Fabulous Flinders Island

Day 1

The day had arrived to head to fabulous Flinders Island! We packed up the car and headed to the Furneaux Freight at Bridport for our boat ride to Lady Barron. Luckily the water was calm as it helped calm my nerves for the trip ahead. 

We set sail at 9:15am in the morning and slowly chugged along Bass Strait taking in the view. We passed many islands, including Cape Barren Island. Unfortunately, it got a bit rough and I ended up with boat sickness. So was extremely happy after the ten hours of travel to hit level ground. 

We drove off the boat at 7:45pm in search of Trousers Point Campground so we could set up our tent while it was still light. Trousers Point Campground was an interesting set-up as there were some lovely spaces to camp, but cars were not allowed in and needed to park on the road, which made carrying the gear to our location difficult. We may have snuck the car in to unpack and then parked it on the road, but don’t tell anyone. 

Highlight on the first day involved meeting a gorgeous wild parrot, with stunning black eyes, rainbow feathers, and was super friendly. He loved getting up close and personal and became very inquisitive. You need to watch the video of him climbing up my partners arm, grabbing his hair, and nibbling on his ear and beard. Was super funny and such an amazing experience.

Day 2 

We woke up to a scorcher of a day and I was excited to start exploring. We went and checked out the water at the little cove next to our campsite. It was a spectacular view with the white sand lapped up by the crystal clear water, with the towering mountain of Strzelecki in the background. 

We decided to stroll the Trousers Point walk starting from the campsite and walking along the coastal track to Fotheringate Beach. The view along this walk was breath-taking, with the richness of the orange coming through the granite boulders which were protruding through the white sandy soil. We walked for about one and a half hours in awe of the spectacular view. The water was so clear you could see the rocks, sand and shells below. No wonder this is one of the 60 great short walks of Tasmania, which you can find more information about here.

We returned to our campsite and had some lunch and then Mick went for a spearfish and I decided to explore Trousers Point Beach. One thing that has become very apparent is the influx of extremely annoying March Flies here on the island. I learnt quickly to keep moving and not stand still. I walked the length of Trousers Point beach and felt so serene in this natural scenic part of the world (Besides the occassional swat of a March Fly). I then took a dip in the fresh, cool ocean. This beach would be up there with one of the nicest beaches on the East coast of Tasmania. What do you think?

In the afternoon, I headed out snorkelling around Trousers Point for a good hour. It was so nice to see what Mick sees when he heads out spearfishing. We saw a little squid eat a fish and I found a bright yellow star fish clinging to the rocks. I did feel a bit sea sick towards the end, as I was still recovering from my sea legs from the boat. Check out the video and see if you can spot the squid.

We finished our amazing first day with a fish off the rocks of a gorgeous little bay found at the end of a 4WD track. This location was amazing with Mount Strzelecki towering above the coastline and the sun setting over Big Green Island. We managed to catch six Pike and a couple Couta, keeping two of the Pike. 

On our way back to camp we passed a wildlife sanctuary and it would have had easily over one hundred kangaroos sitting in a paddock. We also counted eight wombats over the distance of maybe 5kms. 

Day 3

We packed up camp ready to head to Leeka to check in to our holiday house. I loved Trousers Point and was eager to explore more of this island. 

We drove to Whitemark, the main place to buy supplies on the island. We checked out the wharf, brought some food supplies including a massive T-bone steak for tea. We grabbed some lunch from the highly recommended Tuck Shop. Mick selected the biggest sausage roll I have seen in the history of sausage rolls. 

We drove to Sawyers Beach for a look and it was stunningly beautiful. We continued on our journey stopping at Marshalls Bay lookout and a multitude of places along the coast of Leeka before checking into our accommodation. 

The weather had turned, so we relaxed at the holiday house admiring the view from the living area. We ate the steak we had brought from the butchers in Whitemark and it was delicious. We then finished the night playing scrabble. 

Day 4

After enjoying a hot shower and feeling fresh as a daisy, we packed our day bag and headed out for the day. We headed to Emita and stopped at Lillies Campground to see what it was like. Lillies Beach had a dilapidated, old jetty peering out of the blue, clear ocean. This set the scene for a stunning photograph. 

We headed to Allports Beach to start our walk to Castle Rock. This walk was reported to take anywhere from 1.5- 3hrs return. We were doing really well until we hit the soft sand which absorbed our feet with each step significantly slowing us down. I made sure I was covered up to avoid the onslaught of March Fly bites. 

We finally made it to Castle Rock, a massive, towering, granite boulder at the beginning of Marshall Bay. If you look closely you can see how small we are in comparison to Castle Rock. For more information about Castle Rock click here.

Close to Castle Rock walk is the Furneaux Museum. Only charging $5 per person we went in to check out the local history of Flinders Island. There are over 8,000 objects, photographs and documents at the museum on the cultural and natural history of the Furneaux Islands. 

Next stop was checking out Killercrankie looking for possible places for Mick to go diving. We then headed to the next bay along from Killercrankie, where we went down a 4WD track to The Docks. The road was very rough, so we took it slow. When we finally got to The Docks we were not disappointed. What a spectacular place to explore. The Docks has a rich explosion of orange, glowing throughout the environment. The gorgeous rocks tower over the clear, cool water and reflect the burnt orange rocks making this place feel so rich and vibrant. Mick went for a quick dive looking for crayfish and I explored the rock formations and caves up close.

On our return to the holiday house we drove to the summit of Mt Tanner and checked out the view from the lookout. 

We finished this amazing day relaxing at the holiday house with fish stew in our bellies, a gorgeous sunset to end the day and a few board games to bring the night to a conclusion.

Day 5

We packed up the car and left our comfort of warm water to head to our next destination to camp for the remaining three days on the island. First though we headed back to Whitemark to fill up the car and grab a few supplies as it’s the only place on the island besides Lady Barron that has convenience stores. 

