Crystal caves and old-school ways: A Huon Valley adventure back in time
If you’re like me and you don’t like change, you’ll love the Huon Valley. It has a genuine art deco pub from the 1930s and a glittering crystal cave that hasn’t changed in 40 million years, writes Amber Wilson.
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I MUST have been five years old, safely buckled up in the back seat of a white, boxy 1980s Toyota Corona.
We’d arrived at the Kermandie, watering hole of one of the southernmost towns in all of Australia, looming high over the Huon Highway.
My great-grandfather (“poppy”, in Tasmanian speak) was wearing his woollen cap and horn-rimmed specs, as he always did. He thanked my mum for the lift before striding up the concrete steps into a pub he downed beers in and told yarns in for the best part of 40 years.
That picture, along with a vague recollection of him bouncing me on his knee, are the only two memories I have of my pop, and they’re safely tucked away in a part of my mind that also remembers what his home – the Huon Valley – was like then too.
It wasn’t a tourist region in those days, it was thought of as “the country” in contrast to “the city” metropolis of Hobart, and had a large, booming economy created from timber milling, export shipping from its ports, and its reputation as the most prominent apple-producing region of Australia.
They were the days before Airbnbs and TripAdvisor, when houses were cheap and lives were lived and built around local sporting clubs, RSLs and big, unruly families.
So you can imagine my relief when I finally returned to the Kermandie Hotel, decades later, to discover it hadn’t been renovated to within an inch of its life or had all its character rubbed out.
No pokie machines, no franchise hotel menu, no pretentious gastropub and no ripping out of original 1930s art deco timber details in favour of plastics, veneers or Ikea-chic. It was almost exactly as it was in pop’s day.
I’m the first to admit I’ve made an art out of the craft of whinging.
The older I get, the more I like to whinge. I don’t like things that are fast or cheap or trendy, and I’m not big on targeted advertising, billboards or pollution.
That’s why I love the Huon Valley. There really is nothing to whinge about down here, because nothing has been ruined.
The Kermandie Hotel is a case in point – the manager even tells me their accommodation clientele is almost exclusively people who like things old-fashioned and strictly anti-glitz.
The pub – and its cosy hotel rooms feel real. Genuine. It’s like watching a movie shot on film instead of digital, or listening to music played on vinyl.
The accommodation lined up for my trip to the Huon is also a breath of unadulterated air.
The further you drive south of Hobart, toward Police Point, the more things start to change. The sight of other humans is sporadic. Sleepy Federation weatherboards are the norm. The windy roads are lined with orchards or dense forests full of eucalypt, myrtle and sassafras.
As you turn into Esperance Coast Rd, things start to feel even more remote. Only a handful of people actually live here, some of them in homes they’ve possibly constructed themselves out of corrugated iron.
There’s a sense that everyone who lives here, lives here for a reason – to be away from the “greed is good” mentality, to live in a place where you can see the stars each night.
Casita Rica – Spanish for “rich house” – is a cosy, box-like house that sits on top of a hill looking out over forest and watery views.
Decorated with Mexican flair throughout – think Frida Kahlo pillows and macramé wall hangings – it’s a B&B that is rich in cosy vibes.
Board games in front of the wood heater over a glass of local pinot is what this place is all about.
But while peace is paramount in the Huon Valley, it’s also the furthest thing in the world from boring.
My checklist for my weekend back in my grandparents’ region includes two main points – kayaking the Lune River and embarking on a tour of Hastings Caves.
The former proves challenging for my lazy bod, which is more acclimatised to lifting glasses of wine than it is to lifting oars through the mellifluous flow of an ancient river.
But led by Esperance Adventures’ Matt – a thoroughly competent guide as well as an all-round nice chap – pushing my kayak through the treacle-like and almost freezing dark waters becomes achievable, and even meditative at times.
Lune River is a goldmine for fossickers, who still discover exquisite jewels and quite frankly remarkable Jurassic age fossils within its reaches.
It’s also a bit of a special pilgrimage for me on a personal level, being the site of where my pop spent decades working in the Huon Valley’s timber industry in the early 20th century.
But if you like finding magical things full of exquisite jewels, you can’t really go past Hastings Caves.
Hastings is a bit further south than the Lune River. Taking a guided tour through Newdegate Cave is probably the closest thing you can get to being inside a Lord of the Rings movie.
It is a literal glittering cave, everchanging albeit at a glacial rate, with its shimmering and resplendent stalagmites and stalactites formed out of actual crystal – calcium carbonate.
If you’re a fantasy nerd or a science nerd, or even just an appreciator of profound beauty, the cave remains one of my all-time favourite locations in Tasmania.
It’s the largest dolomite tourist cave in the entire country, full of astonishing chambers that look like the setting of an elfish wedding.
And the best thing about it? It’s barely changed in 40 million years.
The author was a guest of Casita Rica, Esperance Tours and Hastings Caves
The author was a guest of Casita Rica, Esperance Tours and Hastings Caves
MAKE A NOTE
• The Kermandie Hotel is opposite the Port Huon marina. Meals and traditional, country accommodation are available. www.kermandie.com.au
• Casita Rica is at 47 Klasen Rd, Police Point. Accommodation is $200 a night, with a two-night minimum stay. www.casitarica.com
• The Lune River kayaking tour is offered by Esperance Adventures for $150 per person. A range of other kayak tours are available. www.esperanceadventures.com.au
• Hastings Caves State Reserve offers tours of Newdegate Cave and a thermal spring pool. Cave tours are $24 per adult, $12 for children, $19.20 for concession and $60 for families.
www.parks.tas.gov.au/explore-our-parks/hastings-caves-state-reserve
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