Matt Down Under

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.

The next morning I got up early, packed up my stuff and walked to the ferry. The boat was a different one than last time, in 2008 it was some sort of powerboat that really jumped over the waves, it was an impressive ride. The new ferry is more comfortable and takes around 45 passengers.

It was fully booked with people wanting to spend the Easter weekend on the island. Some of them had already piled up an impressive amount of luggage that they wanted to take with them. When the captain showed up and noticed their excessive luggage, he almost freaked out, he couldn’t believe what he saw. Normally you’re allowed to take 1 piece of luggage onto the ferry and this family of 4 or 5 people had already piled up more stuff than I would have if I was moving houses.

The captain then argued a lot with them, pointed to me and told them I was going to stay for the same period of time than they were (one week) and “this is all he needs, food, clothing, tent” (pointing to my single backpack). I couldn’t help smiling and decided not to comment but I would lie if I said I didn’t feel honoured by his appreciation of my efforts to minimise gear. I must say I felt a lot of sympathy for the captain for telling these people how crazy they are. If you want to take a trailer load full of luggage over to Maria you should really organise your own private transport. In the end the ferry left with 30 minutes delay because storing their luggage on the ferry took forever. At least he made them pay for extra luggage.

It’s amazing what some people call a ‘camping trip’. They can’t spend a few days without chairs, tables (there are even tables on the campsite in Darlington, so no need to bring your own), fresh food, beer and make-up.

Anyway, eventually I got to the island and bought a camping permit from the Parks and Wildlife people at the Commissariat Store. The original campsite in Darlington had been relocated to the day-use area near the barbecue and showers, after recent floodings devastated large parts of the original campground and surroundings. I was surprised to see heaps of people already there. It turned out a group of marine biology students spent the Easter holidays on Maria Island to do research. So there was quite a lot of activity and they even offered some events like presentations or quizes where other visitors where invited.

I set up my camp in record time. After the recent bad experience in the Southwest I changed the way I was packing luggage. Basically I only had two bags now, one for clothes and one for food. I stuffed everything else in side pockets or my daypack. This way everything was more accessible without a dozen of bags. I also bought a new food bag, a strong 20l dry bag from Sea to Summit. It’s airtight enough so I can store food inside the tent, no need for hanging it on trees during the night. It worked very well.

The biggest change however, was, that I carried a daypack all the time. I put all the important little stuff like camera, documents, first-aid, water bottle and so on in a day pack which I carried all the time. This way, my big pack wasn’t filled with lots of little things, but only the camping gear, food and clothing, which made me set up the camp much faster. When I walked with the big backpack, I carried the daypack like a front pack. It felt much more comfortable to me, the weight isn’t completely on my back but more distributed, and also I always had everything important ready to grab.

After setting up the camp I had breakfast, with cake I made the night before Thursday. In the end the cake lasted for 5 days and it is great to have cake for breakfast every day - I need to remember that. With the camp set up and breakfast done I went exploring. Last time on Maria Island I walked to Fossil Cliffs and Mt Bishop and Clerk on the first day, I decided to do exactly that again.

I actually went a bit off-track on my way to the Fossil Cliffs, the kangaroos like to hide in the nearby forests, so I went there to get some photos. The Fossil Cliffs are very spectacular, with great views over to Freycinet. I walked along the cliffs, up to Mt Bishop and Clerk. There are a lot of beautiful birds in the forest towards Bishop and Clerk. Climbing up the mountain involves some rock scrambling at the top, but the views from up there are totally worth it.

When I reached the top, there was absolutely no wind. I enjoyed it as long as possible, had lunch and took a lot of photos. Even though I had been up there before, it was as priceless as it was the first time. On my way back down I could feel that after my knee injury some weeks ago I still only had like 90% of mobility, but it didn’t cause any trouble. Getting used to activity again was a rather positive effect.

I walked along the cliffs again towards the airstrip, it’s nice walking around there and I also remembered seeing a lot of kangaroos around the airstrip last time. Again I saw a lot of kangaroos, a great experience.

Back at the camp I went to have a hot shower, it feels great after a long walk. Afterwards I cooked tea and dinner. I thought it was a good idea to place my tent between the trees for shelter from the wind, but the drawback was that those trees were very popular for possums, so later when it got dark I watched a possum sitting on the tree eating leaves, or maybe seeds, I don’t know.

It was very warm that night, I think it never really gets cold in Darlington since you’re exposed to wind from the sea. I sat at the beach in the dark for a while watching the waves before I went to sleep. I brought my bigger tent, not my small Vango Helium 100. The additional space felt so comfortable that I’m thinking of looking into the tent situation again if I plan to go long distance hiking again.