Maria Island, Tasmania – Day 1 | Dave and Fiona's Travels

Friday 10th May 2019
After getting organised to head to Maria Island with our big hiking packs last night I thought we would have it all together this morning. As always our took a while to get the last few things done. Bike tyres pumped, lunch made and just making sure we had everything as there are no services, shops, water, electricity and we had missed out on the cells in the Penitentiary so it was free camping for us tonight.
Anyway we made it to the very in time to check in and get our bikes and luggage tagged. So at 10.30am we boarded the boat and head across to Maria Island. This was about a 30 minute ride, we went past salmon farms and i was grateful for my time in the ocean as it was a bit bumpy. The skipper had to tack across so it wasn’t so rough.
On arrival at Maria Island we had the challenge of riding our bikes with our big hiking packs and day packs. It was a challenge. Balance was an issue but once you got moving as long as you stayed straight it was ok. I made the mistake of loosening my straps which made my pack a little uneven so when i stopped i toppled over onto my bottom and hurt my knee a little and also my pride. Lucky i didn’t get hurt any further.
After checking in with the ranger we headed down to the campground to set up our tent. On the way we saw geese, wombats and wallabies. This was interesting as we have only used it twice before, so after a little bit of investigation and a couple of boo boos we got it all together. We then had lunch and decided to do the Bishop and Clerk summit. This involved a 3km scenic bike ride followed by a 3km hike and finally a rock scramble to the top. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t in our favour and the views not as magnificent as they could have been. They were still really good but it will definitely not be the lady visit here. The view at the summit was amazing. 360 degrees of beauty. The climb was 599m up, so it was wit a spectacular view. We sat up there for a while as the mist was quite thick on arrival and we were fortunate to have it roll in and out a few times while we had a rest and a snack. The views went all the way across to the mainland. If only there was sunshine it would have been perfect.
Time top head back down. By the time we got back to our bikes it was getting a little late. The animals were out in force. We saw probably over 50 wombats, 100s of wallabies and hopefully we will get to see a devil. We got back to camp in the semi light and headed to the Mess Hal to cook dinner. It is a tough job for the chef tonight. Bowl 2 cups of water, add it to the package, stir and seal, wait 10 minutes, then eat. I had roast lamb and vegetables. David had honey shot chicken and rice. After a chat with the residents of the cells we headed back to our tent at about 7.30 pm. It is toasty in our sleeping bags and very peaceful. Sort of. The animals area noisy, in particular the wombats. And you can hear other animals rustling in the grass nearby. Let’s see how well we sleep. We were told to lock up our food. They supply old fashioned metal garbage bins for you so the animals don’t try to get in your tent. They had to relocate a devil last week who was found in someone’s tent.

I will upload the photos in a couple of days when we get back to the mainland.

: Encounter Maria Island boat arriving to Triabunna.

: All loaded on the boat and ready to go, bikes, hiking gear, tent, all food and us.

: Enjoying the relaxing ride to Maria Island, the water was a bit bumpy and the weather pretty average.

: The next challenge. Riding our bikes with day packs and big packs the 700m to the campground. This is how we started.

: Then we strapped our day packs to our big hiking packs and went again.

: My downfall, on the way my head couldn’t look up so I loosened the straps on the fly and one was looser than the other, so a little unbalanced. When I stopped I became a lot unbalanced and toppled over. Lucky I fell softly, not really but not hurt that was the main thing. All done outside the rangers station. So not such a private bungle.

: The Mess Hall where we cooked our dinner. They supply gas cookers, kettles and sink. Slow combustion fire, tables and chairs, and Table tennis

: Cape Baron Geese are everywhere.

: Setting up our tent. It has been a while.

: The old garbage bins for your food, to keep out the possums and Tasmanian devils

: All setup and ready to go for our bike ride and mountain hike.

: Riding throungh the Darlington precinct. We hope to look more at the buildings and learn a bit of history in the next couple of days. But first to the strenuous part of the day.

: Looking out to Mt Bishop and Clerk in the distance. Our hiking destination. But first the 3km ride which was quite pleasant albeit a lot hilly and required a couple of walks up some hills.

: Wombats, wombats everywhere.

: The extent DB goes to getting a good picture.

: The trees were lovely

: Looking back along the headland from further up the hill

: Looking back to the mainland

: More wombats

: The start of the hike to Bishop and Clerk. These towering dolerite columns were named because of the resemblance to a bishop, wearing a mitre, being followed by a clergyman. This walk takes you from grasslands along the edge of the Fossil Cliffs, through open forest and tall woodland, and then to rocky slopes and boulders to reach the summit.