Accommodation, attractions and information south from Hobart, Tasmania
  • Home
  • Regions
    • Map of Southern Tasmania
    • Itinerary Suggestions
    • Hobart
    • Bruny Island
    • Huon Valley
    • Far South
    • Channel and Kingston
    • Other Areas of Tasmania
    • Mainland Australia
    • explore
  • Activities
    • Activities sorted by Price
    • Walks >
      • Centurion The Worlds Tallest Flowering Tree
      • Billy Browns Falls
      • HartzMountains
      • MountMiseryWalk
      • Southernmost Place in Australia
      • South Coast Track
    • Food and Wine >
      • Home Hill Winery
      • Cider Cafe and Museum
      • Kermandie Waterfront Hotel Restaurant
      • Stockmans Restaurant
      • RanelaghGeneralStore
      • Apples Cherries and other fruit
    • Wilderness Flights >
      • Full Day in the Wilderness
      • Half Day in the Wilderness
      • Wilderness Flight Winter Special
      • Personal story: My day in the wilderness
    • Waterway Cruising >
      • Calm Water Cruise Huon River
      • Huon River Sailing Cruise
      • Bruny Island Cruises
      • Historic Sailing Vessel Yukon
    • Guided Activities >
      • Bonorong
      • Hastings Experience
      • Photography Packages >
        • Photography Experience
      • WildlifeTasmania
      • Fishing Southern Tasmania
      • Adventure
      • Adventure Challenges
      • Tarkine Walking Tours
      • Guided Tours of Tasmania
      • Farm Tour
    • Events >
      • Hrafn 2000 Ravens
      • Cygnet Folk Festival
      • MoFo
      • Taste of the Huon
      • Festival of Voices
      • DarkMoFo
      • Huon Winter Festival
      • Huon Blues Festival
      • Southport Regatta
      • TenDaysOnTheIsland
      • Tasmanian Public Holidays
    • National Parks
    • Town and City
    • Tasmanian Wildlife
    • Museums Art and Heritage >
      • Ida Bay Railway
      • ProjectX Transformer
      • Green Lens
      • Aboriginal Heritage
      • Mona Art Museum
      • Bruny Island Quarantine Station
    • Markets
  • Accommodation
    • Online Instant Bookings
    • Discount Rates
    • Specials
    • Budget >
      • ArtHouse BnB Huonville
      • Ida Bay Cabins
      • Backpacker
      • Wwoof and HelpX Volunteer Exchange
      • Yooringa Garden Cottage
      • Port Huon Cottages
      • Kermandie Waterfront Hotel
      • Budget Accommodation near Geeveston
    • Mid Price >
      • Country Cottage Farm Stay
      • Buttongrass Retreat
      • Huon Bush Retreats
      • Old Woolstore
      • Corindas Colonial Cottages
      • Bruny Island Escapes >
        • Bruny Sunset Bay 3 Bedroom
    • Premium Luxury >
      • Little Seed Bed and Breakfast
      • Laidback Luxury
      • 2 On 2
      • Luxury Villa
    • Camping
    • Glamping >
      • Wilderness Camp Port Davey
    • Medium Term Rental Homes
    • Booking Terms
  • Travel Information
    • Custom and Bushwalker Transport
    • Huon Pools and Gyms
    • Driving Directions
    • Car Rental Hobart
    • Travelling to Hobart and Huon Valley >
      • Hobart to Huon Valley Bus Service
      • Flight Arrivals Hobart
      • Spirit of Tasmania Specials
      • Flight Brisbane to Hobart
      • Travel Insurance Tasmania
    • Special Needs and Quality Assurance >
      • Business and Groups
      • Kid Friendly Tasmania
      • Gay Friendly Tourism
      • Gay Friendly Tasmania
    • Weather in Tasmania >
      • Spring in Tasmania
      • Summer in Tasmania
      • Autumn in Tasmania
      • Winter in Tasmania
    • Mobile Phone Coverage
    • Southern Lights Aurora
    • Webcams
    • Covid19 Corona Accommodation info Tasmania
    • Luggage Storage Hobart
  • Blog and News
    • Gay Friendly Tasmania Launch
    • Tourism News Blog >
      • Bush Fire Huon Valley
    • Emergency Information Southern Tasmania
    • Tasmanian Geographic
    • Land For Sale Huon Valley
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Form
    • BidForARoom
    • Tourism Management and Promotion Services
    • Advertise
    • Discussion
    • Refunds
  • Admin
    • Search
    • Travel Agent Info
    • ImageLibrary
    • MembersOnly
    • Admin Hobart
    • Admin Channel Bruny
    • Admin Huon Far South
    • HomeBackup
    • OnlineBookings
    • Introductions >
      • Huon Bush Retreats Introduction
    • Huon Valley Features

Huon Bush Retreats Awarded Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence 2017

27/6/2017

0 Comments

 
The Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence is given to tourism operators who have consistently achieved great traveller reviews on TripAdvisor over the past year. For the 3rd year running, this includes Huon Bush Retreats in Tasmania’s Huon Valley. Establishments earning the Certificate of Excellence are located all over the world and have continually delivered superior customer experience.

