Southwest Tas walker transport options

[CKM]

Could I encourage people to share their wisdom here on this generic topic about options for walkers' transport to and from the Southwest (Scotts Peak Dam, Farmhouse Creek etc.)?

There are various older bits and pieces in various posts, but it might be helpful to collate any helpful information under this topic. My own interest is transport options to Farmhouse Creek on 27/1/23 early, and from Scotts Peak on 9/2/23. Any advice would be welcome.

[farefam]

As a regular visitor from interstate I had the same problem when I was planning a recent trip, but as I ended up having to cancel my holiday only 6 days in due to an injury, the point unfortunately became moot.

The main service I found was Tasmanian Wilderness Experiences, which do advertise a service to and from Hobart to Farmhouse Creek. The cost of $135 per person is for 4 people or more. If the numbers are less than that, the cost per person rises accordingly. Given the cost of fuel, maintainance, overheads and salary, the overall charge is quite fair and reasonable in my opinion.

Unfortunately, hardly anyone seems to use that service to or from Farmhouse Creek anymore. There was only one booking for early Jan (a 3 person group exiting from Farmhouse). My schedule was flexible so I changed it to go from Hobart to Farmhouse on that date,. Since the bus would have to run anyway, the operator kindly offered me the $135 rate, even though I would be alone for the trip in, since he would have 3 for the trip back. Otherwise I would have had to pay the full rate to go in. When I then had to unfortunately cancel my paid booking, the operator kindly fully and promptly refunded my money. I can only praise the service and help I received from Tasmanian Wilderness Experiences.

The main problem with going in and out via Farmhouse is that the road is now closed further back, which adds about 8 extra kilometres one way to the walk in.

That probably explains the lack of bookings in Jan Feb or Mar when I last looked. Currently there is one person booked in on Jan 27 (which I assume is you), otherwise the only other bookings are 6 out on Jan 9, 2 out on Jan 11 and 1 out on Jan 30. No Farmhouse bookings either way for Feb.

I assume most interstate people would now walk in and out to Fed Peak from Scotts Peak, as there are more bookings to that location, as it also services Mt Anne, Western Arthurs and the Port Davey tracks. Going to Fed Peak from Scotts Peak is a longer walk, but it is a much more scenic trip in my opinion. And walking back the same way does have the advantage of giving you two opportunities at getting views along the way.

Unfortunately there is currently no taxi service operating out of Geeveston. You could catch a bus from Hobart to Huonville and then get a taxi from there, but that will also be very expensive, given the distance involved.

As there is more traffic (fishers, tourists etc) hitching is an option to and from Scotts Peak in summer, but good luck with that. I find Australians are reluctant to give lifts these days, even walking the roadside with a pack on your back.

If you want to be in and out on particular dates, unfortunately there is probably no choice but to suck it up and pay whatever price you have to pay to the tourist transport operators. Given inflation, high fuel costs and the difficulties with hiring and retaining staff, it is fortunate that there are still a few of them even operating today, whereas back in the 90's there used to be a scheduled service to Scotts Peak. Tasmania unfortunately is poorly serviced for bushwalker transport compared to NZ.

Even at full cost, rather than a shared rate, IMHO the priceless value of your experience out there in the southwest will still be worth far more than the dollars spent!!!

[CBee]

Uber car share.

[JamesMc]

Our party of four used Tasmanian Wilderness Experiences to exit from Farmhouse Ck last Friday. We planned to exit on Saturday but sent them a text on Thursday asking them to change the date. It seemed a pretty good service to me.

The 7.5 km road bash out from the end of the track is not ideal but I didn't find it as bad as the similar distance from Junction Ck to the Scotts Peak Road!

[CKM]

A definite thumbs up for Kevin Lempa and Tasmanian Wilderness Experiences. But Kevin is thinking of selling up.

Another option we discovered by accident a couple of weeks back was a gentleman called Michael Dowd who has a big car that takes four people plus packs. He took us from Hobart to the airport when we booked an Uber. He does Uber work but also takes private bookings. I recommend him from Hobart to wherever you want to go. He is more reluctant about pickups in distant places because people may not turn up, but if you pay up front he will accommodate. All for less than the price of an Uber. I don't guarantee him, because we only had one experience but he seemed affable and keen to offer a good service. Details for contacting him are:

Michael Dowd, email him at melbarant at aapt dot net dot au and his phone is 0497 391 552

[Son of a Beach]

(Not sure I'd be happy having my email address posted on a public web page like that. May be worth editing the post to obscure it a bit. Eg, "melbarant at aapt dot ..." etc. That is likely to be picked up by spambots and increase his spam intake somewhat.)