Discovering Maria Island on Tasmania’s east coast
Image: Posnov via Getty
On this holiday, we saw one of the highlights of Tasmania’s east coast with a four-day guided walk of Maria Island. Maria Island is now a national park, but it has a colourful past being a penal settlement and later a cattle property.
Today, as well as being a national park, it’s part of the rescue operation for the Tasmanian devils. Healthy devils are taken to the island to be resettled and now the population here is disease-free.
We were taken by boat to the south of the island and walked into our camp, which was made up of sturdy, permanent tents. We had a quick lunch and then our guides took us to the southern tip of the island – about a 12km return trip.
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The scenery was absolutely spectacular and very rugged. We arrived back in camp about 5.30pm and while we were having our wash in the washhouse, our guides prepared wine and cheese for us.
Then we were treated to a lovely three-course dinner on the open deck. After a restful sleep, we set off to our next camp about 10km away. This walk took us inland and we saw evidence of the cattle farming that took place on the island for many years. Lunch was at the old farmhouse under a lovely tree with a magnificent view of the mainland.
We arrived at our next camp for another lovely three-course meal with wine and another restful night.
The last day’s walk was only 8km and would take us to the penal settlement at the northern end of the island. The day was overcast so we ate breakfast to candle light. It was a very surreal and wonderful experience.
The last day’s walk was a mixture of beach and inland walking and it was quite easy. We arrived at the Commandant’s Cottage, which was our billet for the night, in the early afternoon, so our last night was not spent under canvas. A shower was very welcome and the more adventurous of us trekked to the top of the highest mountain on the island. I was not one of them.
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We enjoyed another wonderful three-course meal and beautiful wine. The next morning we had the day to wander around and explore the penal settlement. At noon, we boarded our boat to the mainland and on the journey back the dolphins decided to escort us. I never knew dolphins could swim so fast as they kept up with the boat.
The whole trip was a wonderful experience and I can thoroughly recommend it.
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