Captain’s Choice tour of Tasmania takes in Flinders and King islands; Strahan
See the Apple Isle’s beauty spots on a whistlestop tour by air, rail and river.
As convicts sailed towards the notorious Hell’s Gates of Macquarie Harbour, they must have been filled with dread. Any relief at the prospect of passing through the narrow breach and leaving the heaving Southern Ocean behind would surely have been tempered by fear of what lay ahead. For within the pristine anchorage on Tasmania’s west coast lay Sarah Island, infamous as a place of cruel punishment and hardship.
Here, on a wind-ravaged outcrop at the end of the world, more than 500 men and women resided at any one time. Pre-dating Port Arthur, it was where the worst of the worst ended up if they were unwise enough to reoffend after arriving in the colony. They were put to work harvesting the hardy Huon pine that was abundant in these parts, using it in a prolific boat-building enterprise.
Some commandants were renowned for their brutal treatment of prisoners. Poor souls would receive 100 lashes from a pimped-up cat o’ nine tails, augmented with pieces of lead, if they dared to enter an officer’s quarters “to rob the Commandant of tea and plums”. There were reports of murder and cannibalism. When the settlement shut up shop in 1834 after 12 years, 180 attempts at escape had been made, with one in five successful. The authorities were so unhappy about their fleet-footed charges, they had the convicts’ bread laced with mould so wannabe runaways wouldn’t stash it in preparation for their journey.
Passengers on the decidedly 21st-century Spirit of the Wild catamaran, operating out of the historic town of Strahan, face no such hardship. Lounging in white leather armchairs on the upper deck, we sip bubbles and nibble fresh pastries and fruit for breakfast; smoked salmon, salads and trout for lunch. This is cruising Macquarie Harbour, business class. It’s one of several outings during a four-day private-jet tour with Captain’s Choice.
Our journey begins with a flight on a chartered Rex Airlines Saab 340B Turboprop from Melbourne to Flinders Island, the biggest of the Furneaux cluster, which rock hops from the state’s northeast into Bass Strait. Seals were the first drawcard here for settlers, but alluvial tin, granite, mutton birds and the sheep industry were subsequent lures. These days, it’s beef; Flinders produces 20 per cent of Tasmania’s feedlot cattle.
From Walker’s Lookout, we admire the three granite mounds of the Patriarchs, named by Matthew Flinders, and the island’s highest point, Mount Strzelecki, summitted by the eponymous Polish explorer in 1842.
After a brief beachcomb at picturesque Trousers Point, where boulders are coated in orange lichen, and the salty pungency of seaweed clears the mind of city distractions, it’s time for lunch. At Mountain Seas Lodge, the 24 guests begin the “getting to know you” process over a light meal of salad followed by two perfect scoops of honey ice cream. A glass of local pinot noir helps to break the ice and we wander outside to the sunny deck, where “Bruce” the goose is greeting visitors and “Walter” the wallaby is posing for pics against a sweeping backdrop from mountain to shore.
Too soon, we’re heading back to the plane where flight crew Ben and Oliver welcome us back on board. Attendant Lauren hands out refreshments and performs her safety spiel with such brio that by the end of our journey she’ll be earning applause. Our time in Flinders has been fleeting but these tours are called “interludes” for a reason, providing motivation to return.
Our guides for the duration are the ebullient Jo Taylor, a Captain’s Choice veteran who has clocked up more than 70 countries in her adventures, and the whip-smart Dr Jo Grey, who has lent her medical expertise to several overseas train and ship itineraries with the operator and is on her first Australian trip. My fellow guests are a jovial bunch that include captains of industry, professionals in myriad fields, artists and retirees; a handful of solo travellers are in the mix. In the absence of overseas options, they have come from across Australia for a short and sweet taste of the Apple Isle. Some are dyed-in-the-wool Captain’s Choice fans, others are first-timers, but all are keen to break Covid’s shackles. As one woman says to me: “I would pay any money for someone to just take me somewhere, anywhere.”
