Maria Island adventure

Friday, 14 January 2022

I reckon it's been at least 3 years since I went to Maria Island, possibly even 4, so when an orienteering friend mentioned in our facebook group she was going for a night this week I leapt on board and rounded up the kids for a quick trip to the island.  I wasn't the only one in our group tempted, and in the end we were a group of 10 despite Zali pulling out at the last minute due to blueberry picking induced soreness.

The first thing I noticed in Triabunna was that the ferry has been upgraded. Instead of the smallish boat with a very manual method of loading the bags on and off, the new boat had a very clever bin & crane system, so we just had to dump our bags in the bin and it was all taken care of. No more chaotic human chains of bag passing with some poor sucker down in the stuffy and hot baggage hold at the very front of the boat trying to place all the bags. It was all a bit calmer and more orderly.  There is even a cafe on board now!  

After a smooth and speedy trip to the island it was good to see what hadn't changed - the trolleys! - they save us lugging our gear the 500m or so to the campsite.

We found a good spot to set up tents, had some lunch, then most of us set off on the Bishop and Clerk hike.  I've been up before when it's been cold and windy but this time it was beautiful and calm, and the rocks were delightfully warm under-butt - we spent a while on the summit enjoying the views as a result.

On our way back to the campsite we took the long route around the headland and as usual spotted a zillion wallabys, wombats and Cape Barron geese.

It wasn't all that hot but we even went for a quick swim as well.

 After a bbq dinner we sat around and played a hilarious game of cards until another camper came over to tell us we were being too loud and keeping the campsite awake!  Who'd have thought we'd be the hooligans at the campsite?! In our defence it was still light (and only just after 9) when this happened, so we felt a bit hard done by, but we still finished up quickly and were all tucked into bed by 9.30.

The next morning we set off to climb Mt Maria. The weather seemed fine at the start..

but by the time we were around 1k from the top we were immersed in cloud.

so the views were not that great.  

Still it was nice to be at the top after quite an arduous rock scramble. 

Back below the cloud it was nice again and I took myself on an extra loop on my way home.

I made it back in time for a late lunch and swim then had to pack up my gear quickly to join everyone the 4.15 ferry home.

All up a fantastic mini-break with lots of great views, laughter and fun!