Going walkabout on Maria Island

RODNEY Chester follows in the footsteps of convicts, scientists, entrepreneurs and explorers by discovering Tasmania's Maria Island's rugged beauty.

Escape Maria Island

WHEN Irish political prisoner William Smith O'Brien was transported to Maria Island, off the coast of Tasmania, he arrived with mixed feelings.

"To find a jail in one of the loveliest spots formed by nature in one of her loneliest solitudes creates a revulsion of feeling I cannot describe," he wrote.

Still, things could have been worse. O'Brien ended up becoming close mates with the island's governor and, if scuttlebutt is to be believed, even closer to the governor's daughter.

O'Brien might have had trouble recognising it at first, but 163 years later and Maria Island is still a place with a lot to offer.

A 30-minute boat trip off Tasmania's east coast, the island has the elements that attract adventurous types to Tasmania's other iconic organised walking routes, such as the Overland Track from Cradle Mountain and the Bay of Fires stark wilderness, unspoilt landscape and a rugged beauty that will entrance you.

But Maria Island has more. In particular, for a little island it has a lot of history.

Frenchman Nicolas Baudin and a team of scientists dropped in for 10 days in 1802, leaving a valuable insight into the lifestyle of the indigenous people they encountered.

Later came the convicts and speculative business ventures, led by the charismatic Italian Diego Bernacchi, whose business plans for turning the island into a commercial giant went from vineyards and silkworms to cement plants.

When you visit another place, the local history is just something to read about on the trip over. When you hike Maria Island, it is part of the experience. As you walk along the beach, you stop and look at the shell history that is evidence of the original inhabitants.

Morning tea on one day is at a farm house that offers an insight into life on the island over the past 50 years. Lunch on another day is in front of the ruins of a block of cells for solitary confinement of convicts.

And you spend the last night in Bernacchi House, the cottage the entrepreneur lived in during his second attempt to transform the small island into an industrial centre.

On my first morning on Maria, I ignored the heavy cloud cover and walked about 50m from the campsite to Riedle Bay on the island to see the sunrise.

The stroll was worth it. The feeling of having a remote beach to yourself as the sun sneaks around the headland and lights up the sky in a band of colour is one of those wonders that everyone should experience. Individually, obviously, or it doesn't work.

For newcomers, the first question about Maria is one of pronunciation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman named the island after the wife of Anthony van Diemen (nothing like sucking up to your patron) but generations of Tasmanians with a heavy Australian twang have converted the island's original name of Ma-ree-a to Mar-eye-a.

After the boat trip from Triabunna, your introduction to Maria comes with a walk along its most distinctive geographical feature, the narrow isthmus that connects what was once two separate islands, to reach the Casuarina Beach camp in just a few kilometres.

After dropping off your backpacks at your first luxury camping base, you can head to Haunted Bay on the south end of the island, where you'll get photos of waves crashing on to the orange-covered boulders that feature in Tasmanian wilderness calendars.

The Maria Island walk is one of those experiences where the food and wine, most of it from local producers, is as much a part of the experience as the setting.

Dinner on your first night of camping begins with bruschetta topped with goat's cheese, before the main of pan-fried Spring Bay scallops and finishes off with summer pudding of fresh berries with King Island cream, all of which is washed down with a Tasmanian Morningside cabernet, Bream Creek riesling or James Boag premium lager.

If you thought that going camping meant eating camping food, think again. 

Day two of the walk is listed as "five fabulous beaches" on the brochure, although it's a misnomer. By our count, it was about seven beaches as you trek the 13km along the sand and headlands on your way to the second night of camping.

Going on a guided walk like this is about putting yourself in the hands of your guides and letting them worry about the little things, like where you have to go, what you have to eat and where you should sleep.

Day three is a chance for you to make a decision for yourself.

You can take the popular choice of hiking straight to the historical village of Darlington and Bernacchi House, and rest up there, or invest the effort in seeing the unforgettable view at the top of Bishop and Clerk, the towering dolerite columns named because they're said to look like two churchmen in procession.

Most of our group went for Bishop and Clerk, which offers what is arguably the more photogenic view with an easier (but not easy) hike.

Or, like me, you can choose to hike up the 711m Mt Maria because there's nothing like the joy of ticking off a peak.

Your final morning is a chance to explore the village of Darlington, from the interactive museum in the old Coffee Palace to William Smith O'Brien's old cottage, where he wrote long, loving letters to his family back home when he wasn't bonding with the governor's daughter.

For me, it was a chance to dash up and down 620m Bishop and Clerk peak (tick) while others spent the time in wandering around the dramatic cliffs of Fossil Bay.

For many of us on the mainland, an escape to Tasmania is a chance to get on an island that's a world away from the worries of our daily life.

For generations of Tasmanians, Maria Island has been the place to get away from it all. It's a spot to walk through history that will stay with you long after you've left it behind. 

The writer travelled as a guest of Maria Island Walk.

** Go2** 

MARIA ISLAND

* Getting there

Flight Centre offers a four-day Maria Island Walk from $2135 a person, including two nights in safari-style camps, one night at Bernacchi House, all meals during the walk, wine with evening meals, the services of two guides, use of sleeping bags, pillow, light backpack, waterproof jacket and head-torch, plus return transfers from Hobart accommodation to Maria Island.

Flight Centre can book domestic flights and pre-walk or post-walk accommodation in Hobart with this package.

Ph 1300 939 414 or see flightcentre.com.au