Triabunna, Tassie, 16, windy and cool....Brrrrrrrr!

Maria Island National Park and Marine Reserve:

Of Transported Criminals and A Present Day Wildlife Reserve:

The reason for driving much of the way down the east coast yesterday was to spend a day on Maria Island to allow us to learn a little about the criminal transport from England in the early to mid 1800's and to see the animals that inhabit this large and quite unique ecological zone. Traveling to the island involves crossing 8 kms of open water in a smallish boat. 

Maria Island has been occupied by the aborigines for many thousands of years and with the arrival of the Europeans it was logged for its excellent timber and used as a whaling station for a time. Later it was suggested that it's distance from the mainland and the high number of sharks in the local waters would make it the perfect place to situate the first penal colony in Tasmania. This worked well for a time until some Irish prisoners began to escape. Annemarie is writing more about this so I'll at no more except to say that a very famous Irish rebel, William O'Brien-Smith was held here for a time. Caitlin, no doubt Paul will know this history as there is a statue in Dublin to his memory.

My contribution is to cover our day on the island, the outstanding wildlife and the natural wonders evident there. We were advised by Robyn while riding the A2O in NZ to rent bikes as the island covers a large area and there is much to see. So our trustee carriers this time were Dutch made Zenith bikes! Three gears and so familiar from our times in the Netherlands! Big bouncy tires that proved super riding on the sandy parts of the trail, but the brakes were a bit light which made the descents a bit more exciting!

We first peddled out to the fossil fields which are quite prolific and are about 200 million years old and up-lifted ocean beds, much the same as our Nanaimo sediments at home. A few photos...

The cliffs were quite impressive and keeping the Irish Cliffs of Mohar in mind (an old story), I visited them without Annemarie this time! 

From here it was off across the island where we were to see some new (to us) birds. These Tasmanian Hens are found nowhere else in the world...

Then there were these very cool geese with their lime green beaks! 

A little of the sights and scenery as we found our way south down the island...

Then before we knew it we had found the Painted Cliffs...actually stained by leaching, but painted sounds better. They were special and made me a happy guy!

More bird life...

In 2009 a program was undertaken to try and find a permanent home for the Tasmanian Devils where they could survive. Habitat changes and other pressures has reduced their habitat on the mainland so a test population was released on the island. Yes they have thrived, growing in numbers until their are about 160 on the island. However, ts has come at a huge cost to the bird populations. Where there were about 260 bird species when the Devils were released, this number has dropped significantly. No one figured on the Devils eating the bird eggs. We never saw a TD on the island, but we saw their burrows as well as many wombat burrows...all over the place. What we saw the most however, were wallabies! We would surprise them while riding the trials and I was able to spot many before they sensed us.

Pretty cool for a couple of Canucks!

All in all we rode over 30kms and saw some lovely country.

Then with the wind picking up and rain threatening, we cycled back to the penal settlement for a look around...

We had seen all sorts of wildlife here...it was great! Parrots, giant Pelicans and all sorts of critters! However, with the wind coming up and weather deteriorating, the water taxi showed up and off we went to the mainland. Once on shore we jumped in the car for the 120 km drive south to Port Arthur where we had booked a spot so that we could visit the national park early the next morning. The last 60 kms was wild! High winds and sheets of rain made for an entertaining drive...looking to avoid branches and animals crossing the road. Fortunately we hit nothing and arrived close to dark where we were greeted by a local resident in our camper site no less! Then dinner and bed!

We were just fried and in bed early