Corinna Wilderness Village — Hotel in Tasmania

Comfortable living in a secluded spot in the wilderness

S41°39'04.3" E145°04'46.8" The remote drive on the unsealed Western Explorer was the big attraction for us, although the unsealed Wielangta Forest drive between Orford and Copping became a much bigger attraction and a car battering on certain rough and corrugated stretches of road. The Western Explorer (C249 Heemskirk Rd, Corinna Rd, Norfolk Rd) between Zeehan (named after Abel Tasman’s other ship) and Couta Rocks is probably Tasmania’s most excitingly remote road trip. It delves deep into the buttongrass wilderness of the Arthur-Pieman Conservation Area of the western takayna/Tarkine. Dubbed the ‘Road to Nowhere’, it was upgraded from a barely 4WD track into a wide gravel road. The road is now a well-established way to cross this rugged part of Tasmania, and it is an unmissable journey when you are in the region.

The Western Explorer is a good, all-weather road, usually easily navigable by 2WD vehicles. However, despite the written opinion of our car rental company that we should have little difficulty driving the Western Explorer in February, their rental terms and conditions state that if you drive with a 2WD rental car, liability for loss or damage on unsealed roads in Tasmania remains $9900. This can only be avoided by renting an expressive 4WD car. We have taken the risk and this added to our sense of adventure.

Before we started the 2-hour drive from Strahan to Corinna via the B27 and C249, we contacted the Corinna Wilderness Experience for an up-to-date assessment of road conditions. Between Zeehan and junction C249/C252 the road is sealed. From this junction, we expected the 17 km on the C249 to Corinna would be unsealed based on Google street view images. Now large parts are sealed. The Fatman Barge ($28 for a car) connects to Corinna, which consists only of the Corinna Wilderness Experience. On the day we left Corinna for Arthur River, the 77 km long road was only sealed on steep slopes, but still easily navigable by 2WD. We felt entirely intrepid on this remote drive, as would-be Finnish rally car champions.

In February of 2020, we slept in Cottage Davis, named after Thomas Davis, who ran the Star Hotel in Corinna from 1886 and died prematurely at aged 40. We did not meet his haunting incarnation at night. The spacious, self-contained cottage had a bedroom with a double bed, an open-plan kitchen, a living room, a bathroom with good shower and verandas front and back. The cottage was clean and well maintained. We loved the large bedroom window and looking at nature from our comfortable bed in the morning.

Corinna’s location is too far of the grid to be connected to electricity, cable TV, water & gas supply and telephony. Corinna runs on solar energy with a back-up generator (the big old one is a museum piece) to recharge the batteries on high-demand days. Water comes from rain and bore water. A large rainwater tank is located next to each cottage. Heating comes from gas cylinders in the basement of the cottage. There is no public phone, mobile reception or internet service.

With no competition in a wide area and a unique experience on offer, prices are not competitive. We paid $230 a night for the cottage. However, the logistic operation raises the price of the services. All fresh kitchen products are trucked in from the Grange Savage River magnetite iron ore mine, a 30-minutes’ drive away. Otherwise, Brunie on the North Coast is 2-hour drive away. The employees live on site.

A stay at Corinna Wilderness Experience in the Tarkine forest is a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience. You will live in the middle of the wilderness in a clean and comfortable cabin. Additional services such as the general store, Arhberg bar & Tannin restaurant and the boat trip on the Pieman River are well organised. We loved the drive on the Western Explorer. Highly...

Corinna is set in a stunning location and the short walks are all beautiful.

Unfortunately, the staff and facilities did not match the natural location and offerings.

We stayed in the huts, which were comfortable. However, the shower and bathroom was below the standard expected and was more like the amenities found at a cheap caravan park. Barely a trickle of water came from the shower head. There were no board games or books supplied for guests to enjoy or to pass the time.

The restaurant wait staff were not interested in doing anything more than taking our order - no small talk, no recommendations, they didn't even make us aware of the specials board. The menu was extremely limited and the food was ordinary - definitely not worth the prices charged.

Most disappointing and upsetting was that we had hired kayaks to make the trip to Lovers Falls. However, we were not allowed to take them out as the forecast was for winds greater than 15km/h.I can only assume that the wind forecast is taken from Strahan airport or Savage River, both exposed sites. There was no wind the entire time we were at Corinna, in fact I have lots of photos of the river taken during the short walks I completed, and in all there are reflections on the river. The Arcadia went out on its daily trip and I thought it would have been reasonable to ask the staff to radio back to the Lodge with details of the weather further along the river, but no effort was made at all to help make our dream for the trip possible.

Corinna is truly beautiful. However, if you plan to make the very long trip there, ensure you are self sufficient - take your own kayaks, food and...

KAYAK HIRE WARNING

Came to Corinna with the hope of Kayaking the wonderful Pieman River. On arrival, the river was pristine - not a ripple. Clear blue skies in all directions. Same the next day. Perfect for kayaking. Photos attached for reference. However, there’s a policy in place that is not advertised on the website - greater than 10mm forecast by BoM and NO KAYAK HIRE. No waiver to be signed as a loophole, no looking out the window at the sun, no considering that the rain may have been forecast only for overnight, just a plain no. Had we known this we would’ve brought our packrafts across from Launceston which would’ve been easy enough. Extremely disappointing and put a definite metaphorical dampener on the holiday (no literal dampener despite the forecast saying up to 30mm rain). A swim in the river was the only way to get out on the water. At least they couldn’t stop that one!

The cabins were lovely, fungi was plentiful, we did all the walks except Mt Donaldson in our less than 24 hours in Corinna. Need far better advertising of nonsensical policies. Completely unexpected on the West Coast of Tasmania! Will return as it’s a beautiful part of the world, however will come prepared. Glad we didn’t book for more than one night as there’s not much to do when not allowed to...