present day beacon light.



This grave sits just above the beach near Fisher's Point

The walk goes through a lovely little forest near the Point.

Ruins of the Fisher's Point pilot station. This was once a busy whaling area. 

Snow on Mount La Perouse could be clearly seen from the bay.

While at Catamaran we also took a drive up to Southport, a very pretty little town right on the beach, and also visited the Hastings Cave precinct.

Southport overlooks a lovely bay with white beaches.

As we had seen the caves previously we just took a lovely walk through the forest at the hot springs area. The facilities at the hot springs are lovely and are obviously well used. The walk is also really enjoyable.



The facilities at the hot springs are really nice.



And the forest walk is lovely.



There are lots of tree ferns (or man ferns as they call them down here) all over Tassie and they are beautiful.



For the keen bushwalker there are lots of lovely walks in the Huon area as well as the Ida Bay Historic Railway where you can take a train ride through the bush. At $28 a head we thought it a bit expensive but there seemed to be people there every day.

John also got the chance to take a trip out with some locals onto the bay when they went to pick up their cray pots. They caught over a dozen in their two pots but only three were size. They seemed happy with that though.

We were puzzled at the origins of this shelter we came across in the bush near our camp. A local native perhaps?

After Catamaran we headed back up to Shipwright’s Point, stopping off on the way to take a look at the Forest & Heritage Centre and pick up our mail in Geeveston. There are plenty of other things to see here such as the “Big” Tree and the Tahune Airwalk above the forest. Quite a few artists live in this area, many working with wood. There are several lovely wood sculptures located around town as well which can be seen if you take the local scenic walk. It also takes in the Southern Design Centre where several artists work.

While at Shipwright’s Point we were also treated to a wonderful sight as several yachts jostling at the start of a local race. They really do make a beautiful sight when they are in full sail.

 

On the eastern side of the Huon is the little town of Cygnet. This seems to be a hub for artists with galleries aplenty for the art enthusiast. In Port Cygnet we found the oysters which were just lying along the shore at low tide irresistible and of course we had to stop and stock up.

It took us about half an hour to fill a 1 litre container before we continued down to the Gordon Recreation Reserve which is a lovely little park right beside the water and looking out to South Bruny Island.

 

Black swans are plentiful along the seashores everywhere we went.

We didn’t visit Bruny as the ferry fare isn’t cheap but it seems like a lovely spot if especially if you are on a driving holiday. It is only a short drive up the Channel Highway from Gordon up to Kingston where you can find good shopping facilities if you need any supplies. And again, look out for the oysters. They are everywhere and you don’t need a permit to take them. There are also no bag limits on the Pacific oysters, only on the local varieties. Oyster soup for dinner. Yum!

Yes! they are oysters.

And they're big. These pacific oysters are much larger than the native oysters and are becoming a real pest down here.

I also gathered a lovely feed of fat mussels near Cygnet. Yum!!!