TasALERT real-time fire, emergency warnings | FUEL CHECK Tas
Before considering a visit – This is not a developed national park walk with a visitor centre, directional signs and formed tracks. Reaching the forest involves remote roads, limited signage and some bushwalking experience, which is part of the reason we think the Grove is best understood first as an extraordinary forest worth knowing about rather than another place to add to a sightseeing checklist.
There is very limited signage, rough gravel road access, patchy mobile reception and no conventional visitor facilities. The walking routes are not regularly maintained. Anyone entering the area should have suitable bushwalking and navigation experience, download offline maps and check current conditions before leaving.
The scale can be difficult to appreciate until there is a person standing beside one.
The Grove of Giants covers roughly 100 hectares and contains an exceptional concentration of large eucalypts. Surveys undertaken by The Tree Projects identified more than 150 trees exceeding four metres in diameter, including four eucalypt species growing to impressive proportions.
The best known is Lathamus Keep, a Tasmanian blue gum, Eucalyptus globulus, measured at around 325 cubic metres in volume. The forest also contains Mother Daughter, a blue gum measured at around 92 metres tall, along with several other trees exceeding 80 metres.
Numbers only tell part of the story.
At ground level you are surrounded by huge trunks disappearing into the canopy, tree ferns, moss, fallen timber and dense wet forest. Looking straight up is almost compulsory.
This is one of those places where photography struggles a little. A wide angle lens helps, but even then it can be difficult to convey just how much tree is standing in front of you.
The Grove of Giants is in the Denison and Lonnavale area of the Huon Valley, inland from Huonville in southern Tasmania.
Access is via a network of gravel and forestry roads, including Denison Road and McDougalls Road. There are few directional markers, and Huon Valley Council specifically warns that drivers have become lost among the network of remote roads. Road conditions can also include potholes, ruts and rough sections, with higher clearance vehicles advisable depending on conditions.
That remoteness is important context.
The Grove is relatively close to better known walks including the Lake Skinner and Nevada Peak tracks, but it is a very different proposition from arriving at a signed Parks and Wildlife trailhead.
This is probably the most important thing to understand before reading any further.
The Grove of Giants should not currently be treated in the same way as a developed Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service walking track.
The walking routes are not owned or maintained by Huon Valley Council, signage is limited, and the Grove does not have the visitor infrastructure you would expect at a formal tourism site. Huon Valley Council currently describes the walk as Grade 3, recommends some bushwalking experience and notes that the track is not regularly maintained.
Mobile coverage can be intermittent or absent and online mapping can become unreliable before reaching the forest. Offline driving directions and walking maps should be downloaded beforehand.
For that reason, we would suggest the Grove is best suited to people who are comfortable navigating remote Tasmanian roads and informal bush tracks, ideally with some local knowledge or previous bushwalking experience.
It isn’t somewhere we would recommend simply typing into Google Maps and hoping for the best.
The Grove has an interesting recent history.
The forest became much better known following the discovery and documentation of its enormous trees by Tasmanian big tree researchers and volunteers. Parts of the area had been scheduled for timber harvesting, but after several years of surveys and advocacy the Grove was removed from the logging schedule in 2023.
Changes to Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s giant tree policy followed in 2024, extending protection to trees exceeding four metres in diameter. The Tree Projects describes the Grove as now sitting within an informal reserve while continuing to advocate for permanent protection and better visitor infrastructure.
The forest also provides habitat associated with the critically endangered swift parrot, which relies heavily on flowering blue gums during its Tasmanian breeding season.
All of that gives the Grove a significance beyond impressive measurements.
It is a living example of the extraordinary wet eucalypt forests that remain in southern Tasmania
Not every extraordinary place needs to become an attraction.
For now, perhaps one of the most important things about the Grove of Giants is simply knowing that it exists.
A forest of enormous blue gums and towering eucalypts still stands in the Huon Valley, some reaching heights and dimensions found in very few places on Earth.
And when you stand beneath them, neck craned backwards and still unable to see the top properly, the statistics suddenly make a lot more sense.
This isn’t a comprehensive bushwalking guide, but there are a few things worth knowing.
Huon Valley Council’s current visitor information recommends a four wheel drive and notes that conditions can change quickly in remote areas.
The Grove of Giants is near Lonnavale in Tasmania’s Huon Valley, west of Huonville in southern Tasmania. It is reached via remote gravel and forestry roads rather than a conventional signed tourist route.
The forest contains exceptionally large Tasmanian blue gums along with other giant eucalypt species. Notable trees include Lathamus Keep, considered the world’s largest blue gum by volume, and Mother Daughter, measured at around 92 metres tall.
It should not be regarded as a standard developed Parks and Wildlife visitor walk. The routes have limited signage, are not owned or maintained by Huon Valley Council and do not have the infrastructure normally associated with a formal visitor attraction.
Reception is patchy to non existent in parts of the area. Visitors should download road directions and walking maps before travelling and should not depend on mobile navigation once they reach the remote road network.
No. Although parts of the walking route itself may not be technically difficult, reaching and navigating the area requires considerably more preparation than an established tourist walk. Some bushwalking experience and confidence travelling on remote forestry roads are recommended.
The Hobart and Beyond Editorial Team is dedicated to bringing you the best insider tips, local stories, and up-to-date guides to exploring southern Tasmania.
Article Details:
