Matt Down Under

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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