EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

DOVER , 21km from Geeveston, is a scenic fishing village on a large bay - Port Esperance . Though it's not especially friendly, it's very pretty, with trees everywhere, and lush hills surrounding the village, backed by the clear, virtually triangular, outline of Adamsons Peak (1226m), snowcapped in winter. Boats moor off a picturesque jetty in the bay, where two tiny tree-covered islets are silhouetted against the sky at dusk. Between November and May you can arrange cruises around the bay on the vintage 1880 cutter Olive May , locally crafted from Huon pine, with the Southwest Passage Cruising Co (daily 10.30am; 2hr; $35; longer cruises and charters are also available; tel 03/6298 1062).

The hub of Dover is the Dover Hotel , on the Huon Highway (tel 03/6298 1210, fax 6298 1504; motel units $50-70, rooms $50-70, dorms under $20), which has an old-fashioned dining room overlooking the water, and a backpackers' lodge at the back beside an apple orchard and rolling fields. The Dover Beachside Caravan Park on Kent Beach Road (tel 03/6298 1301; cabins $50-70, on-site vans $20-35) is also scenically sited near the jetty, beside a creek. Back up towards Geeveston, the picturesque waterfront cottage Huon Charm (tel 03/6297 6314, www.tassie.net.au/huoncharm ; $90-115) is a more secluded alternative; it's 12km north near Police Point. Although you can find fuel and supplies 20km south of Dover at Southport (the last place to get either), you're better off stocking up in Dover itself, where there's more choice and better value.

Thirty-one kilometres from Dover are the Hastings Caves, in the foothills of Adamsons Peak, with the Thermal Springs State Reserve en route. The springs (daily 10am-4pm, in Jan until 6pm; $4.40; www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au ) are in a lush setting, and there are several walks in the grounds, though the pool itself is very disappointing - small, shallow and tepid (ranging from 20°C to 30°C). At the time of writing a new visitors centre (also housing a café and some self-contained accommodation) was under construction in the reserve; call tel 03/6298 3209 for more information. Hastings Caves , a few kilometres further on from the springs, are more worthwhile: Newdegate Cave, the best, is open daily for tours (11am, 1pm, 2pm & 3pm, with extra tours Oct-March; 45min; $13); it's always wet and cold inside, so bring something warm to wear. Also on offer are adventure tours of King George V Cave (6hr including BBQ and swim; $135), and a Caves, Formation and Wildlife Tour (3hr; $69); tours are run on demand and need to be booked a week ahead - phone 1300/368 550 for availability.

Other attractions in the immediate area include the Ida Bay Bush Tram , the most southerly railway in Australia (1hr 20min; $12; tel 03/6223 5893 for details of services). This vintage, narrow-gauge bush railway, in operation since 1914, runs 16km along the southern edge of Southport to the beautiful beach at Deep Hole Bay, where trains pause for twenty minutes before returning. You can stay a few kilometres away at LUNE RIVER in the rambling weatherboard Lune River Youth Hostel (tel 03/6298 3163, luneriver@trump.net.au ; under $20), which has a reputation as an outdoor activities centre; it organizes glow-worm cave tours (3hr; $33), rents out mountain bikes and has a full-moon feast every month with pizzas baked in a mud-brick oven. If you notify the hostel in advance, they can pick you up from Dover for a small charge, and they also do pick-ups and drop-offs at Cockle Creek for the South Coast Track (especially useful in the off-season months May-Oct when they can connect you with buses terminating at Dover). Lune River itself isn't a town but rather a collection of houses and a post office, with a river that's popular with gem fossickers.

Tassie Link has a weekday service from Hobart to Dover (3-4 daily); their "Wilderness" service to Cockle Creek stops en route at Lune River (Nov-April Mon, Wed & Fri)