After just over a year of living in Hobart I finally made it to the magnificent Maria Island!

Maria Island is only a 1 hour 15 min drive plus a 20 min ferry trip away from Hobart but is a world unto itself. Towering cliffs, white sandy beaches, bluer than blue water, convict ruins and literally swarming with native animals of all shapes and sizes. The entire island is a National Park and there are no vehicles allowed on Maria – apart from bikes that is. How awesome is that!

So I headed over on the early ferry with the French Baguette, along with two Cranke electric mountain bikes. Our plan was to cover both the North and South Island in one day, something usually not possible on regular bikes, let alone foot. There’s a LOT to stop and look at along the way at Maria – wombats, snakes, ruins, idyllic beaches, wombats and even more wombats. We headed south, across the sandy isthmus bound for Haunted Bay, before returning to the North Island via a super close encounter with a Tasmanian Tiger Snake.

The eBike’s made for a whole bunch of fun – in fact I reckon they are the perfect way to explore Maria. We made it back to Darlington with plenty of time to spare. I’m dead keen to get back to Maria ASAP and check it out further, including climbing the two peaks. For now here are a few pics along the way…