Tasmanian Wilderness Experiences

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Eight Days South Coast Track Tour

Tour grade: T2 - Narrower but distinct tracks (may be muddy in some places) in pristine natural environments. Facilities are minimal and you will encounter few other walkers. These moderate tours require a reasonable level of fitness. The South Coast Track is one of Tasmania's most remote tracks, combining an extraordinary range of environments and conditions featuring bleak button grass plains, breathtaking ocean vistas, unspoilt temperate rainforest and an exposed alpine plateau. The walk encompasses the entire panorama of Tasmania's geological history from its oldest rocks in the west (600 million years old), coal seams and fluted dolerite cliffs in the east (160 metres) to sands and gravels from the last ice age. The sense of isolation is highlighted by the light aircraft flight from Cambridge Airport (Hobart) to the landing strip at Melaleuca. This short exhilarating flight provides spectacular views of the Eastern Arthur Range, including the remarkable Federation Peak. Tour departs 10 February 2009. Subject to a minimum of three and a maximum of 10 people. Includes transfers, flight, accommodation, protective hiking clothing, sleeping bag and mat, rucksack, meals, and professional guides. Cost: $2370.00 per person.

Five Day Frenchmans Cap

Tour grade: T2 - Narrower but distinct tracks in pristine natural environments. Facilities are minimal and you will encounter few other walkers. These moderate tours require a reasonable level of fitness. Frenchmans Cap (1446 metres), an outstanding white monolith in southwest Tasmania's Wild Rivers National Park, dates back more than 700 million years, making it one of the most ancient landforms in Tasmania. With its sheer cliff face of 450 metres and panoramic 360 degree views of the World Heritage Area, it represents a challenging and spectacular walking experience. The vegetation is also of primeval origin: cathedral-like rainforest on sheltered slopes and broad swathes of button-grass. The Cap towers above the land of the Wild Rivers, of which the most famous is the Franklin, whose tannin-stained, sometimes turbulent waters flow through deep gorges flanking the Cap. In five days you will experience the diversity of the plains, majesty of the rainforest, the grandeur of the mountain plateaus, and the “terrible beauty” of the Franklin River. Tour departs 09 April 2008 subject to a minimum of three and a maximum of 10 people. Includes transfers, accommodation, protective hiking clothing, sleeping bag and mat, rucksack, meals and professional guides. Cost: $1354.00

Five Days Maria Island National Park Tour

This tour features the opportunity to experience the isolation of an early settler's failed venture on the remote southern island, followed by a gently graded ramble along stunning bays and beaches to the north island with the option to climb some of the island's peaks as side-trips. After a walk through the magnificent forest which clothes the spine of the island, the tour culminates in the exploration of the crumbling remnants of Darlington with its legacy of abandoned penal facilities and the remains of more recent commercial failures. On the walk you will share this beautiful environment with numerous native animals, and experience the comic vocal and athletic antics of the native hens and geese. Tour departs 29 January, 19 February, 04 March and 19 March 2009. Tour cost is $1846.00.

Four Day Tasman Trail

These moderate tours require a reasonable level of fitness. You can find some of Tasmania's most dramatically beautiful coastal scenery on the east coast of the Tasman Peninsula, in the south-east of the state. The Tasman Coastal Trail, one of Tasmania's Great Walks, follows the spectacular 300 metre dolerite cliffs along the coastline from Tasman Arch to Fortescue Bay and out to Cape Pillar. A well defined track follows the coast and is fairly dry under foot. You will see an array of wildlife; seals, penguins, dolphins and whales at various times, with Australian fur seals using the rugged coastline for breeding and resting, and fairy penguins nesting along the foreshore. The Tasman Peninsula enjoys a mild year-round climate: warm and dry in summer, cool and temperate in winter. You will experience breathtaking coastal views from the cliff tops up and down the coast, beautiful little bays (Bivouac, Canoe and Fortescue), and small offshore islands (The Lanterns and towering Tasman Island). This tour is never far from the coast, yet still offers a sense of isolation and adventure in a relaxing and non-challenging environment. Tour departs 16 October, 12 November, 26 December 2008. 27 January 2009. Tour cost is $1082.00.

