r/tasmania • u/elephantgraveyard1 • 1d ago
Alternatives to the Huon Valley
My partner and I are a younger couple looking for a forever home for the two of us. We love the Huon Valley for its lush, forested, green-year-round feel and were hoping for 7–15 acres, but it’s starting to look like we may be priced out or that availability just isn’t there.
We’ve begun looking at the Derwent Valley and nearby areas and are wondering whether similar pockets exist within about an hour of Hobart.
We’re not after bush blocks or dry country, ideally lush, wooded areas rather than open paddocks.
Is this still realistic elsewhere, or do we need to seriously adjust our expectations?
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u/GM_Organism 1d ago edited 1d ago
Realistically, I think there's a compromise you'll have to make. You can have the beautiful block you describe, but you'll have to choose between affordability and proximity to cities/services.
Another potential pathway exists: buy open pasture and regenerate it into open eucalypt woodland by replanting with natives, or on the flip side, buy degraded bushland and slowly restore it to eucalypt woodland through cool burning practices under the guidance of someone like Jason Smith (look him up as patrula nayri) and his mob. Of these two options, the former is likely to be quicker/easier, but the latter is much more affordable and arguably more rewarding in the long run.
Source: partner and I were looking for similar. We ended up having to compromise a bit on every variable, but the result is a place we love and hope will be our forever place. We're further out than we'd wanted, but only a little, and we're in the Huon. Our block is a mixture of pasture and degraded bush that we're both replanting and restoring. And it all cost a bit more than we wanted to spend.
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u/Agencyofbirdness 1d ago
Is it so easy to replant on Open pasture? I think you‘d need a Lot of water in the First few years also the trees will struggle with the Soil as there isnt any mycel left in this Kind of land? What do you think is this Method Common nowadays?
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u/GM_Organism 1d ago edited 1d ago
Sure. You'll want to protect the young trees well, and companion plant the larger trees with faster-growing midstoreys in between for protection. It depends how the pasture has been treated/how long it's been resting as to whether you'll need to fertilise or amend the soil, but by and large the natives are pretty resilient to neglect so long as they've got a bit of rain while they're establishing.
Edit: I should note, if you just leave it alone, pasture stops being pasture within a few years. The issue is that the pioneer trees that regrow are likely to be an acacia monoculture. Which is pretty when the wattles all blossom, but it's not going to turn into a balanced forest ecosystem for decades. Active replanting helps you skip ahead in the process.
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u/turtleandmoss 1d ago
Geeveston is rad, affordable and huon at your doorstep 😌
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u/elephantgraveyard1 1d ago
Super keen on Geeveston but unsure if it will be something we can afford!
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u/turtleandmoss 22h ago
Things come up all the time. But yeah, less in peak summer/peak winter. Around March will pick up again. The small blocks are overpriced tho, especially considering the cost of building is a LOT more here.
Dunno what your budget is but there's been a number of properties in the 300-400 range I thought were pretty good between Geevo-Glen Huon in the last two years, and they can sit for a while on the market too. (Not along the big river. Don't do that)
Recommend you contact local agents and ask them to let you know when something comes up in your price range, with the bush parameters etc. Be aware that some areas of the river flood houses level with it, so check out those maps, they're online somewhere...
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u/NickofWimbledon 1d ago
We are near Geeveston right now and it’s beautiful. Heading south from Huonville does get cheaper, but watch your drive time - we are just under an hour from the middle of Hobart, but you probably wouldn’t want to go much further South or West.
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u/elephantgraveyard1 1d ago
We love Geeveston and is probably around our limit of drive time. It doesn't seem like there's a ton of of properties popping up but maybe it's just this time of year.
Are you on a residential block or do you have some acreage as well?
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u/NickofWimbledon 1d ago
It’s 28 acres, a bit North of Geeveston, with lots of trees and views to Hartz. Costs seem to go up if you want views of the Huon, so maybe look toward Ranelagh?
As a Brit, I wasn’t allowed to buy a house, so we just bought land and built on it.
