Maria Island is a bucket list destination that you’ve probably have never heard of. It’s a tiny island off the east coast of Tasmania that has been transformed into a sanctuary for wildlife. There are no cars, no hotels, and it has very limited infrastructure. Nature has been left alone to do it’s thing. The result? Thriving populations of wombats, Tasmanian devil’s, pademelons, and all types of birds that get to live without the fear or getting run over by a car or having their homes destroyed to make room for more homes.
It’s a special place with beautiful beaches, great walks, and wild nature that’s well worth a visit. While you can go for a day, I highly recommend staying the night. Most of the animals are nocturnal, and seeing dozens of wombats at dusk is an experience you don’t want to miss. Figuring out the right itinerary can be overwhelming, but don’t worry, I’ve got you.
Maria Island was first inhabited 40,000 years ago by the Puthikwilayti people, who were part of the Oyster Bay tribe. They would travel to the island via canoes from the mainland, and they had a thriving population until the Europeans came. (Classic…. amiright?) Abel Tasman first spotted the land in 1642, and named it Maria Island after Maria Van Diemen. But the island didn’t really change until the early 1800s when sealers and whalers began using it as a base point. They were notorious for abusing and killing aborigines, and they decimated the local population.
By 1825, the island had been transformed into a penal settlement. It was notoriuos for being a cushy place to be a convict, and it closed in favor of Port Arthur. Come 1842, it opened once more to be used as a convict probation station, which wasn’t successful either.
Various people tried to use the land for wine production, agriculture, and fishing, but nothing stuck. It’s like the island knew it’s purpose on this planet was to be a place for nature to flourish. Maria Island was declared a national park in 1971, and it’s been a protected space ever since.
Maria Island is accessible via a ferry that leaves from Triabunna. Four ferries go each day each way, and the journey from start to finish is perfectly streamlined. You check-in at the info station. Load up your gear into the bins. Then filter onto the ferry and enjoy the views! There are even snacks, sandwiches, and drinks available to purchase.
Be sure to pre-book your tickets online, as it can fill up. (Although, I was keeping an eye on it as we were deciding which day to go, and only once did I see a day sold out.)
Note that you must have a Parks Pass to visit the national park. There are various locations to buy the pass, and you’ll likely want to get the 2 month holiday pass for $95.50 AUD. Info on all the options HERE!
There are no hotels, bungalows, cottages, or “glamping” accommodations on Maria Island, and no food or bottled water available to purchase. This means you must bring all your own supplies, hydration, and sustenance. There are 3 main options of where to stay to choose from.
The Darlington Campground is a 500m walk from the jetty, and they have trolleys you can use to tote your gear back and forth. There are plenty of places to pitch your tent, but if you go on a beautiful weekend in the summer, expect it to be busy. There were over a dozen tents set up by the time we got there, which was around 12:30pm because we took the 11:30am ferry. Luckily, everyone was very respectful and quiet. AKA no one was loudly talking or playing music at night.
The campground is situated behind the dunes at Darlington (easy beach access!), and the facilities are much more built out than I was expecting. There are shared bathrooms, showers (which were out of order at the time of our visit), and BBQ facilities equipped with BBQs, hot plates, picnic tables, and plenty of food storage lockers.
Frenchs Farm and Encampment Cove are around 13km/8mi south from the jetty, and are great launch points for adventure seekers looking to explore more of the island. If you love multi-day treks and have the type of gear you can easily carry on your back, this could be for you. We didn’t go further south than the Painted Cliffs because we didn’t have the appropriate gear, so I can’t vouch for or against the experience.
Note that for any of the campsites, you don’t need to pre-book. But you will need to pay $7AUD for an individual, $13AUD for 2 persons, or $16AUD for a family when checking in.
If camping isn’t your jam or you don’t have the gear, you have the option of staying in the Maria Island Penitentiary. The penitentiary dates back to 1830, and it’s where convicts were held. It’s made up of 9 rooms with 6 beds ($75AUD a night) and 1 room with 14 beds ($125AUD a night) with shared bathrooms and a mess room for food. While you have a roof, fireplace (can only be used April 1-October 31), and a mattress, there’s no running water, electricity, or locks and you must bring your own linens/sleeping bag.
