Tasmania’s Bay of Fires Lodge is one of the world’s greatest places to hike to

Even if you’re not much into active travel, this stunning destination is enough to convince you to don a pair of hiking boots.

Bay of Fires Lodge Walk. Picture: Great Walks of Australia

The most experienced travellers know it’s all about the arrival. It could be a herd of elephants greeting you at a luxury lodge in Africa or perhaps the ultra discreet Tokyo check-in where you are whisked to your room on the 20th floor with little fanfare at all and just the promise of being left alone.

In Tasmania, on the Bay of Fires Lodge Walk, the “arrival” is a 14km walk along one of the most stunning coastlines in the country, if not the planet, to the Bay of Fires Lodge, your accommodation for the night. It has to be one of the greatest, albeit ever so slightly fatiguing, arrivals of all time.

Situated on the northeast coast of Tasmania, the Bay of Fires Lodge Walk, run by the Tasmanian Walking Company, is a four-day adventure that takes in a rugged coastline alive with history and incredible natural beauty, kayaking down rivers and across bays, and also some R&R at homebase, aka Bay of Fires Lodge, overlooking Abbotsbury Beach.

Bay of Fires Lodge, Tasmania. Picture: Bay of Fires Lodge

It’s one of four walking tours run by the 30-year-old Tasmanian Walking Company. The others are Cradle Mountain Huts Walk, Wineglass Bay Sail Walk and the soon-to-be-finished Three Capes Lodge Walk, a 46km trek along the dramatic Tasman Peninsula (opening September 2018).

The Bay of Fires Lodge Walk covers about 32km on foot, a mixture of sandy beaches, coastal vegetation, shores strewn with bivalves, middens and forest. There’s also a 6km kayak plus plenty of delicious food to fuel your journey.

The walking is not too challenging and all that’s required is good boots and some warm gear, particularly in the colder months (the season runs October to May). The TWC supplies daypacks and wet weather gear so packing is pretty easy.

Day one of the itinerary kicks off in Launceston followed by Mount William National Park, where a four-hour walk leads you to Forresters Beach Camp, a cluster of sturdy semi-permanent tents tucked away in the dunes where you spend your first night.

Groups are maxed out at 10, so it’s intimate enough to get to know your companions and learn plenty from your guides, almost exclusively born-and-bred Taswegians who spend their lives happily sharing their love for their particular part of Tassie’s backyard and all the flora, fauna and fables within it.

Bay of Fires Lodge Walk. Picture: Tourism Tasmania & Alice Hansen

The next day, following a camp breakfast and briefing, the 14km journey (about a seven-hour walk) begins. Bay of Fires, apparently named after the fires the indigenous community lit along the coast, stretches from Binalong Bay to Eddystone Point.

The 127-year-old lighthouse at Eddystone Point is the rather spectacular lunching spot before the final 7km walk to the Bay of Fires Lodge, the only building for 20km along this stunning coastal wilderness. This is your home base for the next two nights.

Built in 1999 and sitting 40m above the beach, the award-winning Bay of Fires Lodge is exclusive to TWC guests. Accommodation in one of 10 rooms is twin or double-share (king beds) with communal, sustainable (but very pleasant) bathroom facilities and a large common area for dining and, of course, a huge deck to watch the waves roll in with a glass of Tassie pinot noir at sunset. You might never want to leave.

Bay of Fires Lodge. Picture: Tourism Tasmania & Alice Hansen

The lodge is of simple design, a stylish combination of Tasmanian hardwood and plantation pine, soaring glass doors, sail cloths to shelter from wind or harsh sun, and comfortable furnishings in ocean blue and burnt oranges – much like orange-hued lichen on the rocks below.

There’s also a library to brush up on your coastal birds or local history, or plan your next walking escapade, perhaps Cradle Mountain or Wineglass Bay.

After the long, day-two walk you are greeted by the almost disarmingly good-natured lodge managers and a steaming foot bath. A well-earned dinner is then served on a huge timber table alongside easy discourse around the day’s sightseeing and the chef’s 15-year childhood as the Eddystone Point Lighthouse keeper’s son.

Dinner is delicious and plentiful – sushi handrolls, lamb meatballs and mash, and perhaps a panna cotta finale, with as much focus on Tasmanian produce as possible.

If you are lucky, post-dinner, the guides will introduce you to a local speciality – a peppermint slice and a cup of hot chocolate with mint tea-bag.

Ansons River, Bay of Fires Lodge Walk, Tasmania. Picture: Bay of Fires Lodge

On day three, hiking boots are swapped for life vests, as you take to your double kayak for a morning paddle down Ansons River.

It’s eerily quiet, the only sound is the odd fish jumping in the tannin-coloured water or your guide’s commentary on the passing native forests, or the occasional lawns of sea blight that adorn the riverbank.

This somewhat tranquil paddle then turns more fierce as you reach the water of Ansons Bay and a 3km stretch of open water.

After an hour’s walk through dunes and maybe a swim in the chilly pristine waters, the day finishes back at the Bay of Fires Lodge and the possibility of a treatment in the beautiful Lodge Spa (it’s won a few global awards), perhaps a soothing soak in the unique outdoor bath overlooking the casuarinas (and wallabies) across to the coast or maybe a signature massage from local therapists. All products used in the spa are organic and made from native ingredients.

Bay of Fires Lodge Spa. Picture: Tourism Tasmania & Mark Lane

The final day begins with a superb hot breakfast of hot smoked salmon with poached eggs and spinach, before a last stroll along the beach. Bags are packed and whisked away before a final hour walk through forests of casuarinas and Tassie cherry trees to the bus.

A final diversion on the itinerary before heading back to Launceston airport is an all-too-brief wine tasting at Apogee, the new sparkling wine venture of legendary Andrew Pirie. Here, there’s a chance to change into city clothes, sip on bubbles while overlooking the estate’s 2ha of vines – planted mainly to chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, the traditional varieties that go into making the finest sparkling wines.

As with the arrival at Bay of Fires Lodge, the departure is a delight. Sparkling wines with new friends, a new-found love of walking tours, and the spectacular Tasmanian east coast – this is world-class wilderness and walking … and wine, of course.

The author travelled as a guest of Qantas and the Tasmanian Walking Company.

How to do the Bay of Fires walk?

The Bay of Fires Lodge Walk runs from October to May and departs from Launceston

Prices start at approximately $2380 per person all-inclusive (all meals, alcoholic beverages and accommodation)

The Tasmanian Walking Company runs three Tasmanian walks with the fourth, the Three Capes Lodge Walks to start in spring 2018.

Ph: [phone], taswalkingco.com.au

Qantas flies to Launceston via Melbourne and also flies direct to Hobart

qantas.com.au