HUONViLLE
The core of Tasmanian apple-growing.
Huonville
25 minute drive south-west from Hobart
Huonville is the largest town in the Huon Valley, and located about where the freshwater river meets tidal inflows of seawater. The drive from Hobart to Huonville is surprisingly short, so make the most of it and break the journey at one of the cellar doors up around Lower Longley and Grove.
A particular favourite of ours being Willie Smiths, where they have an astonishing array of heritage apple varieties displayed on shelves with neat little notes naming and describing the best suited uses of each. Dozens of them; more than enough individual varieties to keep several Doctors away for quite some time.
The town is a pretty typical modern evolution of a rural services community, and there’s most of what you’d expect to find in the way of retail and commercial activity, so shopping for staples and specialty food items for home cooked meals in holiday rental houses can be confidently planned to be done here.
The bridge at the southern end of town provides the option to continue south, headed for Franklin, Port Huon, Geeveston, and eventually Southport, or to take the eastern shore of the Huon River headed Cygnet, via Woodstock and Cradoc.
Choose well, as the road remains sealed only if travelling to Southport, and turns to gravel for those opting for a more wilderness experience at Recherche Bay via Hastings and Ida Bay. There is a scenic route ‘loop’ option south of Waterloo via Surveyor’s Bay or the inland route via Glendevie and Dover, but this end of the valley is the eastern extremity of the South West Wilderness, so wherever you go south of Huonville on the western side of the river will entail backtracking to go anywhere else by road.
The upside of which being that it’s such beautiful country to drive through, that we’ve found that not getting to anywhere else has rarely been so enjoyable.
Travel tips
Photography spots
Huon Valley
Willie Smith's Apple Shed
Food & drink
Landscape
Farmland, valleys and forest rich with heritage, beauty and charm.