This magic Tassie stay has a wild side
Tasmanian devils, wombats, possums and pademelons are all part of the picture at this idyllic heritage homestead.
To understand how Perth man David Williams fell in love with a 120-year-old house on a former hobby farm in the windswept waterways of southern Tasmania, it helps to approach the property from the same angle he first did, namely the northeast at 3000ft.
“We’ve got a head wind slowing us down,” says helicopter pilot John as we climb above the River Derwent and set course south, passing the towering sea stacks and soft coves of Bruny Island, gazing down on idyllic settlements sprinkled up the Huon Valley and dolphins playing in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. In the distance, the snow-capped Hartz Mountains puncture the cloud.
“Slow is good,” I reply. “No hurry.” After a thrilling 25 minutes we swoop in to land beside the Cape House, a stately homestead with steeply pitched gables and bay windows, perched on a bush-covered peninsula at the entrance to Port Esperance.
Our rock star arrival traces the route David took in 2006 to inspect the 83ha property. His wife, Noellene, wasn’t keen on the chopper so drove from Hobart. The couple immediately recognised the property’s potential as both a holiday destination and a wildlife sanctuary, with its 360-degree views.
“I was hooked before I’d even landed,” says David. We are, too. My sister plays the part of Noellene and drives down with her partner, providing us with both a car and company. With three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a generous open-plan living space, the Cape House makes an ideal retreat for two or three couples, or a family holiday (dams on the property make it unsuitable for children under 12). The newly built, one-bedroom Boat House occupies a secluded spot nearer the water. Both represent fantastic value.
The homestead didn’t even have power when David and Noellene took over, but they got to work quickly, caulking the floors, extending the porch and adding a wrap-around deck with Jacuzzi. Noellene, an interior designer by trade, masterminded the refurb, working mostly with natural materials, in sympathy with the homestead’s history and the surrounding landscape.
“We’re bowerbirds,” says Noellene.
It shows, with antiques and other scavenged objects deployed with imagination and flair. A 1950s Rayburn combustion cooker (with original cookbook in drawer) sits alongside a gleaming, modern oven and espresso machine. Bluetooth speakers share table space with an antique Turkish basket. In the bedrooms, midcentury cocktail trolleys are repurposed as nightstands, while carved wood panels from Sulawesi are integrated into a beautiful glass and iron coffee table in the lounge.
Enormous old boilers found in Cygnet were cut up and carted in as planter boxes. Not only do grevilleas bloom, but pardalotes nest in the holes, flitting in and out and delighting us as we sip coffee on the veranda each morning.
Full-height glazing fills the living area with sunlight, while a wood-burning fire keeps things toasty at night. A chilly weekend means we eat at the 12-seater dining table, but summer surely calls for barbecues on the deck.
A casual “cocktail lounge” set up under a copse of macrocarpa, or cypress, trees overlooking a reedy pond is just the spot for sundowners. Come evening, we sink into the Jacuzzi and watch sea eagles soar above the stringybarks. It’s magic.
But don’t let your venturing end at the veranda. “We wanted it to be about more than a wine on the deck and a soak in the spa,” says David. “That’s why we named it The Peninsula Experience.”
Wildlife is central to every stay, with the property a sanctuary for Tasmanian devils, wombats, possums and innumerable hopping and digging marsupials.
“Pademelon parliament” sits every night on the lawn, and a torch-lit, critter-spotting night walk is a must. One square kilometre of the property is fenced for use by wildlife carers to rehabilitate injured animals.
David calls the walking tracks the “signature dish” of the property, and they really are, each with a unique flavour. Blue Rope (named after the flotsam and jetsam that washes into the bay from cray boats) leads to a swimming and snorkelling spot at Wrack Cove. Branch off through peppermint woodlands to the sloshing waves and wild kelp at Seal Rocks, where for thousands of years tribes of the Palawa nation would harvest shellfish. Orange Peel weaves through wetlands and a buoyant, button-grass savannah, dotted with wildflowers and orchids, and etched with countless animal pads. In the forested fringes of the peninsula, white flowering native cherry trees float like ghosts between the gums, and songs of sea and forest birds blend into one symphony.
Eleanor’s Walk is named after the granddaughter of George Clennett, who built the homestead in 1903. Try to spot the remnants of a World War II lookout post, erected after the Japanese buzzed Hobart in a seaplane in 1942, and where a 10-year-old Eleanor would deliver hot meals to the soldiers.
Back at the homestead we pour a Tassie pinot, raid the games cupboard and put on some tunes for a final night “triple J” festival of Jacuzzi, Jenga and jazz. I can’t be certain, but I swear outside the window the pademelons are dancing.
TO-DO LIST
Eat
The mess hall of a former school camp at the mouth of the Esperance River has been converted into River Run Lodge, a rustic timber tavern serving hearty meals and live music. The fishing village of Dover is a 10-minute drive around the bay and has a well-stocked IGA supermarket and bottle store.
Paddle
Get a different perspective on the landscape with a guided kayak tour on the calm waters of Port Esperance Bay, launching from Dover Beach.
Visit
Hastings Caves and Thermal Springs has enormous dolomite caves, a lush forest for picnicking and outdoor thermal pool. Stroll among the forest canopy 30m above ground at the Tahune Airwalk.
Walk
See King Billy pines, snow gums and cushion plants on a 3.4km walk around Lake Esperance in Hartz Mountains National Park. Drive to the end of Australia’s most southerly road and walk to South Cape Bay, or stroll around the serene Duckhole Lake.
Essentials
The Peninsula Experience is a 75-minute drive south of Hobart. The Cape House starts from $700 a night (minimum two nights); Boat House from $450. Tasmanian Air Tours helicopter transfer for three people is $1650 one way, departing Cambridge Aerodrome.
Ricky French was a guest of The Peninsula Experience and Tourism Tasmania.
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