Tasman National Park, Tasmania

If Freycinet is the darling of the Tasmanian Parks then Tasman is the evil twin brother. While Freycinet was white beaches, aqua seas and romance, Tasman is rocky cliffs, gale-force winds and drama. Tasman National park is located on the the Tasman peninsula on the south-east corner of Tasmania (anyone noticing a trend here?). It only has access via dirt roads and there is no public transit to take you in, so I had to rent a car. There is one main campsite at a place called Fortescue Bay, and this is where a left the car.

I started by doing a 2-day circuit trek that includes two peninsulas: Cape Huay and Cape Pillar. At the end of Cape Pillar is Tasman Island, which is small and supports a lighthouse and a couple buildings (residence for the lighthouse keeper and perhaps weather station?) The map/guide does not provide estimated walk times for the circuit so I had little to go on. There are only a couple of campsites on the whole route, both of them on Cape Pillar, so I had a considerable distance to cover the first day and no idea how long it would take. I set off at about 11:00 AM as I had driven down from Hobart that morning, and easily covered the trek out to Cape Huay and back to the main circuit trek in about 3 hours. I then set off over the circuit trail towards Cape Pillar. The terrain initially consisted of rocks and scrub, so it was impossible to tell if I was actually on the trail or not. To my dismay, there were no trail markers so I just had to assume that I was going in the right direction. Not a pleasant feeling. After about 45 minutes, I found my first trail marker, and I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. The trail was marked for the next few hours, so at least I knew I was on the right path. Unfortunately, this part of the trail is not maintained by the parks and is full of fallen trees. I literally could not take more that five steps at a time without having to climb over a fallen tree, or crab-walk/crawl under one. This was very difficult with my pack on and my knees and feet were really feeling it. Given that I didn't know how long to expect this hike to take, and it was impossible to make estimates due to the condition of the trail, I was quite uneasy along this path. I knew that I was the only one on the trail that day, and likely for the next couple of days as well, which added to my anxiety. I was also running out of water, and knew from my map that the next stream was well down into Cape Pillar. At about 6:00 PM I finally arrived at the junction of the Cape Pillar trail, which was a huge relief. As it turns out, the campsites were nothing more that small clearings on the trail large enough for one tent. They were unmarked so I'm still guessing that these small clearings were actually the campsites.

At the first stream I came upon a single woman camping alone. This wasn't a designated campsite but she, like me, was looking for any place big enough to fit a tent. For a moment I was tempted to try and fit my tent in beside hers, but then I proceeded to have a very bizarre conversation with her and didn't think I had the strength left in me to deal with her for the rest of the evening and next morning. She was American but trying to pass herself off as Australian. Her opening question to me was where was I from, and when I replied "Canada" she gave me a hard time for bringing up my nationality so early in the conversation. She has clearly encountered some backlash from the traveling public regarding her nationality and was very defensive about it. She also was rather spacey and couldn't seem to hang onto the flow of her conversation. I decided to push on to the campsite indicated on my map.

I finally got to a space big enough to accommodate my tent at 7:40 PM, just as the sun was setting. I got my tent set up despite the incredible winds and had no residual energy to even think about cooking dinner. I crawled into my sleeping bag with a baggie of trail mix and my book. At this point I was dry, warm and safe so I felt much better, but my feet, knees and hips were all aching from the day's effort. I was reminded of something my friend Nicole from Brisbane and said to me when were in the rain forest in Peru. We were staying in a lodge and each room had only three walls, with the fourth side being completely open to the forest. This is a bit frightening, but Nicole felt that since her bed was surrounded by a mosquito net, that she felt safe and protected from anything that might enter her room. I found this quite amusing at the time, however I felt the same thing there on Cape Pillar. A nylon tent was technically not much of a shield against the elements and animals out there, but once I was inside I felt like I was in a fortress and all of the days anxieties slipped right away.

I awoke the next morning after a horrible night's sleep due to mother nature's efforts. At least there were no possums to keep me awake here, but the wind and rain took over. I left my tent and took off down to the end of the cape to catch the views. It was absolutely stunning. There are massive craggy cliffs all along the coast that drop right into the raging sea. There were times when it felt like the wind would blow me right off my feet, and in fact I had to drop to my knees on several occasions to ensure that I wouldn't get blown over. Over the course of this trek, I ran into the woman I had seen the night before. She was like a different person - very charming and well-spoken. I have to assume that her behaviour the previous night had been somewhat chemically induced. After finishing the cape walk (about 4 hours round trip), I came back to my tent and packed up camp. I then set off back towards Fortescue Bay via the final leg of the circuit trail. This trail was very well maintained, and I made good time. Still, it was another 7 hours of trekking that day, and after the 8.5 hours of trekking the previous day, I was absolutely beat, and thrilled to see the campsite.

I was able to take a hot shower at the camp and after I got myself settled in, I realized it was St. Patrick's day. There certainly wasn't a party going on at the campsite as there were only two other families there, so I inquired at the office about the location of the nearest pub. A 15 km drive took me near to Port Arthur, a tourist destination, and seemingly the only place where you could get a hot meal on the entire Tasman Peninsula. The Fox and Hounds is actually more of an inn than a pub, but they were able to accommodate me after a short wait with a glass of wine at the bar. I ended up dining on a superb blackened salmon fillet with garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables steamed to perfection. Not exactly what I would have been doing for St. Paddy's day at home, but enjoyable none-the-less, especially since dinner the night before consisted of a few nuts and dried fruit. I was back to the campsite and tucked up in bed fairly early.

The next morning was beautiful and clear. I took a cup of tea down to the beach and watched the water birds. There were some birds on the sea that looked exactly like loons - their shape, the tilt of their heads and their diving style were all the same. I couldn't see what colour they were as they were back lit by the rising sun, but it still was a lovely reminder of home. After breakfast, I drove across the peninsula to do a 5 hour day hike to Cape Raoul. While I drove, the scenery was also similar to home - lots of farms and rolling hills. I could have been driving through Alcove - it was really pretty. This was a much easier hike than my previous one and made for a very enjoyable day. The views, while beautiful, weren't quite as dramatic as on the other capes, but I was able to see Cape Pillar from a different vantage point when I reached the tip of Cape Raoul. On the return trip I happened upon a massive tiger snake, but took it all in stride. Even though they're deadly, the snakes here tend to move much more slowly than they do at home, and that somehow makes me much less panicked in their presence. I explored the peninsula a bit by car after my hike and then spent some time reading on the beach back at the campsite.

The next day I packed up camp and decided to do some touring in the car rather than another hike. I explored some of the touristy spots on the peninsula, both man-made and nature-made. The coastline never seemed to get boring, with all the jagged rocks, caves and blow-holes. The Tasman peninsula figures prominently on the "convict trail" in Tassie. There were jails and other convict communities on the peninsula. The point where it joins the rest of the island, Eaglehawk Neck, is only 100 metres across so provided a natural barrier and served to keep the convicts confined. There was a dog line across this stretch where 18 or so very vicious dogs were tied up to alert the guards to anyone trying to cross. Very few people ever escaped.

I returned to Hobart and visited a few more historic sites there such as the Women's Factory (jail for female convicts) and the Cascade brewery. I finally made it up to the top of Mount Wellington which was well worth the trip. It towers over Hobart and offers absolutely fabulous views of Tassie in all directions. I spent the evening getting laundry done and readying myself for my departure from Tasmania. The next morning I drove myself to the airport and flew out to Sydney.