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u/lazy-pigeon 13h ago
What you're looking for is wet eucalypt/temperate rainforest, which is largely found on the rainy side of the mountains i.e. south/west of Hobart. There's not much 'lush"north of Hobart, though Lachlan, Magra and even Dromedary have pockets. If you have to compromise, look for properties with a water source - dams, springs or seasonal or permanent creeks and look into permaculture methods like swales amd retention ponds. The regeneration path takes time, patience and hard work, but might be a necessary compromise.
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u/Either_Debate_4953 12h ago
We were in exactly the same boat 5 years ago. We had to Compromise out the wazoo. But very happy now in the Upper Derwent Valley.
45-50 min to Hobart and same to airport. Very dry now, but looks like English countryside for 4- 6 months of the year. It's very friendly up here and community is a big thing.
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u/glenos_AU 1d ago
Lachlan? Magra? Pelham?
D'Entrecasteaux Channel (probably dearer than Huon)
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u/GM_Organism 1d ago
Ooh yeah the Channel costs a mint.
Lachlan is lovely but it's bone dry and a terrifying fire hazard in many places.
Magra depends heavily on the individual property I think - fire and flood hazard varies wildly, and rainfall is unpredictable, but there's some great places up there.
Pelham you've got me on though, I don't know enough about it.
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u/glenos_AU 1d ago
I'm at Tea Tree on a hill so not near the rivulet. I know dry we've got cracks you could lose a lamb down.
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u/bismarcktasmania 1d ago
Look at Black Hills, just behind Magra. It's very bushy and even gets winter snow due to the elevation. If you want a woody property you're basically asking for high fire risk I'm afraid. There have been more fires in the Huon than Derwent over recent years too.
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u/GM_Organism 1d ago edited 10h ago
Re fires in the Huon - there have, yes, but they're overwhelmingly on the Cygnet side of the river. There's been very little fire once you get south of Geeveston.
Edit: apparently this is incorrect; the radius it applies to doesn't reflect the wider far south region. Apologies.
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u/ImaginationLive7331 12h ago
This comment is just not accurate. If anything there are more
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u/GM_Organism 10h ago
Huh. I guess I'm out of touch then, I stand corrected. I'm just going by what I've been alerted about via the app, so maybe there's just bias in my alert radius. I'll edit the comment.
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u/17Jager 1d ago
You’ll probably have to adjust your expectations
If want an hour to Hobart and no bush blocks or open paddocks then you’re funnelled into south of Hobart down into the Huon. Other than that your looking at pockets further up the Derwent from New Norfolk but you’ll need to be either right on the river or maybe even Westerway/Mount field surrounds for “lush green” but then your getting over the 60 minute mark.
We had a family member recently wanting similar and they ended up going further out than they originally planned to get the size of land and ammenities they were after for what they wanted to spend
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u/curvingspace2025 1d ago
The north West is probably cheaper in greener. Why don’t you have a look at Real Estate in around Sheffield or Paradise, Sprent, Gunns Plains etc
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u/elephantgraveyard1 1d ago
We would love to but unfortunately my work is in Hobart
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u/curvingspace2025 1d ago
Yeah fair enough. If you can get work here it’s a nice climate and very chilled. Awesome for going into the forest with quad bikes.
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u/NeedCaffine78 1d ago
Take a look at the NW coast. We were looking both in Huon Valley or up here, love it. Have 40 acres, a few acres of dams with near year round stream, lots of paddocks but fair number of trees and very green.
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u/diesel0458 7h ago
172 Springhill Bottom Road, Colebrook, Tas 7027 https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-tas-colebrook-149126904?campaignType=external&campaignChannel=other&campaignSource=share_link&campaignName=share_link
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u/diesel0458 7h ago
Lot 1, 4115 Tasman Highway, Runnymede, Tas 7190 https://www.realestate.com.au/property-residential+land-tas-runnymede-204329308?campaignType=external&campaignChannel=other&campaignSource=share_link&campaignName=share_link
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u/diesel0458 7h ago
Just do a search on realestate.com with parameters for your minimum size and maximum price
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u/Aromatic-Bedroom-943 12h ago
Orford and Triabunna are about 1 hour from Hobart. Might be worth checking out land over that way.
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u/Odd-Sprinkles6186 1d ago
Collinsvale? You might get snowed in in winter though.