Visiting the Huon Valley in Tasmania

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In this video we cover the Huon Valley which is located in Tasmania, Australia. [Music] After we arrived in Hobart we hired a car and drove Southeast 60 kilometers and arrived at the Kermandie Hotel in Port Huon.

It is a heritage building built in 1932 right next to the Huon River. Port Huon was once a trading port and a destination for international apple boats which exported apples from this region. Nowadays Port Huon is a hub for fishing and tourism.

Our room at the Kermandie Hotel was very clean and comfortable. Even though the hotel is on the Huon Highway we found it was very quiet, our room also had a great view of the river overlooking the marina with local vessels tied up in their moorings.

Staff were very friendly. During our stay we had dinner at the Kermandie Bar. It has a very nice atmosphere and the food was good too especially the polenta chips which are well worth trying. You can also dine in the Kermandie restaurant and it’s open breakfast, lunch and dinner. We didn’t try it but I’ve seen good reviews about it particularly the breakfast. Here is a link to Kermandie’s Hotel’s website if you want to check it out yourself.

Huon Valley, as you probably already know Port Huon is part of the famous Huon Valley. The area was named by Frenchman Admiral Bruni D’Entrecasteaux after his second in command Jean-Michel Huon De Kermadec when he explored the area.

The Apple growing industry in the Huon Valley began in 1840 with the first European settlers and became the area’s main industry for over a century until the 1950s. Today apples, pears, cherries and fish farming are the main Huon Valley produce. We saw many apple farms when driving around the area.

It is so nice to sit on the banks of the picturesque Huon River looking South towards Antarctica. The river is a real beauty, especially early in the morning when there is no wind. Come and admire the stunning mirror image of the nearby mountains, trees, fishing boats and the jetty on the water while being surrounded by wild flowers and the world’s cleanest air. There are a few towns in the Huon Valley including Franklin, Jefferson, Huonville and Cygnet.

For this trip we only scheduled two nights and one full day in this part of Tasmania which included a trip to Bruni Island so we only visited Geeveston. Geeveston is only a three minute drive from the Kermandie Hotel where we stayed.

If you ever wondered where the name Geeveston is from, in 1839 Lady Jane Franklin purchased a large patch of land in the Huon Valley region from a man called John Price she then began distributing parcels of land to the poor settlers. This is known as the settlement. The first settlers that were granted land arrived in the early 1840s among them was John William Jeeves who originally settled in Franklin in 1849. The Geeves family took up the first 80 acres of land in Lightwood bottom as it was known and then the Geeves family was the first to grow apples in the area which led to the successful apple growing industry in the Huon Valley region.

The town’s name was then changed the Geeves town in 1861 in honour of the man who began its development. Geeves Town then eventually became Geeveston. This makes me wonder probably this is why the most Southern Blues Club in Australia or even the world is called the Lightwood Bottom Blues club which is of course in Geeveston.

Geeveston was historically a timber town. The southern Forest saw fed Sawmills and the Australian paper money pulp employed almost 400 people from the town for nearly 100 years however the southern Forest became protected and the timber industry in the town had no future. Now Geeveston is a tourism destination. There is an outstanding forest and Heritage Center now known as the Geeveston Visitor Center. On the streets you can often see featured statues of local people carved out of timber. There are also interesting wood carving demonstrations for you to see and wood carving artwork for purchase in The Visitor Center.

We’ve come across this One-Stop food and beverage shop takeaway in town. What a delightful spot, delicious food and friendly staff. They serve up a big range of food from Turkish pide, Gozleme, kebabs to Pizza, fish and chips. The food was so yummy that we ended up dining there twice during our short stay in the Huon Valley so definitely stop by when you are visiting this part of Tasmania.

Geeveston is the gateway to the Hartz Mountains National Park. I certainly want to come back to explore the national park, visit Hasting caves and the thermal Springs and visit the Tahune forest Airwalk which I didn’t have time to do on this trip.

Now did you know most of the scenes of the ABC television comedy series Rosehaven were filmed in Geeveston? Why not watch this video and find out more.