Huonville

Situated on the banks of the tranquil Huon River and surrounded by the colours of fruit-filled valleys and the peaks of the World Heritage Area, Huonville is a great base for exploring far-south Tasmania. The Huon Valley generates more than half of Tasmania's apples. In season you can test your tastebuds on more than 500 varieties, together with apricots, plums, cherries, pears, mushrooms, honey, wine and seafood. Better still, visit in March when the annual Taste of the Huon brings growers together to celebrate their harvests. Get your heart racing on a jet boat ride up the Huon River or explore it at a more leisurely pace in a paddleboat. A cruise on the Southern Contessa will take you 30 kilometres (18.5 miles) along the river, into the habitats of pelicans, sandpipers and many other waterbirds. Fishing is popular in the valley's many open watercourses, or you can barbecue your own catch at the Snowy Range Trout Fishery. Further south are Tasmania's magnificent southern forests, where you can stroll through the canopy of a mature forest high above the confluence of the Picton and Huon rivers on the Tahune Forest AirWalk. You may even find your own piece of Huon pine on your travels through the valley. Although these slow-growing trees are now protected, timber on the forest floor is can be used as craft wood for hundreds of years and pieces are available in stores in Huonville and further down the valley. The French explorer Bruni D'Entrecasteaux named the Huon River in 1792, after Huon de Kermandec, captain of one of his ships. The town today has a population of approximately 1,700. Huonville is a 40-minute drive south of Hobart along the A6 highway. Its maximum average daily temperature is approximately 12 degrees Celsius (53.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in June and 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) in January.