Tasman Island
This tiny island’s striking landscape is the perfect finish to a larger-than-life adventure.
When contractors arrived on Tasman Island in 1904 to plan construction of Australia’s highest lighthouse, they were – in the polite tone of the day – “forcibly impressed by the natural difficulties”. The challenges posed by this towering, gale-flattened chunk of rock south of Tasmania’s Tasman Peninsula are still apparent. Below sheer, almost 300m high vertical cliffs churns a frequently raging ocean, while the winds have been known to shake the cast iron-plated lighthouse and blow parts of buildings into the ocean.
I feel a little bit of a fraud, then, arriving on this remote speck of land by air, on a gleaming new helicopter. To complete the insult to those hardy contractors, the sea is flat, the wind non-existent and the sun pleasantly warm on an early summer’s day.
Few Tasmanians, much less anyone from further afield, have the privilege of visiting and strolling on this far-flung outpost. The experience has recently been added as an optional grand finale to a three-day Walk Three Capes tour offered by Life’s An Adventure.
“Every tour we offer throughout Australia has a ‘wow’ experience with a third-party operator,” explains the company’s chief executive, Mark Norek. In this case, that’s Hobart-based Rotorlift, which has exclusive rights to land on the 1.2sq km island, part of the Tasman National Park. And “wow” is definitely the word.
The visit includes time to stroll around the lighthouse, keepers’ cottages (under various stages of restoration) and surrounds. While the island is beautiful, its northern coast also offers jaw-dropping vistas of Cape Pillar and The Blade, a jutting, elevated, thin crest of Jurassic dolerite on mainland Tasmania that forms part of the nation’s tallest sea cliffs.
Island and mainland are separated by the narrow Tasman Passage, sometimes called the “hole in the wall” by sailors who must decide whether to try their luck going through it, or else sail around the island and potentially face more hostile southerly conditions.
Our pilot, James, acts as guide and safety officer. Some of the buildings contain asbestos, while remnants of old cliff-face haulage systems are hidden beneath regrown vegetation, waiting to trip the unsuspecting tourist.
It is a brief, blissful sojourn in another world. The scale of the cliffs and rock formations is overwhelming. Sea eagles are often sighted, so too migrating whales, as well as dolphins and seals.
Flocks of up to 500 sheep once grazed the island, the unfortunate among them occasionally falling to a watery grave. These days, the native vegetation is making a comeback and smaller animals such as skinks and woodland birds reward the quick-eyed observer.
A collection of items in one of the keepers’ cottages provides glimpses of the isolated life and work of the families who lived here before the 29m lighthouse was automated in 1976.
Even with a chopper awaiting, the sense of isolation is profound. It is said the carrier pigeons that provided a link with the mainland for the first 20 years of lighthouse keeping were reluctant to leave the island. On such a still, glorious day, I can empathise; I would like to stay for a few weeks, at least.
Groups are limited to four, making the experience not only a fitting reward after three days of hikes but an intimate one. The concept is in keeping with the philosophy of walking tours offered by Life’s An Adventure. The company eschews construction of new, unnecessary infrastructure in protected places, preferring in the case of Three Capes to essentially operate day walks from the comfortable Stewarts Bay Lodge.
This liberates walkers of heavy packs and ensures evening meals of fine Tasmanian produce and wine. It also means this Three Capes walk – unlike others – takes in Cape Raoul, the third cape missing from the 46km Three Capes Track.
There may be few “natural difficulties” to overcome in visiting Tasman Island this way, but the experience will leave you as “forcibly impressed” as those brave contractors.
In the know
Life’s An Adventure offers three-day Three Capes pack-free guided walks, staying at Stewarts Bay Lodge; from $1699 a person, twin-share. The “heli hike” on Tasman Island is an optional extra on the last day; $395 a person.
Rotorlift conducts three-hour Tasman Island helicopter tours from Hobart Airport; from $1075 a person. Picnic hampers available for purchase.
Matthew Denholm was a guest of Life’s An Adventure and Rotorlift.
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