Hiking Maria Island

Australia is an ancient land, and one of the oldest places on earth. Originally home to the Aboriginal people, it was colonized by European settlers, only 250 years ago.

Maria Island, off the coast of Tasmania, once a penal colony for convicts, is now a National Park.

The island is only 15 miles long and you can take a three day hike which covers about 20 miles and takes in some of the most picturesque sites..

From Triabunna, the 45 minute boat ride will drop you off at Reidle Bay, where you then walk 5 miles up the coast, spending a night at Encampment Cove.

Then you can hike another 10 miles to Darlington, where you can spend a second night sleeping in the penitentiary.

And on a third day, Iyou csn climb Mount Bishop and Clark, a 7 mile round trip

There’s plenty of wildlife on the island including geese, kangaroos, the echidna or spiny anteater and wombats . These

are short legged, Australian marsupials. They’re mainly nocturnal but if you’re lucky, you can see them feeding at dawn and dusk.

The path to Darlington is undulating with some rough and sandy patches, and you can also rent cycles from the ranger’s station, as a means of getting around the island.

There are only 1000 visitors a month to Maria Island, that’s about 30 a day, so the whole island is unspoiled and off the regular tourist route.

Just a couple of miles before Darlington you reach the Painted Cliffs, a stunning natural sandstone formation, 250 million years old.

You can see why early visitors thought this island was the end of the world. Australia which is an island continent,. Tasmania is an island off an island, and Maria. Island is an island off an island off an island

Darlington’s probation station offers a unique insight into Tasmania’s convict past.

English settlers established a penal colony here in 1825, and at it’s peak the convict population reached almost 500.

You can sleep over at the penitentiary and experience what it was like to be a prisoner.

Back then then it was three tiers of beds all stacked up, 66 bodies plus the warden, housed in a dormitory.

On your finsl day, you can climb Mount Bishop and Clerk, which stands over 2000 feet high.

The trail is a 7 mile, six hour round trip to the top, and first wanders through a large patch of Tasmanian blue gum trees before the steep climb begins.

The dolerite columns here are so named because they are said to resemble a bishop, wearing a mitre, being followed by a clergyman.

Almost 5000 people climb Bishop and Clerk every year, that’s only about 15 a day, so you’re likely to have the mountain to yourself during the climb.

 

Destination – Australia