Spotlight: Huon Valley Caravan Park

Whenever I book into a caravan park with the family, I usually check to see if they’ve got one of the latest jumping pillows or splash parks.

Sure, you usually pay a bit extra per night for these fancy entertainment options, but I figure it’s a good way to prevent bored kids.

However, a recent visit to a new caravan park in Tasmania proved you don’t need a video games room or putt-putt course to keep the little tackers happy.

Part working farm, part caravan park, the Huon Valley Caravan Park opened in late-2012 and is located in Huonville, in the heart of Tasmania’s picturesque Huon Valley farming district.

But instead of jumping castles and swish air-conditioned cabins, the park appeals to young and old with a relaxing ‘farm to plate’ experience that includes feeding the chooks, milking the cows, picking fruit, and other ‘living off the land’ skills like cheese making and bacon curing.

The unique park was opened in November, 2012 by ex-NSW farmers Rowen and Leanne Carter. Forced to leave the land after years of drought, the couple worked and travelled around Australia for a couple of years, living in a caravan.

They got the idea for a ‘farm stay’ caravan park after passing through Huonville and wanting to stay the night in a caravan park, but finding none available.

“We wanted to get back to living on the land, growing our own meat and vegetables and being self-sufficient, but we knew we couldn’t afford another big-time farm and thought… put a caravan park on the acres and have that as the income,” Leanne explained.

After buying a 26 acre property formerly used to grow hops, they cleared the land to create a caravan park and small farm, which now includes cows, sheep, goats, pigs, ducks and chickens as well as an orchard with “27 different fruit trees”.

A work in progress, the caravan park section includes a small office and a growing number of powered and unpowered sites on eight acres of flat, grassy land that backs on to two rivers all surrounded by rolling hills.

A large wooden building, which includes a camp kitchen, and ablutions block with 10 toilets, eight showers and a laundry, was getting the finishing touches when we visited last December, and future plans include family cabins and a walking track, BBQs and a jetty along the adjoining river.

As experienced caravanners, the Carters insisted on a few basic things when setting up the park, including “big sites, clean showers with good water pressure, and good electricity that didn’t trip the jug and the kettle when you ran them together”.

While they don’t take bookings, Leanne said the park “won’t turn anyone away. We’re on 26 acres and we’ve got 50 powered sites, and to date we’ve never been booked out with powered sites”.

During our four-night stay, the undisputable highlight for the kids was the daily 6pm feeding. On busy nights up to 20 guests gathered around for an authentic farm experience, right down to milk squirted into the mouth from a cow’s udder, and witnessing the well-trained kelpie round up the sheep (and solitary goat that thought it was a sheep!)

While Rowen looks after the farm, Leanne passes on her skills to guests in making cheese, bread, and jam, bottling veggies and sauces and creating sausages and bacon.

“We’re self sufficient apart from salt, sugar and vinegar,” she said.

You can an even witness an animal being killed and prepared for the table “to see how it’s done”.

Guests are also treated to regular taste tests; we received a tub of home-made fetta upon arrival while cups of Italian-style marscapone were delivered one evening to our caravan.

And during the apple growing season from March-May, guests can pick all they want for free from the orchard.

Huon Valley park is also ‘green’ and chemical-free, using homemade cleaning products. Water is sourced from the river and purified using a $25,000 ultraviolet filtration system. Even grey and black water is recycled and used to water the apple trees.

Although currently on the grid, the plan is to generate all electricity for the park from a hydro-electric system using turbines in the river.

Overnight rates vary in peak periods from $25 for an unpowered site to $40 for a powered site, or $200 a week. However, showers in the new block cost $1 for five minutes.

Another minor gripe about the park is its location, about a 25 minute drive south of Hobart, which makes it less convenient as a ‘base’ for visiting popular attractions such as Hobart’s MONA and Port Arthur.

However, it’s ideally situated along the so-called Huon Trail, which is jam-packed with touristy delights such as Bruny Island Cruises, Hastings Caves, the Wooden Boat Centre, Hartz Mountains and Tahune Airwalk.

Although it's early days, Leanne said the biggest interest so far has been from the locals, perhaps inspired by ‘farm change’ TV programs like Gourmet Farmer.

“Our biggest clientele, funnily enough, are Tasmanians. One family will come, and then they’ll come back with two or three families,” she said.

Another plan is to entice day visitors, charging $20 per vehicle. Down the track she'd also like to open a commercial kitchen and conduct classes with special guests, while still making it affordable.

“We want it to be a destination park, not just a stop-over park,” she said. “And we want to keep it as old-fashioned as possible. We don’t want big jumping castles, we want the kids to go make a fishing rod out of this or go and build a cubby house under the trees.”

More info: Huon Valley Caravan Park