Tasmania (East Coast Region)
Maria Island National Park
Located six kilometres offshore the island is accessed either by a short ferry ride from Triabunna or by light aircraft. Maria Island was Tasmania's second penal settlement and later became a convict probation station, grazing property, the site for vineyards, and a cement works.

Finally the island was declared a National Park and wildlife sanctuary, mainly for the breeding of threatened indigenous wildlife. The two halfs of the island are linked by a sandy isthmus and covered mainly with eucalypt forests, interspersed with coastal heath, while the east coast is mainly rugged steep cliffs.

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As the Tasman Highway meets the sea at Orford, a small holiday resort on the estuary of the Prosser River, you get your first views across to Maria Island. The entire island, 15km off the east coast, is a national park, uninhabited save for its ranger. Its wide tracks are ideal for mountain-biking, an activity encouraged here – because no other vehicles are allowed, you can ride in perfect safety. The island’s coastal road has no gradient, but inland there are a few hills to climb. Birdlife is prolific, with over 130 species; it’s the only national park containing all eleven of the state’s endemic bird species. The old airstrip is covered with Cape Barren geese, which you’ll see if you walk to the fossil cliffs, a twenty-minute stroll from Darlington.

The ferry lands at DARLINGTON, where the structures of the former penal settlement still stand, including the commissariat store with its visitor information boards, the convict barn, the cemetery, the mill house and the penitentiary. The latter is now a bunkhouse (up to $18); units have wood stoves and bunks with mattresses; they’re always in demand and are often booked up six months in advance, so call the ranger before turning up. The campsite here is the island’s best, with a public phone, toilets, fireplaces, cold water taps and tank water for drinking; there’s a small fee for camping – the ranger will come and collect it. As there is little water elsewhere on the island, free-range camping is best done at Frenchs Farm or Encampment Cove, two campsites with a rainwater supply and fireplaces; the latter, on Shoal Bay, is the more picturesque.

You can take many short walks on the island, as well as longer bushwalks; free pamphlets are available from the ranger’s office at Darlington (tel 03/6257 1420). With a couple of days to spare, you can walk past the narrow isthmus to the rarely visited southern end of the island, which has unspoilt forests and secluded beaches. As there’s no water here, be sure to bring supplies with you.

Getting There: Triabunna
Ferries leave for the island from the Eastcoaster Resort at Louisville, halfway between Orford and Triabunna, and from TRIABUNNA itself (reached by Tasmanian Wilderness Travel and Redline from Hobart). The Eastcoaster Express (tel 03/6257 1172), a fast catamaran taking only twenty minutes, leaves the resort daily at 10.30am, 1pm and 3.30pm, returning from Maria Island at 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm, with extra trips between December 26 and January 28 (day-trips $17, campers $20, bikes and kayaks $3). 

The laid-back Triabunna YHA on Spencer Street, 1km outside Triabunna (tel 03/6257 3439; rooms $19–30, dorms up to $18), is a good base for making a day-trip to the island, but it’s closed from early June and July. You can also charter a flight to the island from Triabunna with Salmon Air (tel 03/6257 3186), or take a scenic ride with them.