Exploring the north of Maria Island (09.11.2023)

© Helwig Hauser

Note that this track has been created from memory, i.e., it was not recorded automatically.

Trip Summary

With one more day "to go", we decided to also include a trip to Maria Island, even though it not really was en route to Hobart. We stayed overnight in Triabunna, just a walking distance from the ferry quay. The next morning, we took the first ferry to Maria Island. Even though we had not booked any bikes in advance, we still hoped that we could get two bikes for the day anyway. Thus, after a mandatory short introduction to Maria Island, right after our arrival, we first headed for the bike rental in Darlington. Luckily, they weren't yet out of bikes, renting two of them out to us. :-) And this indeed was very nice -- Maria Island has quite a bit to offer and if one only has one day, then bridging distances between sights is definitely much more convenient per bike. After making sure that our bikes worked as expected, we first headed towards the Fossil Cliffs on Maria Island (in the northeast). Not at the least because of the bikes, we came there early and enjoyed some nice time (before it got more crowded). Both the views from the cliff, as well as the many fossils that one can see at the outcrop are good to see. After seeing the Fossil Cliff, we had planned to approach the Painted Cliffs. This is good to plan a little, since it is easier to see the most spectacular parts of them when the tide is low. We thus made a nice round, continuing around the north end of Maria Island, where also an improvised airstrip is, to get first back to Darlington (in order to then continue towards the Painted Cliffs from there along the western shore of Maria Island). Already when starting to traverse the airstrip, we got to see a couple of kangaroes. A bit further to the west, we then "ran into" a wombat mother with her baby. Since neither of them made any attempts to flee, we got ample time to take a lot of photos. Just about when the next ferry arrived, we came by Darlington again, continuing towards the Painted Cliffs. With our bikes it did not take us long, until we arrived there, and so we also got time to walk along the nice beach (Rutherford Beach) right next to the Painted Cliffs. Maybe, if one had to choose one of the attractions of Maria Island, it should be the Painted Cliffs. It's really very impressive, how multiple shades of white, yellow, brown, and other tones of color interleave there in a complex pattern -- very nice and picturesque! After having taken quite a bit of time to enjoy the Painted Cliffs, we then mounted our bikes, again, and headed further southwards along the forest road that follows the western coast of Maria Island. At the junction right before the major isthmus (between the two big parts of Maria Island), we turned right (in western direction) and followed another simple road to Encampment Cove. Instead of spending any time there, we continued along a minor track that brought us to Point Lesueur, where also a penal station was many years ago. By now, in the midst of some very lovely surrounding, one "only" sees the remains of a large brick building on the ridge of this peninsula that was housing small, single cells for the prisoners (apparently also without window). This stark contrast between the brutal incarnation of the prisoners on the one side and the beautiful scenery of Maria Island made us think, also long after our departure from this site. After cycling back from Point Lesueur (back along the same forst road that we had taken southwards, first), we included a short detour to Return Point (a bit south of the Four Mile Beach). There, almost at the tip of the peninsula, we found a really nice sand beach. After briefly enjoying this beautiful place, we were back on our bike to get back to Darlington in time for our return ferry. All in all, this really was a very nice day on Maria Island!

Photos

Selected photos are available as Google photo album.

Useful Resources

See also the related FB-page Hiking around Bergen, Norway.