HOTSPOT: The Corinna Tarkine Wilderness Experience, Tasmania.
A wide, tannin-stained river winds through a heaving rainforest towards Tasmania's west coast.
But this isn't the famous Gordon River and it isn't World Heritage protected wilderness.
This is Tasmania's Tarkine, a place Australians are going to hear a lot more about in coming months.
In many ways, the Tarkine represents more of the same old story for the island state.
Miners want to continue a century-long tradition of exploiting its startling variety of minerals.
Green groups have promised a campaign to rival the Franklin River protests 30 years ago if the region is not protected.
In the middle sits the federal government, expected to make a decision on a national heritage listing sometime in 2013.
But in the isolated eco-village of Corinna, the 'heart of the Tarkine', you'd be forgiven for not knowing any of it.
There's no mobile coverage, no internet, no TV and no radio in the reconstructed gold-mining town that dates back to the 1870s.
One of Tassie's best kept secrets, Corinna is about as close to wilderness immersion you can get without sleeping in a tent.
Three-and-a-half hours west of the major northern city of Launceston, it sits beside a waterway to rival the mighty Gordon, the Pieman River.
The town boasted a population of 700 at the height of a gold rush in the 1880s that included the discovery of Tasmania's largest nugget.
Australia's first motion picture was made here, based on a story by Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen's aunt Marie, before the town was all but deserted by 1920.
We head out of Launceston, stopping at the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm for a raspberry latte, and into the rich farmland on Tasmania's northwest.
Arriving, we are immediately struck by Corinna's use of the old and the new - banks of solar panels adjoin historic mining cottages, the first hints of the village's eco-credentials.
We soon learn we'll be drinking rain water, washing with goat's milk soap and taking our rubbish back out of the village with us.
It's no luxury retreat but the cottages are tasteful, boasting excellent gas heating and stove, and the bedrooms and verandahs look onto the rainforest.
Doing nothing is definitely an option but bushwalking, kayaking and the not-to-be-missed cruise down the Pieman aboard the last operating Huon pine cruiser will easily fill in the hours.
The genteel Arcadia II has been plying these waters since 1970, a suitable retirement after it saw action in the Pacific during World War II.
It takes us the 22km from Corinna to explore the wild west coast and enjoy a packed lunch near the treacherous heads of the river.
Who the Pieman was named after is the subject of some debate.
Some believe it was the infamous cannibal convict Alexander Pearce who was captured nearby after his second escape.
Others say it was another escapee, pastry cook Thomas Kent.
On the way we spot Huon pines thousands of years old.
There are 42 species of fern in an area that is home to platypus, the rare orange-bellied parrot and the last colonies of Tasmanian devils free of the facial tumour disease decimating their populations.
This was also the last habitat of the Tasmanian Tiger, seen regularly until the 1950s, and staff are eager to tell of the "strange sounds" they still sometimes hear.
Back in Corinna, drinks and meals can be enjoyed at the purpose-built and friendly Tarkine Hotel, which doubles as the village's reception office.
Its Tannin restaurant serves upmarket pub grub - lamb backstraps with couscous, trevalla and chicken pie are on the blackboard menu.
We grab a breakfast tray of muesli, yoghurt and fruit for the next morning, and are pleasantly surprised when warm bread is delivered to our doors.
Then it's a quiet kayak paddle down the Pieman to commune with the waterway and a sometimes steep hour-and-a-half walk back through the forest.
An evening cruise aboard the smaller Sweetwater reveals the wreck of early insurance job the SS Croydon and the stunning and secluded Lovers Falls.
Life in the outside world no doubt goes on - including the battle for the Tarkine.
Sometimes it's worth seeing what they're fighting about for yourself.
IF YOU GO
Getting there: Corinna is a three-and-a-half hour drive from Launceston. By air - Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin all fly to Launceston from, variously, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. By car - Europcar offers unsealed road cover on its hire cars for A$15 per day.
Staying there: Corinna has cottages from A$150 per night. Continental breakfast is A$10.50 per person, A$15 with bacon and eggs.
Playing there: The Arcadia II cruise is A$90 for adults, A$80 concession, A$51 for children 6-12, including lunch. The Sweetwater cruise costs A$50 per person, including hot chocolate and biscuits. Kayak hire is A$40 for a half day, A$70 for a full day.
* The writer travelled as a guest of Corinna
- AAP
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