Four Day Walls of Jerusalem

The Walls of Jerusalem National Park is a relatively compact park located between the Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park to the west, and the Central Plateau Conservation Area to the east. It comprises a high alpine plateau above the Mersey River gorge, and features stunning examples of the Central Plateau's ancient past with countless exquisite tarns and lakes, remnant glacial moraines, and glacier-scoured mountains. Thick stands of ancient pencil pines survive, as do several species of bolster (or cushion) plants, along with sphagnum moss rafts on boggy outlet streams. It also features many of Tasmania's unique marsupials along with dolerite cliffs (the Walls) and vestiges of past fur-trapping activity evidenced by several trappers' huts. Tour departs on 31 October, 15 November, 02 and 15 December 2008. 06 and 21 January, 04 and 12 February, 10 21 and 29 March 2009. Tour cost is $1083.00.

Six Day Overland Track

Well defined and wide tracks on easy to moderate terrain, in slightly modified natural environments. You will require a modest level of fitness. The world renowned Overland Track is usually included in any list of the world's great walks, and justifiably so. It showcases the highlights of Tasmania's spectacular landforms and flora in a memorable 80km trek from Lake St Clair to Cradle Mountain. Discover glacial remnants of cirques, lakes and tarns; temperate rainforests of myrtle beech and sassafras, laurel and leatherwood; jagged mountain peaks of fluted dolerite columns (including Tasmania's highest – Mt Ossa at 1617 metres); stark alpine moor lands and deep gorges and waterfalls. In the peak season, our tour starts at Dove Lake below the dramatic Cradle Mountain and finishes at Cynthia Bay on Lake St Clair, a glacial lake 220m deep, 14km long. At other times, we start at Lake St Clair and finish at Cradle Mountain, and spend a night in Pine Valley as an early side-trip on the way to Windy Ridge and a day base-camping at Waterfall Valley. Tour Departs 28 November, 18 December 2008. 02, 16 and 30 January, 21 February and 18 March 2009. Tour cost is 2172.00.

Three Day Mount Field Circuit

Mount Field National Park is one of Tasmania's oldest national parks, established in 1916 with Freycinet NP, and is one of its most popular. This is partly because of its proximity to Hobart (94 km) but also because of its wide variety of flora, dramatic glaciated landforms and ready accessibility to most areas of the park. This tour features examples of all of the park's attractions including sub-alpine forests, stands of ancient pencil pines, the remarkable cushion plants, glacial moraines and block streams, alpine moorlands, exquisite small tarns and lakes, monolithic dolerite boulder fields, dramatic cliffs and peaks, and stunning views. It provides a wonderful introduction to Tasmania's alpine regions and its flora and topography. The tour is also characterised by the park's multiple “personalities” – it starts in a sub-alpine forest along moraine-dammed lakes, and finishes with an exhilarating high altitude ridge-top traverse of the Rodway Range among the ice-shattered monolithic dolerite boulders of the “Lions Den” before descending the botanic “riot” of the Urquart Track to our finish. Tour departs 10 October, 27 November and 28 December 2008. 25 February and 12 March 2009. Cost is $822.00.

Three Days Freycinet Circuit

The Freycinet Peninsula, on Tasmania's east coast, is the location of the exquisite and renowned Wineglass Bay and the photogenic red granite peaks of The Hazards. It enjoys a mild year-round climate: warm and dry in summer, cool and temperate in winter. It also boasts some of the east coast's most secluded and pristine beaches, with breathtaking coastal views from the ridge tops west across Great Oyster Bay or south to Schouten Island. This tour is never far from the coast, yet still offers a sense of isolation and adventure in a relaxing and non-challenging environment. Tour departs on 04 and 24 October, 07 and 23 November 2008. 13 January, 02 March and 04 April, 2009. Cost is $822.00.

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