According to hotel marketing and reputation management business, Revinate, “...the Certificate of Excellence award is only given to the top 10 percent of accommodations, attractions, restaurants, and vacation rentals ... and honors hospitality businesses that consistently achieve outstanding reviews on TripAdvisor.”

Trip Advisor itself says, that this achievement “ ...celebrates businesses who have consistently achieved glowing traveller reviews on TripAdvisor over the past year. The Certificate of Excellence accounts for the quality, quantity and recency of reviews submitted by travellers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period and honours hospitality businesses that deliver consistently great service.”

As well as being recognised as providing excellent service, Huon Bush Retreats is also acknowledged by TripAdvisor as being a Platinum Green Leader. Our environmental features and actions allow us to outperform all GreenGlobeLite criteria.

But remember that Huon Bush Retreats is a nature experience. As our 200 TripAdvisor reviews show, the 90% of guests who appreciate peace and nature give us great reviews. The 10% of people who’s main values include throwaway items, excessive energy consumption and highway access, give us poor reviews.
​
So next time you want to relax, explore and experience nature, think of Huon Bush Retreats.
Picture
Holiday accommodation and bushwalks and set in an extensive private nature reserve near Huonville in the Huon Valley, Tasmania.

This multi award winning, carbon positive eco-village, offers a choice of contemporary, self contained cabins, deluxe tipees and private campsites against an inspiring backdrop of Tasmanian native forest. Just 50 minutes drive south of Hobart, we offer a true retreat in a peaceful and secluded environment with a 5km bush walking track network, an abundance of wildlife on your doorstep and a sample of the fine food and wine of the Huon Trail region. 
​

From 9am to 7pm, phone: 1800 770 224
Email anytime: info@huonvalleyescapes.com.au
Website: www.huonbushretreats.com
Read more and book online
0 Comments

Lonely Planet says, "swap your smartphone for a pencil or paint"

5/7/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
In a recent online article, https://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-tips-and-articles/sketching-for-travellers-reasons-to-swap-your-smartphone-for-a-pencil-or-paint
the worlds leading travel guide suggests to readers, "Swap your smartphone for a pencil or paint...The ease and spontaneity of capturing the world around us in photographs and video clips that can instantly be shared is one of the wonders of the modern age and an activity that's become central to our travels at home and abroad. However, the digital revolution has also left many of us drowning in images delivered daily via Instagram, Facebook, Vine and scores of other social media apps – not to mention struggling with our own ever growing online photographic libraries."

Tasmania's Huon Valley is a place to slow down to Tasmanian speed, take the time to do a sketch or painting. To encourage this, we are giving away an accommodation and activities prize package:
  • Visit any activity or accommodation featured on the Huon Valley Escapes website
  • Produce your hand rendered image in a way that captures the features of the location
  • Post the image and a few words about your visit to Huon Valley Escapes Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HuonValleyEscapes/
  • By posting to our Facebook page, you give us permission to use the image in promotions
  • We are looking for an image that nicely captures the feeling of the location. The image might be cartoon, childish, a work of fine art, realistic, surrealistic, even abstract, its up to you
  • We will choose our favorites and award a prize pack to the winner
Read the full Lonely Planet Article
Go to the Huon Valley Escapes Facebook page
0 Comments

Arachnophobes: Read This

26/2/2016

5 Comments

 

Picture
If you are considering visiting a bush retreat, or participating in an outdoor activity, you might like to consider this: In a natural area, you will be surrounded by wildlife of all sorts, including birds, mammals, arthropods and reptiles. Animals of various types do sometimes enter the cabins and tipees (arachnophobes might prefer a city hotel).
Picture
Here is a communication that a Huon Bush Retreats guest requested that we share with prospective guests and staff.

