Down Under Down Under
⬅ previous ⬆intro next ➡Day 9 ~ 30 Dec - Hobart and Maria Island
The good ship Active Again has repurposed her boom as a washing line. More boaty types might like to know that, "Active Again is a Humphreys 54 built by Hakes Marine in New Zealand and launched in late 2010. This full carbon yacht features a lifting keel."
See, not just a mobile washing line.
Anyway, we must now jump in our cars and drive to the Maria Island ferry terminal, about an hour and a quarter. It's an easy drive through a mixture of farmland and towns, and a couple of stretches of causeway across a river estuary.
We arrive in plenty of time, so a coffee from the truck is in order.
This not the ferry.
Ah, this is. All aboard!
Amanda and I sit right at the front on the foredeck while Jo and Meta take up a sheltered position at the back. In a few minutes, we will be totally blasted with wind and spray, but the sun is shining and we get the best view. But in a few more minutes. Amanda will be feeling very unwell. Somehow she manages not to be sick, but we will know better on the return journey.
Here we are then on Maria Island.
That's Mar-EYE-a, by the way, not Mar-EE-a. It wasn't supposed to be, though. It was originally named by Abel Tasman for Maria van Diemen, wife of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies - what is today mostly Indonesia. The Dutch pronunciation was 'ee', but for some reason the first Brits went with 'eye'.
The whole island and much of the surrounding sea is a national park, first established in 1971. It went through a number of phases of development and use, including a substantial cement works in the 1920s, but very little of the past remains.
As I said before, we weren't able to book an organised tour, so we're making our own. Meta has done some research, so she leads us on.
First stop, the "Fossil Cliffs".
Maria Island is formed from sedimentary rock layers spanning an enormous timespan. At the bottom is Silurian, about 500 million years ago, then up to Devonian (~360 mya), followed by a big gap where later rocks formed but then were eroded away, and a Permian (~280 mya) layer on top. This top Permian layer forms the Fossil Cliffs, so named for the extraordinary density of fossils within.
Now sadly, we don't have huge Tyrannosaurus skeletons or Brontosaurus [which is a real dinosaur after all! It was thought for a while that it was an improper name for the Apatosaurus, but in 2015 further research determined that the type specimen really was a separate genus.]; the fossils are mainly things like clams. It's exciting for paleontologists though: this is one of the rarest sites in the world, and even David Attenborough has filmed here.
So they may not be impressive to the lay person, but they are everywhere.
On we trek. We're making our way slowly to the Painted Cliffs. No point in rushing because the best time to see them is determined by the tide.
Weird twisted bark. This is almost certainly another eucalyptus but I'm not sure exactly which. The closest visual match I can find with Google image search is E Crenulata, but that's not one of the species that seem to be associated with Maria Island
Squawk!
The Cape Barren Goose was introduced to Maria Island in 1968 and was then on the verge of extinction. Numbers have recovered now and it's no longer considered endangered. One web page claims it had once been the second-rarest goose in the world, although I have no idea if this is true.
We find a big tree stump to sit on for lunch and as we're finishing, a passing child tells us she's just seen a wombat with a baby just over there. We must investigate!
Wombats!
We are not the only ones who've spotted them.
While we're watching, a woman comes up to me: "Weren't you at Risdon Dam parkrun the other day?" Blimey, talk about a small world! I think we were the only tourists there, let alone foreigners, so it's perhaps not totally surprising that we are remembered by the natives.
Everyone agrees that wombats are dead cute.
Gratuitous wombat pics? Me?
Ok, how about a wallaby?
Or a bird? A Caspian Tern, I think. It looks like pictures online, and it's a species listed as being seen at Maria Island, so I'm going to go with that. We're down at the shore near the Painted Cliffs now.
Amanda has a little paddle.
Meta goes for a full-on swim.
And here are the cliffs themselves.
Close up.
These strange red blobs that look a bit like a cross between a horse chestnut and a jellyfish are anemones, closed up because the tide is out.
This one is just showing a few tendrils as it's just still underwater.
And a mollusc or two...
My big lens isn't just for things a long way off. Nearby but small things, like the molluscs and anemones above, benefit too.
Amanda has found a place to sit and watch while I continue to search out things to photograph and Jo and Meta do general beachcombing.
A crab amongst the rocks.
Time to move on, now. We will meander slowly back for our return ferry.
Checking out more strange vegetation on the way.
We do like eucalyptus, in case you hadn't guessed.
Another wombat, having a little snooze.
Mountain biking is a thing on Maria Island, but we have stuck to wombat-friendly walking.
Back near the ferry jetty, these semi-ruined concrete structures are all that remains of the old cement works. It was built in the early 1920s to process limestone quarried from the Fossil Cliffs, but poor quality stone, transport costs from the island, and the economic effects of the Great Depression made it unprofitable and it closed in July 1930.
Decaying but still impressive.
We've now walked about 10km, but only explored a tiny corner of the island. It's possible to book a four-day guided walk if you want to see more and have the time, but we've had a good day.
So farewell Maria Island. Amanda has gone into the main cabin to find a quiet corner, and while I'm still sitting outside, I'm at the back this time to stay dry.
We have to say that we've enjoyed this trip much more than Bruny.
Back to some evening sun over the marina.
Looks like it's something vaguely pasta ragu-ish for dinner, although Amanda's diary entry says it's chilli con carne. [Just because I made it, that doesn't mean I can remember what it was]
It's dry here, but a rainbow above a distant hill suggests we've being lucky.
Tomorrow we're leaving Hobart for Cradle Mountain: basically a national park in the middle of nowhere, and our activities will be much more weather-dependent, Let's hope this isn't a bad omen.
⬅ previous ⬆intro next ➡