And so we’re taken, by comfortable coach, from Burnie to Strahan, past tidy timber plantations, zinc and copper mines, hamlets that were once thriving mining towns, and dense rainforest where the trees are wrapped in vibrant moss.
We’re taken, by the aforementioned Spirit of the Wild, up the Gordon River, where the boat pushes through tannin-stained water as smooth as melted chocolate. Dark banks of cloud loom like cliffs overhead while brilliant sunshine illuminates the button grass and hillsides thick with sassafrass, leatherwood, Tasmanian laurel and myrtle beech. There’s a constant twittering of wrens and warblers. It’s easy to see why protesters in the early 1980s were so determined to save this wilderness. Still, the commentary on the boat strikes a diplomatic balance, presenting the voices of loggers, Indigenous inhabitants and colonial figures as well as eco-activists.
We’re also taken, by 125-year-old steam engine, into the rugged hills southwest of Queenstown on the West Coast Wilderness Railway. This astonishing feat of engineering opened in 1897 to transport copper concentrate from the Mt Lyell mine to Strahan for export. More than 500 labourers worked on the project in conditions so horrendous they went on strike in the winter of 1895. The great outdoors are not especially great when they receive 3m of rain a year. The middle section of the track is so steep a revolutionary rack and pinion system was installed, dragging the train up and down the sharpest inclines via cogged wheels and a rack rail in the centre of the track.
We’re taken, by plane once again, to the dairy heartland of King Island, where the patchwork of green paddocks keeps cows plump and pumping out milk to make cheese that features on just about any platter in the country. At King Island Dairy we try a selection and can’t resist making a few purchases. Yes, we could buy it at our local supermarket but there’s something about getting produce direct from the source, and besides, the prices are so reasonable.
It’s not just cheese keeping King Island afloat. Farmers harvest bull kelp from the beaches, processing it then sending it overseas where it is used in the likes of pharmaceuticals, makeup and ice cream. This little land mass, just 65km long and 25km wide, and with a population of fewer than 1800, also supports three Aussie Rules football teams (they can bank on a bye every third weekend). But if any sport is king on King Island, it’s golf. The place is home to three courses, Cape Wickham, Ocean Dunes and the nine-hole King Island. The first two rank among Australia’s top 10 but all three offer spectacular ocean views and subsequently some pretty intimidating water obstacles.
We stay in the modest but perfectly adequate Boomerang by the Sea motel and dine at the nearby Ocean Dunes clubhouse, where local lobster is a regular fixture on the menu. As the trip draws to a close, we find ourselves in blazing morning sunshine at Cape Wickham admiring Australia’s tallest lighthouse and perfectly groomed putting greens bordered by beaches and bays so pretty they must surely put golfers off their game.
Over the past four days, we’ve been entertained, educated and exceedingly well fed and watered. We haven’t seen much of Tassie but this is no “whole-in-one” journey. It’s an interlude and I suspect many of us will be back for more.
More to the story
The convicts of Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour saved their best escape till last. Ten prisoners, destined to be sent to the newly established penal settlement at Port Arthur, brazenly stole the final ship to be built on the island and sailed more than 10,000km to Chile. It’s a ripping yarn that is the subject of a hilarious pantomime, The Ship that Never Was, performed daily by the Round Earth Company in Strahan and touted as Australia’s longest-running play. The thieves were eventually forced to answer for their crimes of mutiny and piracy but managed to argue the ship, which had not yet been registered when they hoisted its sails, didn’t actually exist.
In the know
Captain’s Choice is conducting a range of itineraries in Australia and New Zealand, including three-day interludes to the Flinders Ranges and 10-day tours to luxury lodges across the ditch. Further departures of the Southern Wilderness and Gourmet Islands trip are on November 26 this year and February 18 and October 7, 2022.
Penny Hunter was a guest of Captain’s Choice.