Huon Bush Retreats is proud of our environmental achievements. We value all creatures and construct physical barriers to separate human habitation and creature habitation. However such barriers are never perfect and some creatures will penetrate from time to time.
Picture

Picture
I'm writing to voice concern for the guests staying in your 'luxury' tipees, disappointment and horror at the lack of maintenance and information conveying that your accommodation is 'spray-free', and most of all at the lack of hospitality and assistance offered to guests when your accommodation becomes inhospitable.

Last night, the 20th of February, my partner and I returned to Tipee West around 9:30 from a very late dinner, expecting to take a quick shower and go to bed. We were discussing whether or not it was too late to take a bath in your outdoor tub for the third night running as it is brilliant, however as we were discussing this he noticed a large tarantula, around 15-20 cm wide, slowly lower itself down the thin hide wall of our tipee. We were shocked and my slightly disgusted (I say slightly because my father worked for Forestry and used to keep them as pets, and we're both aware they're not venomous) as their appearance is scary for those who live in city houses and don't often see many large tarantulas just a foot or so above their pillow at night.

I made the quick decision to spray the tarantula with bug spray from the car. I wanted it gone from the vicinity of my bed without giving it the opportunity to leap off down into the folds of the cow-hide tent wall, because as I'm sure you know, tarantulas are very attracted to warm, soft, dark spots such as unmoving human body heat inside a bed, and the chances of it crawling from the ground to our bed were high.

Before doing this we spent twenty minutes pushing the mattress, bed, and all our belongings to one side of the tipee in order to prevent the tarantula from dropping down and and concealing itself under blankets, sheets, pillowcases or our luggage. My partner, being a little more nervous than myself, sprayed one long stream at it and after successfully hiding behind one of the logs propping up the tipee for a minute or so, the tarantula fell to the ground, where my partner immediately threw it into the fire.

The spray fumes stayed stagnant inside the tipee, preventing us from entering for long - and outside, four large possums had congregated on the small metre-square porch next to our esky, fighting and hissing at each other. It was impossible to be too cross at them but we were distracted and apprehensive looking at their talon-like claws as they came up to us, more tame than house-cats. We opened the woodheater door, and the sliding door, to air out the tipee. We would have used the sliding screen door, however it was broken and would not close, and the pet-like possums were intent on entering our tipee whenever we left it ajar, so we were shivering outside, guarding the wide-open entrance, trying not to breathe in the spray.

We decided to take a quick shower and when we returned we moved all our belongings and bed back to their original spots, it now being well past 10:30. When we went outside again to air our the tipee (it had still not ventilated enough to stay inside), however, another, even bigger tarantula appeared high up above the window of the tipee, moving staggardly from the fumes of the spray.

I was a little less fussed than I was about the first as it was so high up, however I knew we'd have trouble falling asleep imagining tarantulas of all sizes on our legs under the covers. We couldn't reach to catch it, and as we watched it move every few seconds, we saw several little spiders - baby tarantulas, and possibly a wolf spider, as we saw two outside - also emerge from behind several of the wood logs high up, above the window, and also the ants we'd seen in ones and twos during the last two nights and days of our stay crawling all around the tipee were now coming out in droves.

At this point, we noticed ten or so small black wriggling things on the bed, and on the floor, and we started feeling itchy and getting bitten; the ants were dying from the fumes from up in the tipee logs, and falling onto our bed, our jackets, our pillows, and all over the floor, into our shoes, our luggage, and even on our heads. My partner was bitten on the eyebrow, and he is allergic to insect bites, most severely from little black bush wasps, of which we'd scooped up a few of inside the tipee already, and put in the fire beforehand.

It was then that we decided to tell reception and request assistance. We knew they were booked out but hoped on borrowing a small tent, as we had no wish to leave, and a tent would've been far more protective than one of your 'luxury' tipees. We were very tired, having been walking all day down south and having had quite a late dinner.

The feeling of having angry stinging bush ants in your luggage and bed, and a painful, stinging nose from bug-spray, and also a pounding heart from sleeping two metres from a wolf spider for two nights, is a terrible thing, especially when you've paid good money for a delayed Valentine's weekend with the person you love, in an otherwise beautiful place.

Having let our phones go flat in the spirit of going bush for the few days, we used our emergency power bank to charge my phone and walked down to reception to find the number to ring. It was most likely in the binder in our tipee covered in crawling ants, but should also have been pasted on a small sticker for emergency contact on our sliding door.

