Pyengana

Waterfalls and lush forest draw nature lovers but for food lovers, Pyengana is all about the cheese.

No visit to the village is complete without a visit to the Pyengana Dairy for a cheese tasting or paddock-to-plate platter at the Pyengana Dairy Farm Gate Cafe. The dairy is best known for its cloth-bound cheddar. Watch cheesemakers in action, see cheese maturing in a tunnel beneath the cafe, and spot the cows coming and going from the dairy. 

The village is also home to the Pub in the Paddock, a quirky heritage-listed hotel in a unique pastoral setting – literally in the middle of a paddock. Licensed since 1880, it's one of Australia's oldest country pubs.

Pack a picnic and set off to explore the landscape around the village. Take a leisurely drive through the picturesque South George River valley to St Columba Falls State Reserve. The area was once home to Tasmanian tigers, and if you're lucky (and patient) you might spot a platypus hunting in the creek beds.

There's a picnic area in the reserve with views of St Columba Falls, one of the tallest in Tasmania. A 15min walking track leads to the foot of the falls, to fully appreciate the 90m drop.

Where

Pyengana is a 2hr drive (140km) east of Launceston.

Insider tips

• Lace up walking shoes and head north to visit the Blue Tier Giant, thought to be the widest living tree in Australia. This massive mountain ash, or Eucalyptus regnans, has a girth of 19.4m – the arm span of 15 people. Allow 2hr to explore this mossy old-growth forest.
• Also nearby, Halls Falls walking track is a 90min hike through towering eucalypts and ferns to an old weir built by timber workers in the late 19th century. 
• Trace the history of tin mining in the north-east region on the Trail of the Tin Dragon.