Matt Down Under

Wellington Falls Track, Hobart

Tax time

The 1st July is always a day that I look forward to, because it’s the beginning of the new financial year in Australia. Most people would probably call be crazy but I’m actually looking forward to lodging my tax declaration. Since I’m not a permanent resident I don’t have access to Medicare for example, so I can usually expect a nice tax return because I was charged too much tax.

What’s it like to walk the South Coast Track in Tasmania?

Watch this short clip I found on YouTube. Then imagine 85km track, 1 week out there…. and no mud without rain.

Ok, I admit it’s not always this bad, walking the South Coast Track can have its beautiful moments if you’re lucky with the weather, but when I walked the track on Easter last year I can easily claim the better part of the track was like in the video.

Maria Island - Day 5: Robey’s Farm / Back to Darlington

Sleeping in the farmhouse wasn’t such a great idea after all, I didn’t get much sleep thanks to constant scratching and moving from possums around and under the house, and the many mosquitoes. So I was glad when I saw the sunrise. I ate the rest of my cake and my food planning worked out excellent this time, there was nothing left except lunch and a meal for dinner. For the next day I had booked the morning ferry, so I wouldn’t need breakfast - I was looking forward to an extensive breakfast at the Triabunna bakehouse upon my return.

Maria Island - Day 4: Convict cells and Haunted Bay

As usual I got up with the sun, probably around 6am. Since I got to sleep early, always around 8 or 9pm already since you can’t do much at night except fighting mosquitoes, I didn’t mind. I took my camera and walked around the old farming grounds behind the campsite. You can find a lot of wildlife there and old farming equipment, a nice walk before breakfast.

Everyone was packing up and leaving except me. It was Monday and most people had to be back at work on Tuesday, so they went back to Darlington the catch the ferry in the afternoon. I didn’t have to be back at work until Thursday, so I was planning to stay another day. My plan for the day was to check out the convict cells near Encampment Cove and then walk to Haunted Bay at the northern end of Maria Island. Depending on the time when I get back I was also thinking about walking to Robey’s Farm, an abandoned farmhouse about 2-3h walk from French’s Farm.

Maria Island - Day 3: Darlington to French’s Farm / Day at the beach

I got up with the sun, as usual when I sleep in my tent. It looked like a beautiful day with lots of sunshine. I remembered there was a note in the bathroom about the end of daylight savings time, otherwise I probably would have forgotten to turn my clock back.

My plan for the day was to move from Darlington to French’s Farm for a couple of days to explore the southern part of Maria Island. There are two campsites at French’s Farm and at Encampment Cove, but I heard Encampment Cove was occupied by a large fleet of weekend sailors. I knew that Maria Island was a popular destination for boat owners, and the previous day on Mt Maria I saw at least fifteen yachts anchoring at Shoal Bay, so my plan was to camp at French’s Farm instead, which is nearby but was said to be less occupied.

Maria Island - Day 2: Mt Maria and Painted Cliffs

My sleep was ok, usually I never sleep well except in my own bed at home. Breakfast was great again, with cake, tea and apples. Normally I wouldn’t take apples as they are heavy, but since I was mostly doing basecamping here it was not a problem. And again I really enjoyed being so organised with only few bags, no trouble at all getting ready for the day.

At 9am I was ready to leave, I was planning to climb Mt Maria. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to climb a second -even more difficult - mountain just one day after Bishop and Clerk, but the weather looked alright and I was afraid I would have to skip it (like I had to in 2008) if the weather became worse the following days.

Maria Island - Day 1: Fossil Cliffs and Mt Bishop and Clerk

On Thursday before Easter I left work early and took the Tassielink East Coast bus from Hobart to Swansea. They had lost my booking (seems to happen a lot to me lately) but with my booking confirmation I got onto the bus anyway. It was great to see the bus took almost the same route I was cycling in 2008, everything looked familiar.

In Triabunna the driver dropped me off, this is where the Maria Island ferry operates from. I went to the Triabunna Caravan Park, I had stayed there twice in 2008 and hoped I could stay there again, I hadn’t booked ahead. Fortunately it wasn’t a problem at all and they had even introduced backpacker dorms since then, so no need to camp. Very friendly and helpful people there.

Maria Island

Over the Easter holidays I went to Maria Island for a week, an island off Tasmania’s East Coast, between the Tasman Peninsula and Freycinet. In 2008 I visited Maria Island for the first time, as a sidetrip when I was cycling around Tasmania for two weeks. It was the most fascinating place I had ever been to, for a European who wasn’t used to such an abundance of wildlife it felt like a Jurassic Park. An uninhabited island where you literally share your campsite with kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and dozens of other mammals and birds, with great mountains and walking tracks, pristine beaches and an interesting history.

Photos from my sailing course at the Derwent Sailing Squadron