We waited on the concrete in the cold light outside the closed reception office and I started dialing, but the tickling I'd taken to be the hairs on my legs increased and I looked down at my exposed leg and jumped because there was a baby tarantula the size of a fifty-cent piece trying to crawl down into my ug boot. Already shaken from the insect infestation of my bed and belongings, and the five minute walk in the dark to reception with possums running at us, I jumped and smacked it off, where my partner and I watched it crawl off, one leg a little off from my smack. I was dumbstruck. I grew up bushwalking and camping and hiking, I work at an outdoor shop, and I love the Tasmanian bush and its inhabitants. But not in my bed, nor my pyjamas, and least of all in private accommodation where business depends on the comfort, pleasure and satisfaction of paying guests.

After I rang the front desk what I believe was one of the two owners came out and insisted that we had woken him up (at 11 - it could have been 2 a.m with a poisonous spidebite complaint instead), and that he was tired, and had been having "crazy dreams" that he kept mentioning during our exchange.
 I explained what had happened. When I said a tarantula had come into the tent he smiled and reminded us that we are in a bush. I thought this was patronizing and felt he was belittling the situation.

When I said we had used a spray to rid our tipee of the tarantula he looked disgusted and said, "We don't use spray here."
 I thought this was incredibly short-sighted seeing as we have a large variety of venomous spiders and ants Tasmania, and especially when your 'luxury' tipees' ventilation open directly from the outside of the tent - especially more so when many people like my partner have bite allergies, and there is no signage whatsoever indicating to guests that you refuse to eradicate insects from lodgings using any chemicals. There is also no signage or information available to inform guests that these tipees are not sealed and the ventilation is open to the elements, insufficient protection from poisonous and venomous insects. We would have been better off in a fully sealed tent. As my partner clearly stated afterwards, "You don't leave a hole in the ceiling of a bush cabin or house, so why should there be one in there?"

When I continued and explained that we could not use the bed as a colony of ants was slowly dripping from the ceiling, he said, "When you used the spray, you would've attracted ants in from the outside, and that's why they're falling on the bed." I remember simply looking at my partner to make sure this man was seriously suggesting ants run towards poisonous gases, when these ants were clearly already inside the tipee in the dry wood, and simply fell when they died.

After continuing on this line he finished shortly with, "Well, there's nothing I can do about it." After pressing him for any help or suggestions he stopped us with the same statement. With everything I mentioned, including the spider on my leg, he kept adding little remarks such as, "That's the outdoor experience!" and "You shouldn't have used the spray."

When I suggested we leave, he gave a rueful grin and said that's what we'll have to do, and then said he was off to bed, to "try and get back to those crazy dreams!"

Not a single apology for the lack of pest control, nor a single offer to assist us getting our things or packing up at midnight, and not one offer to have our money back for the night, was heard. As we made our way back to the tipee I got quite upset about having to leave under such circumstances. I had thoroughly enjoyed my stay until this point.

As we were about to enter the tipee to gather our belongings and shake off the dead ants as much as we could, another hand-sized tarantula crawled out from inside the open door and along the outside corrugated iron. When we went inside we could still see the original big one's legs sticking out near the top of the tipee logs, very much alive.

Luckily we are locals and slowly drove back home to Hobart, however I imagined
 what it would feel like to be a tourist with a child, having to drive the steep dirt track down the hill twenty minutes to Huonville at half-past twelve at night, and find alternative accommodation for them all. As we fell into bed at 1:30, I was still shocked and disappointed with the hospitality and service we'd expected as guests, but not received.

We have taken extensive photos of all the insects we have encountered to remind us to camp instead if we visit again.

We'd also been surprised with vague advertising on behalf of two separate booking websites - WotIf and Huon Valley Escape - that led us to assume your tipees have a barbecue and fridge. That your tipees have no amenities save for a wood-heater should be very clearly stated on all booking websites that take money for your accommodation.

Another couple we spoke to stayed in a cabin, and reported the only amenities they had were a bath and woodheater, and yet were under the impression they would have a fridge and gas cooking, as it states on WotIf. They mentioned they have informed you of this themselves already.

The biggest disappointment we encountered was the dilemma of NO refrigeration available to guests at all, even in the shared kitchen, and having nothing advertising this on the booking websites whatsoever, along with no clear signage on your own website. I find it hard to believe you are unaware that your most successful online advertisements for your establishment are misleading and false, and that you are not checking them and reviewing them regularly.

I feel I am obligated into sharing a public review with my concerns regarding this incident.

