Close encounters with native animals and spectacular coastal scenery come with a side of fine local produce during a trip up Tasmania’s East Coast.
Low tide is approaching when the ferry arrives at Maria Island, so those in the know make a beeline for the Painted Cliffs, a much-photographed landmark on the island’s national park, off the east coast of Tasmania. It’s a two-and-a-half kilometre stroll along the gently undulating coastline, so in theory it shouldn’t take much more than half an hour to walk to the site where the sandstone has been eroded into overhangs and become ochre-stained and patterned by water percolating through the stone over the centuries. But that doesn’t allow for Maria Island’s chief time-waster: wombats that nonchalantly graze on the grassy slopes.
On first sighting, the conga line of hikers detours off the path to capture what they imagine must be a once off encounter with the stout marsupial that moves at a waddle with its legs seemingly impossibly close to the ground. The wombats seem utterly indifferent to the cluster of happy snappers that gathers around them and continue constantly feeding. Turns out the wombats are everywhere and each sighting pulls a similar posse of paparazzi as it seems no one can get enough shots of the lumbering lumps and occasionally their off spring. Until one startles and bolts off , demonstrating its ability to reach up to 40kph.
Close-up encounters with wombats, Forester kangaroos, Bennett’s wallabies, an insurance population of Tasmanian devils, the odd tiger snake and up to 125 species of birds, including all of Tasmania’s endemics such as the endangered forty-spotted pardalote, Swift parrots and many Cape Barren geese, all contribute to Maria Island’s reputation as Tassie’s Noah’s Ark. In the 1970s, several threatened species were released on the island to ensure their survival, and today they form one of Maria’s major attractions, which also include a rare combination of industrial and convict history, alongside spectacular hiking and mountain biking.
The island hosts an upmarket glamping experience, but you don’t have to spend a fortune to sample its charms, as you can visit on a day trip, or camping is welcome and there’s bunkhouse accommodation in the former penitentiary buildings in the settlement of Darlington. The island is a truly remarkable way to start a road trip up Tassie’s eastern seaboard, a scenic 200km journey from the fishing port of Triabunna (about 85km north of Hobart) to the much-photographed orange boulders and turquoise waters of the Bay of Fires in the state’s north. While the navigator might tell you this is a three-hour journey, you’ll need at least a week or maybe three, to sample the many natural features, wildlife encounters and culinary treats on off er along the way.
After the half-hour ferry ride back to Triabunna, and a quick stop for fish and chips in a cone from the Fish Van near the wharf, it’s 50km north past the stunning Kelvedon Beach, with its historic boat shed, and the Spiky Bridge to Swansea, another seaside village with a beautiful beach and views to the Freycinet Peninsula. Marketing executive turned hospitality business owner and sustainable cattle farmer, seventh-generation Tasmanian Mathew Routley welcomes guests to his beautiful property, Swan River Sanctuary, just north of Swansea. The three-bedroom off -grid homestead is poised above the pristine river, and kayaks are provided for exploring, as well as a sauna conveniently located beside a swimming deck on the bank so guests can jump in for a refreshing cool plunge. There’s also great fishing for black bream, with rods provided, or guests can book in for a boat safari with Mathew at the helm and a dinner of local produce, including, hopefully, the catch of the day and oysters from Melshell Oysters at nearby Dolphin Sands. If you fancy a bite to eat in town, Mathew recommends tapas at The Branch in a former bank building, or coffee, cakes and pintxos from Alimento café and deli.
From Swansea, it’s a short (as the eagle flies) distance to Coles Bay, the gateway to the Freycinet National Park, but you’ll need to take a 60km swoop north and then off to the south-east to reach the park, with its crystalline waters and short (2.6km return), but challenging, climb (hundreds of steps) to the lookout with views of the celebrated swoop of Wineglass Bay. If you want to put your feet on that squeaky white sand, it’s an 11km circuit down to the beach, across the peninsula to Hazards Beach and back to the carpark. For an accessible taste of the park, the sealed 600m circuit to Cape Tourville provides visitors with great views and, if you’re lucky, the chance to spot whales and dolphins. Before leaving the peninsula, a seafood lunch at Freycinet Marine Farm is highly recommended and oyster lovers should book a tour of the farm proper, where visitors don waders and get to sample the shellfish straight from the estuary.
From Coles Bay, it’s back to the highway and half an hour north to Bicheno, a mecca for surfers and home to a blowhole that’s best at high tide, as well as Waubs Harbour Whisky Distillery and not one but two boutique breweries in the form of the Bicheno Beer Co and Bicheno Brewery, better known as Bich. Bicheno also boasts the outstanding Little Bay Patisserie and Le Coq bistro, but the best food we sampled in town, if not the entire trip, was at our accommodation at Harveys Farm, a splendid four-bedroom guesthouse set on five acres (two hectares) of absolute ocean frontage a few kilometres south of town. Owners Eliza and Rob di Francesco often rent their holiday house to multigenerational groups celebrating anniversaries, decade birthdays and intimate weddings, so have teamed up with caterer Chris Lucas of What Grows.
