With its chequered history, car-free Maria Island has some interesting World Heritage–listed convict and industrial ruins among exquisite natural features: forests, mountains, fossil-studded limestone cliffs, vividly patterned sandstone cliffs, and empty beaches. Maria is popular with bushwalkers, mountain bikers and birdwatchers, and snorkellers and divers are in for a treat. Island info is available at the visitor reception area in the old Commissariat Store near the pier. Getting here is part of the adventure: catch the ferry from Triabunna.
Maria Island National Park
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
3.93 MILES
Lucky twitchers might spot the endangered forty-spotted pardalote on Maria, or perhaps the aptly named swift parrot. You’ll certainly see Cape Barren…
3.95 MILES
The township of Darlington (officially the World Heritage–listed Darlington Probation Station) is where you’ll start your time on the island. Close to the…
Blowhole, Tasman Arch & Devil’s Kitchen
28.38 MILES
For a close look at the spectacular coastline just south of Eaglehawk Neck, head through quirky Doo Town to the Blowhole (which wheezes sporadic bursts…
28.65 MILES
No one is really sure how it all started, but the raggedy collection of fishing shacks at Doo Town (3km south of Eaglehawk Neck on the way to the Blowhole…
27.54 MILES
Down on the Eaglehawk Neck isthmus – where once the barking Dogline dissuaded convicts escaping from Port Arthur and the Tasman Peninsula to the south –…
29.49 MILES
Isolated Lime Bay State Reserve is a beautiful area (via Premaydena and Saltwater River) aflutter with rare birds and butterflies, and with some lazy…
26.9 MILES
At the northern end of Pirates Bay, a 10-minute trail leads to a rocky coastal terrace that has curiously eroded into what looks like tiled paving – it's…
28.05 MILES
Pick your own fruit (including strawberries, raspberries, cherries, apricots, peaches, apples and loganberries) at this intensively planted 5-hectare farm…
Nearby attractions
3.47 MILES
From Darlington it’s a one-hour return walk to the Painted Cliffs, at the southern end of Hopground Beach. From the beach you can clamber along the…
3.93 MILES
Lucky twitchers might spot the endangered forty-spotted pardalote on Maria, or perhaps the aptly named swift parrot. You’ll certainly see Cape Barren…
3.95 MILES
The township of Darlington (officially the World Heritage–listed Darlington Probation Station) is where you’ll start your time on the island. Close to the…
4.14 MILES
Built in 1825, the stately Commissariat Store now houses the national park visitor centre.
12.38 MILES
In the Orford back-blocks up the hill opposite the service station, Darlington Vineyard is the most southerly of the east-coast wineries, producing…
26.12 MILES
As you approach Eaglehawk Neck from the north, turn east onto Pirates Bay Dr for eye-popping views across Pirates Bay, the Neck and the jagged coastline…
26.64 MILES
About 11km south of Sorell at Forcett, Nonesuch is yet another of Tasmania's new breed of hooch-makers, bottling up dry gin, sloe gin and sloe malt whisky…
26.9 MILES
At the northern end of Pirates Bay, a 10-minute trail leads to a rocky coastal terrace that has curiously eroded into what looks like tiled paving – it's…