My partner, who, as mentioned in the previous email I've sent, was bitten by what we suspect to be a bush ant or spider (the species found dropping on our heads inside our accommodation), and has developed all symptoms of some kind of venom in the previous 48 hours. He works for a corporate company and directs meetings and gives presentations involving large amounts of people all day. Today he came home early from work because he was experiencing extensive perspiration, nausea, headaches, an inability to concentrate due to low blood pressure, lethargy, heat experienced primarily in the face and head, and swelling and throbbing of the affected area, which is his eyebrow. I can personally vouch that the symptoms of nausea, perspiration, lethargy and swelling of the bitten spot has been increasing since Sunday.

I also mentioned previously that he has allergies to a range of different insect venom. He says that because the bite is hot, itchy and aching, it has spread to develop a headache, dizziness, and the fatigue from his heart-rate levels.

I, myself, have small sustained oddly-shaped bites grouped together in a half-circle on my lower stomach, which are not mosquito bites as I was bitten by a mosquito on my leg, and the much smaller series of bites on my stomach burn like fire when itched. I did not have these bites until Saturday evening, and they started itching at their worst when we both woke in our own bed in Hobart on Sunday morning.

I have photos of these injuries.

I am passing this information on to you and your coworkers to inform you of the damage inflicted on guests when you mislead or fail to inform them of crucial information that is potentially directly harmful to their comfort, and most importantly, their health.

The potential for far more grievous harm that allergies can cause should prompt serious concern. Considering your lack of awareness of the risks you open both yourselves and guests to, and the lack of concern for our well-being both when we were paying residents and after we left, I am seriously concerned for future guests residing at Huon Valley Retreats.
5 Comments

What do people think about The Old Woolstore ?

20/9/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Good sized apartments from studio up to family - close to Constitution Dock, Salamanca Markets, Supermarkets, restaurants etc. Handy to be self contained if staying a few days or more - more space and able to eat some meals in...
Click here to read more reviews on Trip Advisor
or

click here to include The Old Woolstore as part of your Huon Valley Escape
0 Comments

What do visitors think about Hastings Caves and Thermal Springs ?

5/9/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
" It's a long drive out there but well worth it, out guide was wonderful, knowledgeable and friendly, and it was great to see more of Tasmania's natural wonders." Read the full review on Trip Advisor

or Read more about Hastings on Huon Valley Escapes
0 Comments

What do people think about The Apple Shed and Willie Smiths Cider ?

5/9/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
This review was recently posted on Trip Advisor.

"I went to the Apple Shed for dinner and some folk music tonight. I had the best night out I've had in years. Nice food - nothing pretentious, just filling and well prepared, oh my god the apple pie with Valhalla vanilla ice cream. And the cider! Seriously worth the visit just for that..."
Click to read the full review on Trip Advisor

Click to read more about this activity on Huon Valley Escapes

0 Comments
    Picture
    Picture
    Huon Country Cottage and Buttongrass Retreat provide accommodation locations in the Huon Valley.
    Call us from 9am to 7pm on 0427 648465 or 1800 770 224.
    Picture
    Picture

    Blogger:
    Paul Dimmick

    Compiling news relating to tourism in Hobart, Huon Valley, Bruny Island and Far South Tasmania.

    Blog Home:
    See All Blog Stories



    Categories

    All
    Achievements
    Environment
    Events
    History
    Itineraries
    Nature
    Promotions
    Reviews
    Specials
    Summer
    Travel News
    Wildlife

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    November 2019
    May 2019
    July 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

Picture


We welcome your phone calls from 9am to 7pm, 7 days a week.
​Current time in Tasmania is 

9am to 7pm phone 1800 770 224
or email 24/7 info@huonvalleyescapes.com.au
Picture
Map from Hobart Airport  and Mona to Mount Wellington, things to do and places to stay in Hobart and suburbs
Picture
Beach houses and motel rooms, walks, penguins and cheese plus the
Bruny Island
Cruise
Picture
Waterfalls, Shot Tower, museum, sheep cheese, accommodation and D'Entrecasteaux Channel
tourist map and info
Picture
Huon Valley
eco-retreat, waterview cottages and a country hotel. River cruising, road maps and itineraries
Picture
Map to Hastings Caves, Ida Bay Railway, Hartz Mountains and South Coast Walk and unique accommodation in
Far South Tasmania

Home

Choose

Choose a Region
Choose and Experience
Choose Accommodation

Getting to Tasmania

Car Hire
Air and Sea
Tours
Public Transport

Help

Mobi
Search
News
Site Map

About Us

Contact Us
Our Services,
What we can do for you