Huon Bush Retreats

The best thing is nature. Gorgeous walks with plenty of pademelons. Quiet. If you don't have a car it is a problem. It is around 12 or more km from the bus stop to Hobart. The shower was cold. I found it expensive, but worth the experience.

Being country people, who have enjoyed camping holidays all our lives, the description provided by Huon Bush Retreat of their property and facilities resonated with us. But….. all is not as described. Great location but not value for money. The cabin was approximately $380pn and the shower was cold. (Another guest told us her shower was cold, also.) Polite phone and text requests to address this were ignored. Be aware there are no power points, only two usb charging points. The composting toilet, while conforming to the eco ethos of the place, would be better built into a separate room, perhaps on the verandah, rather than integrated into bathroom area. It had a pervasive, cloying smell. When we saw campsites set out on steep slopes that would have been hopeless for putting up a tent, we were glad our plans to camp there had changed. The walks were beautiful, but no more so than many national parks offer. The only native animals we encountered were half tame ones around our cabin that had been fed by the owner. This gave one an impression of being immersed in the bush, but the only ones we saw were around the camping area - quite the opposite of what one would expect of wild animals. In fact we saw more wildlife walking in the bush on top of Mt Nelson, Hobart. There had obviously been a safety system in place at some time, whereby walks had to be registered at the start of the walk. this had been let lapse, as there was no paper in the folder where we could register our names etc to show that we were somewhere in the bush. Overall, lack of transparency about things like cold showers and being expected to thoroughly clean the place; ‘every ten minutes the cleaner spends cleaning your cabin, you will be charged $20 left us feeling ripped off and glad to get away.

This is my favourite place to go for a little escape from the world for a few days. The campsites are private. The toilets, showers, bushwalks, and camp kitchen are well maintained, there’s a sheltered social fire pit and an outdoor bath, there’s hammocks too! And only 40 minutes from Hobart. Not to mention the lyre bird calls I got to enjoy whilst sitting by my own little camp fire last night! Absolute bliss.