There’s a two night stay minimum, and be sure to book ahead!
There are a handful of walks across the island ranging from 4km up to 40km. See the map above downloaded from HERE.
One that should be a non-negotiable is the walk to the painted cliffs. During low tide, you can marvel at the almost psychedelic orange, red, and yellow swirls adorning the unique layered sandstone.
The formation of the painted cliffs was a labor of love by nature. Over millions of years, multiple layers of sediment were deposited on top of each other. Each layer had a unique grain size and mineral content, resulting in distinct bands. Mineral-rich groundwater seeping through the sandstone is to thank for the vibrant colors. It’s packed with iron oxide, which is what causes the red, orange, and yellow hues. Be sure to time it around low-tide so you can get upclose and personal with this wild work of art.
The 4.5km Fossil Cliffs circuit is another great Maria Island walk. It takes you past the dramatic cliff faces on the northern side of the island, and said cliff faces hold thousands of fossils of clams, scallops, coral, and other sea critters that were alive 290 million years ago. The circuit continues back along the airstrip, cemetery, and visitor’s center. Keep your eyes peeled for wildlife along the way… you never know what you’ll see!
Many of the other Maria Island walks are quite far, which is why many people opt to bike them instead! You can bring your own bike over, or you can rent one there for $40AUD/day for 1 day, or $30AUD/day for 2 or more days.
There are two big hikes on Maria Island: Bishop and Clerk (13km, 630m elevation gain) and Mount Maria (16km, 711m elevation gain.) We opted for Bishop and Clerk, and unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side.
The hike itself is great. You’ll go across a grassy plain and through a forest with some easy rock scrambling to the top. It’s all up, but the elevation gain in manageable and I didn’t find it too difficult.
The summit supposedly reveals awe-inspiring views of the dolerite cliffs. But our view was nothing but clouds. I guess you can’t win them all!
Maria Island has long sandy beaches with stunning turquoise water. You can go for a swim or even enjoy snorkeling around the Painted Cliffs and near the Jetty. The water isn’t what I’d call warm, but there were still plenty of people having a swim on our visit.
Maria Island is a sanctuary for wildlife. Turns out no cars, minimal infrastructure, and not too many people is the perfect recipe for thriving fauna… would’ve thunk! There are ringtailed possums, potaroos, pademelons, wallabys, snakes, lizards, bandicoots, many types of birds, and a thriving wombat population. The island is so perfect for animals that they have even introduced the Cape Barren Goose as well as a Tasmanian devil population to help preserve the species.
We saw dozens of various “hoppies”, plenty of birds, and a black tiger snake. (We saw several tiger snakes during out 5 weeks in Tas. Read about a cool one near Cape Huay HERE!) I particularly enjoyed an echidna sighting. We plopped down 20 feet away and it just moseyed its way right past us.
The absolute highlight were the wombats. At dusk, dozens started popping out of their burrows to begin feasting for the night. These adorable creatures are marsupials, and they live in burrows that can extend up to 150 m in radius. We sat down and watched them digging about, foraging for food. They are offensively adorable animals, and getting to see so many of them thriving was a highlight of our time on Maria Island!
-Their pouches open backwards so soil doesn’t get into them whilst digging.
-Wombats have long digestive tracks designed to absorb as much water and nutrients as possible, and the digestive process can take up to 18 days long.
-Wombats are the only animal in the world with cubed poo. Scientists have discovered that this is because of their intestional muscles, which you can read about HERE.
-They can weigh up to 36kg and reach speeds of 40kph
Day 1:
-11:30am ferry to the Island.
-Painted Cliffs walk at lowtide (1:30pm)
-Fossil Cliff circuit
-Peanut butter sandwiches for dinner
-Wildlife spotting at dusk around Darlington.
Day 2:
-7am sunrise wake up
-Can of baked beans for breakfast
-7:30am: Bishop and Clerk
-1:00pm ferry back.
The itinerary would have been perfect, but the weather certaily put a damper on the Bishop and Clerk hike. In hindsight. we could have done the hike the first day after the Painted Cliffs. But hindsight is 20/20, as the every allusive “they” say.
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