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Visitors to Tasmania have a new opportunity to combine a wilderness experience with fine food and wine. Pumphouse Point, a striking 18-room property in the dramatically beautiful and remote Highlands, is a three-hour drive north-west of Hobart in the Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park. It is a quirky retreat with a difference; a complete re-imagining of two brutalist 1940s buildings into a juxtaposition of the old and the new.  The resort comprises 12 rooms and two lounges located in an old hydro-electric pumphouse at the end of a 250m flume perched over Australia’s deepest lake, and a smaller art deco-style shorehouse, with six rooms and lounge/dining area, overlooking the water. Pumphouse Point maintains the old exteriors with completely re-built interiors. Each room has satellite TV, modern bathroom and its own tablet computer with information about the property’s history, local wildlife, walking tracks and available activities. Powered by the property’s free wi-fi, there also is VOIP access and music via Spotify. Dining options are, deliberately, limited to a table d’hote menu, with guests invited to imagine they are attending a chic dinner party. They mingle in the lounge over complimentary drinks and appetisers before sitting at communal tables to sample dishes like lemon and thyme chicken on quinoa with fresh roasted vegetables, or honey and orange-glazed ham with broccoli salad. There is a selection of very good – and reasonably priced – Tasmanian wines, beers and ciders available: think Jansz, Apogee, Moores Hill, Kate Hill, Stefano Lubiana, Pipers Brook, Derwent Estate, Devil’s Corner, Cape Bernier, Abel’s Tempest and Bream Creek, along with Willie Smiths and Mohawk cider, James Boag and Iron House beers. Pumphouse Point is at 1 Lake St Clair Rd, Lake St Clair, Tasmania; phone 0428 090 436. www.pumphousepoint.com.au. The 18 rooms range in price from $240 to $480 a night, including bed, breakfast and a range of outdoor activities.