Chris has a prolific kitchen garden and whatever’s in season will inevitably turn up on his menu. Our lunch of herbed ricotta tortellini with mushrooms, beef fillet with charred shallot and café de Paris butter on a bed of potato and parsnip purée followed by Myer lemon tart is the kind of indulgence that would put a shine on even the dullest family gathering. Eliza and Rob welcome guests as family, from breakfast makings in the fridge and basics in the larder to a bottle of wine on the bench to tide their visitors over until they can get to the shops. The firepit in the garden is stacked ready for an evening’s relaxation and there are marshmallows on the pantry shelf. It’s hardly surprising that some of their guests rarely feel the urge to leave.
If they do venture out, they’d be well advised to head to East Coast Natureworld, a wildlife sanctuary that provides up-close encounters with kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, quolls and many other native animals and birds. Visit at feeding time to learn lots about Tassie devils, or book in for the after-dark tour, when you’ll see the fierce little animals with jaws powerful enough to crush bones at their most active. Bicheno also has a resident population of fairy penguins, which build their burrows in rookeries just above the high-tide mark on the beach. While you may get lucky and spot them if you walk along the coastline after dark (or even have a pair take up residence in your accommodation’s garden), if you want guaranteed sightings of multiple penguins, it’s a good idea to join an organised outing with Bicheno Penguin Tours. The company’s bus leaves downtown Bicheno at dusk and provides the recommended red-light torches for spotting the little birds with minimal disturbance.
Bicheno is also home to Sara Walkem and her cray fisherman husband Marcus, who own the Lobster Shack, another top place for seafood. Sara was practically born with saltwater in her veins as she’s the granddaughter of Peter and Una Rockcliff , Tassie’s pioneering ocean trout farmers. She pursued a career in banking before she met Marcus and agreed to come and help him with the business. These days, the Lobster Shack is a fully fledged restaurant offering lobster and other shellfish in various guises and fresh-off -the-boat gummy or blue grenadier with chips. Last year, they sold 24,000 of their signature lobster rolls, literally a taste of traditional Tassie, with the prized meat sandwiched in a soft milk bun with crisp lettuce and homemade mayo.
Just a few kays north of Bicheno, there’s a bracing dip to be had at a waterhole on the Apsley River. Head inland for 12km to the Douglas Apsley National Park parking area, then it’s a short (1.2km return walk) to the waterhole or a longer 7km circuit that takes in Apsley Gorge, its waterfalls cascading into another swimming hole. Back on the Tasman Highway, it’s about an hour’s drive north to St Helens, gateway to the pristine coastline of the Bay of Fires, renowned for its white beaches, turquoise water and orange, lichen-encrusted granite boulders.
Taking a short detour north, there are endless bays and beaches to entice swimmers to roll out a towel for the day. On the way, however, set the navigator for Lease 65, where oyster farmer Craig Lockwood sells the molluscs he’s just plucked from the estuarine waters of Moulting Bay. Craig grew up on a mixed farm near Sheffield on the Kentish Plains and reckons the secret to his world-renowned oysters is a combination of tidal flow between deeper channels and detritus from the cool-temperate rainforest in the coastal hinterland that washes into the bay to create the perfect feeding and growing conditions.
In a sheltered cove at Binalong Bay, former Perth home economics teacher Melissa Harbrow sets up a picturebook picnic spread on the beach for a couple who have arranged for her to cater for their anniversary. Melissa was enticed to Tasmania because her husband Marcus’s family had land near St Helens. They bought a small farm and Marcus works FIFO in his job as a superyacht captain out of Sydney. She took over Pop-up Picnics at the beginning of last year, and is now so busy catering for events, proposals and AirBnB welcome platters showcasing local produce that she says a return to the classroom is unlikely.
Melissa recommends several spots to search out along the road that dead ends at The Gardens. The first is an Insta-worthy rock pool near Sloops Reef called Mermaids Pool, which only reveals itself at low tide, and the next is Honeymoon Bay, another protected arc of frosty white beach close to a tumble of russet rocks strewn along the water’s edge at The Gardens, named by colonial governor’s wife Lady Jane Franklin for the wildflowers growing in the fields beside the beach. Once again, we find ourselves in yet another of the coast’s spectacular wild places. And, in what has become something of a running theme for the trip, we have the place to ourselves.
