Maria Island
An early start from Coles Bay to make sure that we caught the 10am ferry from Triabunna. Traffic much lighter in the early morning meant we were passing through Swansea before Morris’ stores were open. We arrived in Triabunna and even had time to find coffees, milkshakes, pasties and rocky roads.
Sea conditions were calm as we crossed to Maria Island and were warmly greeted by warden Rosie. We then set off on a hot walk (did I mention it was hot?) to the reservoir, which we’d heard was a good spot for lunch. The history of Maria Island is an interesting and varied one which includes two short spells as a penal colony, attempts to build a commercial industry based around the cement works in the 1880’s and latter day conservation.
After lunch we continued ou a circular path around the north coast of the island. We saw a wombat nibbling at the flowers and grasses under a bush and two wallabies popped their heads above the long grass as we walked past the airstrip. We soon returned to the jetty, hotter and tired, and decided the next stop should be a beach for a swim. Emma continued to explore with her excellent snorkelling.
We returned to the mainland and got in the car to head home. Hungry, we stopped at Swansea and enjoyed scallops served in a pie, a curry and deep fried. Emma chose a very large pizza instead. As we were shown to our table we were surprised to see on the wall a signed Beatles guitar.
Refreshed, we continued back to Coles Bay for our final night there.
Jonathan's World 