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[Mystic]

Hastings Forest offers some great camping areas, alongside the scenic Esperance River, with great view over the nearby Hartz Mountain Range.

Access is via the Esperance River Road, located a few miles south of Dover, turning off the main highway at the bridge over the Esperance River. Follow this road, taking a left turn at the T intersection. Total distance from the main highway is about 20 kilometres. The road is gravel, but in pretty good condition, and should present no difficulty in navigating. Beware the logging trucks that regularly use this road though.

After crossing a bridge over the Esperance you will discover the Hastings Forest picnic area on your right. Camping is permitted here, though there is no vehicular access into the picnic ground and campsites. You will find toilets and BBQ areas with shelters here though.

Continuing along the road you will discover campsites every couple of hundred yards on your right. These grounds only have basic fireplace facilities, toilets are only at the picnic ground.

Our chosen site here was the first past the picnic ground, a space open to the road, and well protected on the other 3 sides. The river could be easily accessed from this location, and we enjoyed the sounds of water rushing over rocks from our tent. A beautiful forested area, very peaceful and comfortable.

The ground here is very mossy, quite soft to sleep on, though can get very soggy during periods of rain. Be careful where you drive your vehicle if the ground is wet.

Fresh water can be taken from the river, if you are worried, boil it well, but we found it very pleasant and suffered no ill effects from drinking it. Your alternative is to spend, as we did, a night there when it is snowing, gather the fresh snow in the morning and boil this for the best tasting coffee you could possibly enjoy. Fresh water can be collected at the park in Dover, opposite the Dover Hotel.

Plenty of firewood can be found along the roadway throughout the forest. Please do not cut down trees, apart from the fact that the wood will not burn properly until about 2 years after it has been cut, you will be destroying the very thing you came to see...natural beauty.

Special tips for this area are the same as those for Cockle Creek. Dover is only about a 30 minute drive from the campsites allowing you a good chance to pick up anything you have forgotten.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Hastings, and would happily return again and again. Hopefully, next time we visit we will not need to run away to avoid the snow that kept falling on us.... we like warm, which can be hard to find in Tasmania.

for Hastings, might have been 5 if the snow had not been so persistent.

Our campsite at Hastings (we did not cut those trees, they were already there)

Location map

Map supplied by Tasmap, for more mapping information
please see www.tasmap.tas.gov.au

[Shane V]

Hastings Forest was a beautiful spot. It is surrounded by forest and mountains and has the Esperence River running right past the campsites. The campsites themselves were relatively protected. They are large sites where you have room for a couple of vehicles and you could probably fit about three tents comfortably in the site we stayed in.

The day we arrived the ground was mostly dry, sturdy and flat. We did see tyre marks from other vehicles that had been there before when it was wet. Again the tent was easily setup. We could push the pegs in by hand. There we plenty of trees around to give us shelter and they were close enough together so we could use a couple of them for a washing line.

Walking around the area was fun. It is mostly flat around the campsites and the breaks between the trees offer easy access to the river. It is mostly shallow, fast flowing rapids with some slower moving, deeper parts. I enjoyed sitting and watching the water flow and wind its way through the rocks.

That night we sat in front of the fire and watched the stars. They didn't seem to be as brilliant as they were at Finns Beach...I was disappointed.

The next day it was raining, mainly showers. The ground around the campsite started to get soggy. This was a little worrying at times. I could feel the car sliding and thought that we may even get bogged, we didn't. The water in the river seemed to be flowing faster over the rapids making it seem angry. There wasn't much we could do this day. The weather in Tasmania can be very unpredicable. One minute it may be raining and the next there are clear blue skies. This happened all day. That night we hit the tent early, it was a bit cold and wet.

The next morning it was snowing. I could not believe it. It really highlighted the beauty and diversity of the area. The mountains covered in snow, snow on the ground around our tent and campsite and the green of the trees truly amazed me.

There are many small bird species in the area, large ones as well. Lots of different tree species and plantlife.

This site I rate at . It is beautiful and quiet. Be careful of the weather though.