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.