Lonnavale - Snowy Range Wilderness Retreat

 20 - 22 January 2025

Our time is Tassie was coming to an end, and having missed out on a weekend on the Tasman Peninsula due to another pelagic cancellation (it was 4/0 for this trip) we decided on a couple of nights in the Huon Valley. We found a cabin on one of the booking sites which looked really nice. It was a fairly new listing and only had one review but we decided to take a chance anyway.

We left Hobart after morning tea and travelled up to Cascade Gardens for a look around. There was the possibility of some birding and there are a few walking tracks around. We spent some time there and stayed to have our  picnic lunch before setting off on the Huon Road.

The cabin is located on a former trout farm in Lonnavale so we travelled towards Huonville then turned off into the hills. We found the property and were met by one of the owners who showed us to the cabin. It was exactly as shown in the photos. The deck overlooked one of the old salmon ponds where we saw platypus.

It doesn't get much better than that!

The cabin is well set up with everything we needed and even had some fishing rods for those who may want to try their hand. We didn't - choosing instead to go for a walk around the lake, and sit on the deck contemplating the beautiful scenery. We were lucky with the weather too - not too cold, and with only a little rain overnight on the second night.

After two lovely nights in a true wilderness retreat we decided to take a drive further south to Hasting's Caves and Thermal Springs. We'd never been there before, but didnt want to visit the caves (Mick is very claustrophobic, nor did we want to swim in the thermal springs (too cold) but we did want to go on the short walk to look for birds.

There is a small charge to visit ($4 p/p concession) so we paid and spent our time on the Hot Springs Forest Walk where we saw where the water from the hot springs joins the cold creek water. It was a lovely walk but not terribly productive in terms of birding. We had lunch in the onsite cafe, before heading on to Southport.

It's only a short drive off the highway to Tasmania's southernmost town - Southport. We drove down to the beach, but didn't stay. From Southport we set off to return to Hobart without any more side-trips.

Tasman Peninsula - Eaglehawk Neck

11 – 12 January 2025

One of  the things that Mick likes to do when we are in Tasmania is to get out to sea on a Pelagic birding trip. Organised by a dedicated group of locals, he was fortunate to get  a spot on one in December but it was cancelled due to rough weather. The trip was then rescheduled to January – and then cancelled again due to the weather. This time we decided to go and have the night at Eaglehawk Neck anyway. The accommodation was booked and we probably wouldn’t get a refund with the very late notice anyway.

We left Hobart after lunch and, because it was a hot day (by Hobart standards) we felt it was important to go and sample the ice cream at the Tasmanian Chocolate Foundry at Taranna. As always, the ice cream was delicious. We checked into the hotel and had a quiet afternoon, which included a short walk on the beach, before having dinner in the Bistro.

On Sunday morning we went for a walk down to the Tessellated Pavement which is accessed from just across the road from the hotel, but we had neglected to check the tides – this popular tourist attraction is best observed at low tide, and was almost completely covered with water when we were there. We didn’t mind as we’d been there a number of times before and we were really just looking to have a nice walk.

We checked out of the hotel and headed off to the local Pirate’s Bay market. We parked near the Officers’ Quarters Museum and walked to the community hall via the beach. We were a bit surprised to see some penguin tracks on the beach and up into the dunes. We found Tom at the markets – on the job as Discovery Ranger – and wandered around looking at the stalls. The only thing we bought was a coffee.

Our next stop was out to the Coal Mines Historic Site where we ate our picnic lunch in the car while it drizzled with rain outside. After lunch we went birding near the Main Shaft as we watched an approaching storm. On the way to the site we had seen where the famous “Neil the Seal” must have been recently – as evidenced by the “Slow Down – Animal on the Road”, but he wasn’t basking on the road, as is his habit.

Even though there was rain about we decided to head down to Roaring Beach – another spot we thought we might have been to before, but realised we hadn’t. It turns out this is one of a number of Roaring Beaches in Tasmania and we had been to the one at Southport. Perhaps we should start a collection!

Mick did a spot of birding on the way
through the dunes at Roaring Beach

This Roaring Beach is popular with surfers and the carpark was almost full when we arrived. We walked through and over the dunes to the beach and walked along for a short distance. Light rain made it less pleasant than it might have been but it didn’t deter the board riders. 

We made that our last stop for the day and set off to return to Hobart. Even though Mick was disappointed he had missed out on the Pelagic, we still had a great weekend.