Australian-Geographic-Magazine-September-Octobe..

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morning on the Tasman Coastal Trail. Just an hour or so from

one of Australia’s state capitals, we feel a million miles from care.

“T

ASMAN NATIONAL PARK’S probably got the most

spectacular coastline of any park in Tasmania,” says

Luke Gadd, one of two Tasmania Parks & Wildlife

Service (PWS) rangers stationed here. “There’s a high biological

diversity, as well, and a high number of recreational opportuni-

ties – and we’ve got some of the best day walks in Tasmania.”

The Coastal Trail was built in stages over many years with the

help of Hobart Walking Club (HWC). It was o‘cially recognised

in 1998 and combines several day walks and additional track into a

coast-hugging 53km trek, typically requiring 4–5 days to complete.

Today we’ve joined Luke on the track’s northern section – the

1.7km amble around Waterfall Bay to Waterfall Bluš – an easy

stretch that provides a first taste of the track’s high clišs.

The sedimentary sea clišs in this part of the park rise to an

impressive 150m above the waves, Luke tells us. “And where

Y

OU KNOW IT’S QUIET when the loudest sound

you hear is a whale breathing. We’re less than

a five-minute walk from the white sand of

Fortescue Bay in Tasman National Park, about

55km south-east of Hobart. This is the midpoint

of the Tasman Coastal Trail and the park’s hub for day walks,

camping and boat fishing.

Although the weekend weather is bright, we’re alone here.

That’s if you don’t count the 14m-or-so southern right whale and

her calf, itself the size of a small car, circling in the bay near our

lichen-daubed vantage point. This section of track heads east past

campsites at Bivouac Bay, then north over 571m Tatnells Hill to

Waterfall Bay. Tasmanian blue gums stretch their crescent-leafed

branches overhead and drooping she-oak branchlets glisten with

water drops, the legacy of an overnight shower.

But we’re riveted by the mammals lolling in the bay. For two

hours their distinctive V-shaped blows steam in the morning

air. The juvenile is a livewire, rolling around, grumbling and

occasionally taking a feed. Mum’s mostly pretty calm and still,

although she plays with her calf for 10 minutes, rolling to expose

her 1.8m pectoral fins and then diving again, tail flukes up.

The experience is extraordinary for us but it’s a standard

Cliff-top cuppa. Hobart Walking Club members Trish Colles and

Malcolm Sherlock take morning tea at Waterfall Bluff. They’re on a

day walk from Waterfall Bay to the lookout on Tatnells Hill.

Phylidonyris novaehollandiae ; Epacris marginata.

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