We then drove to our final camping destination at North East River campsite. What a spectacular location. With not one other person in the whole campsite, we chose our location and setup under the trees right next to our own private beach. This never happens on mainland Tasmania. Complete isolation and solitude with no human noises besides the ones Mick and I made. So nice being one with nature. 

After lunch, Mick went for a dive at Palana Beach and I went for a walk. I loved waking this beach as it was hard sand and, therefore, easy to walk on. I found some really nice shells on my walk, one looking like it has the suns rays painted on it. 

Mick’s dive was eventful, with a 6ft Mako Shark coming in to take a closer look at Mick diving. Luckily there was great visibility so Mick saw it and quickly headed to the rocks to clamber out as the shark circled back to take a second look. You could say it scared the living daylights out of him. 

We captured a picture of some Cape Barron Geese on the way back to camp. 

One, and possibly the only, negative, about Flinders Island would be the amounts of unmarked, overgrown 4WD tracks. We took many tracks trying to reach different beaches and as the track went on it would get smaller and rougher, with overgrown trees. I have copious amounts of scratches up my car. Then you would head down a gravel road and come to a dead end because there would be a private property sign not allowing you to go on. If this was signposted at the beginning of the track and on maps that would be a lot less frustrating. You definitely need a 4WD to access around 50% of the roads in Flinders.

We completed Day 5 with a fish off the rocks. We managed to spot a seal who came up for a few breaths. We only caught four or five Blue Throat Wrasse, but I had the experience of catching a male and female on my line, at the same time. I was pretty proud with my accomplishments. Once again another beautiful sunset to complete our day.

Day 6

We had an easy morning with bush pancakes for breakfast. I was really feeling like a shower so decided to throw on my bathers and head out for a morning swim in the ocean. This place is so surreal and magical, because during my morning swim a pod of either whales or dolphins came in and swam along the bay jumping the waves playfully. They went back and forth along the coast for a good hour. We were thinking they were more whales as they were black in colour and their fins were quite tall sticking out of the water. What do you think they are?

After our amazing experience swimming with the whales or dolphins, we headed off for our third and final day walk. We started at The Dock and walked to the end of Killercrankie Beach, in search for Stacky’s Bight. We completed the coastal walk climbing over granite rock, following the rock markers as our guide. We were keen to look for some Killercrankie diamonds, fossicking along the way. Our walk took about four and a half hours return, including time for fossicking. 

Can you see the face in the rocks?

Half way along the track we found a little old shack amongst the boulders and trees. 

We finished off our day with another night fish off the rocks at the lighthouse at North East River outlet. It wasn’t our lucky night though with our only catches being a Stingray and a Port Jackson Shark. 

Day 7

Today we were granted with some depressing weather. We really can’t complain as it’s been pretty good throughout our week on the island. We decided to go for a drive and attempt some more 4WD tracks to no avail. 

We ended up driving up to the Walkers lookout but it was in cloud cover and we couldn’t see one metre in front of us. 

We headed to the East coast of the island and went and found Patriarchs Conservation Area. We actually went along a 4WD successfully and came out at a rocky point to view the ocean on the East coast. One of the beaches were covered in a million, red, Soldier Crabs. I have never seen so many crabs on one beach. 

Upon leaving the East coast we came across a snake. It was the third snake we had seen on our holiday, but I got Mick to slow down so I could get a picture.

In the afternoon, we headed back to The Docks. We came across local school kids enjoying a day out, with a blow up boat, learning about boat safety at the beach. Mick hesitantly headed out for a spearfish after his encounter with the shark days earlier. I enjoyed a swim in the clear water making it relaxing as I could see the floor of the ocean and didn’t have to stress about anything touching my leg. This was my final swim at Flinders and I thoroughly enjoyed myself floating idly around the bay taking in the gorgeous environment. 

On my way back to the car I was walking up a sandy embankment and within one metre from me a Whip Snake wriggled it’s way across my path. It scared me half to death. 

We headed back to the North East River campsite where we cooked up some nachos with the food we had left over. The Bennett’s wallabies had got a lot less wary of us over the last few days and made their way up close to inspect the left over nachos. 

Day 8

Today we packed up our tent and belongings ready to head home. We drove to Killercrankie to meet a lady to find out if the diamonds we had found on the beach were actually diamonds. We felt pretty positive, but when the machine was placed on our colourful stones we realised we had glass not diamonds, and quartz. We gathered instructions that involved digging deeper as diamonds are heavier than quartz and digging close to the granite rocks in between the cracks. Next time we will actually have a go at fossicking properly, not just on surface level. 

We left Killercrankie to head to Lady Barron where we would be getting on the boat to travel back home. We checked out the volcanic rock on the beach at Lady Barron. 

We finished our afternoon off beach fossicking along Yellow Beach to fill in time before boarding the boat. We wanted to grab some food for lunch from the tavern but it didn’t open until 2pm so we grabbed some food from the one and only food store in Lady Barron. 

We boarded the boat at 3pm with my fingers crossed that I would make it home without sea sickness this time. I grabbed some photos of my final sunset and tucked myself up into the car and tried to sleep through the trip. We made it to Bridport at 3am without sea sickness (thank goodness).

Flinders Island was breathtakingly beautiful. A highlight for me was the stunning nature that we became a part of during our trip.  We got to interact with so many animals and I honestly felt in solitude with limited human noise. We loved all of the amazing sunsets and loved viewing the star filled sky at night. It was truly a relaxing break and a place to make some amazing memories. The locals were super friendly giving us a wave every time they went past us in the car. If you are thinking you might like to go to Flinders Island one day, go ahead and do it! Trust me, you won’t regret it.