Castaway Cottage

Hastings Caves and Thermal Springs is situated in the far south of Tasmania’s beautiful Huon Valley, a 90-minute drive from Hobart. A Parks and Wildlife Service guide will lead you through a living and breathing ecosystem that boasts an identity like no other. This is an opportunity to immerse yourself in an ancient yet ever-changing environment. You will discover within the dolomite cave spectacular subterranean formations including flowstone, stalactites, columns, shawls, straws, stalagmites and the unusual helictites. The cave is spacious and there are no narrow passages. The light level is low. There are 250 stairs each way, equipped with handrails. Opening hours and cave tour times vary throughout the year, so we recommend you check times on the Parks and Wildlife Service website before you embark on your journey. It is recommended that you arrive at the Hastings Visitor Centre 45 minutes prior to your chosen tour. This is where you purchase tickets for cave tours or the thermal spring reserve. Enjoy a coffee or light snack in the Café area of the Visitor Centre, and shop for souvenirs. You can swim in the 28-degree thermal swimming pool, which gathers and circulates natural thermal spring water, which is full of rich minerals. Change-room amenities are near the pool. Remember, outdoor temperatures in southern Tasmania may be cool, pack warm clothing and wear sturdy footwear.

Bruny Island Premium Wines, Cellar Door and Restaurant is situated on Bruny Island in Tasmania's South. Carved from bush and pasture land on the outskirts of the settlement of Lunawanna, is Australia's southernmost vineyard. Owned and operated by a direct descendent of one of Bruny Island's first settlers, Bernice Dillon. Bruny Island Premium Wines is open for all day lunch, seven days a week all year round and Saturday nights during daylight savings, in a relaxed alfresco dining area overlooking the vineyard. An extensive menu specialising in local produce, all perfectly matched with their premium cool climate wines. The vineyard, established in 1998, is set on a gently-sloping site with a sunny north-westerly aspect. In an ideal season, Tasmania's calm, clear autumn days are perfect for the slow fruit-ripening conditions needed to create premium cool-climate wines. Their wines are grown, made and bottled by hand on site. The Cellar Door opened in 2005, constructed with timber from the original vineyard site, and offers tastings and sales.

All food at Hotel Bruny is ridiculously fresh and as local as can be. Dave, their local fisherman fishes exclusively off the south coast of Bruny Island, his regular hauls of stripey trumpeter, trevally and calamari squid are delivered literally to their door, when they say 'catch of the day’ they mean it! Their Bruny Island oysters are grown for an average of 18 months in some of the cleanest waters on the planet. Jason, of Cloudy Bay Lamb, produces some of the finest product in the country, their sausages are hand-made by Darren and the crew at Snug Butchery and their monstrous chicken parmas are made from Nichols Tasmanian free-range chickens and topped with Bruny Island cheese. Here at Hotel Bruny, we believe in real food, locally sourced and produced here in their kitchen and yes, everything on their menu goes through a rigorous taste-testing process!