HUON VALLEY
As you travel south of Hobart the road leads you through the Huon Valley beside the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and past the offshore island of Bruny. You follow the Channel past apple, cherry, plum and apricot orchards, vineyards; oyster racks, salmon pens; and dense forests to the edge of Australia, where the road ends on the border of the World Heritage Area at Cockle Creek.
One of the most memorable routes from Hobart to the Huon is on the coast road through Taroona, where the world's oldest round shot tower stands. Further on, there are superb sea views of Storm Bay and Bruny Island beyond. On the shores of the Channel south of Kingston is the little port of Kettering and the car ferry to Bruny.
Bruny Island is an island of surprises - gentle countryside and wild sea cliffs that plunge 300 metres into the Southern Ocean, quiet beaches and roaring surf, seabirds, lighthouses, and a rich heritage of sealers, whalers and explorers. In 1788, Captain William Bligh of the Bounty planted Tasmania's first apple tree at Adventure Bay - today, fruit trees still line the highways and country roads of the Huon and Channel district.
Heart of the apple country is Huonville, on the willow-lined banks of the Huon River. Its dark waters rise far inland in the Southwest National Park. As the waters approach the sea, they flow quietly by the river town of Franklin where boat builders learn the traditional skills of shaping local timbers.
Further south is the forest town of Geeveston, at nearby Tahune you can walk above the rainforest canopy on the AirWalk. South again to Southport, Dover and the hidden dolomite caverns of Hastings and Lune River. At last the road winds down the shores of Recherche Bay to Cockle.
Wild seascapes, towering dolerite seacliffs and sweeping surf beaches, wonderful coastal walks, birdlife and wildflowers, tall forests and an historic lighthouse are all features of Bruny Island off the southeast corner of Tasmania. It is about the size of Singapore but has a population of around 500 people.
It appears to be two separate islands but it is joined by the Neck (the isthmus connecting North and South Bruny Island). Adventure Bay, South Bruny, is where Capt William Bligh came ashore for water and provisions before heading off for his ill-fated mutiny in the South Pacific.
Walks include the coastal track to Penguin Island and Fluted Cape, from Adventure Bay; beach walks on Cloudy Bay; or the full-day circuit of the Labillardiere Peninsula. A narrow gravel road links Lunawanna and Adventure Bay, giving wide, stunning south-westerly views. As you walk look out for Bennetts wallabies, pademelons, echidna and wombats.
