Two Tasmanian Islands

Flinders Island is the main island of the Furneaux group, a collection of 52 islands stretching across the Bass Strait between Tasmania and mainland Australia. There is much to do and explore on this island.

Visit Wybalenna one of the most historic sites in relation to Tasmanian Aboriginals and the Furneaux group. The graveyard has unmarked aboriginal graves as well as the graves of some of the first European settlers. In the cemetery, the Young Farmers’ Club put up a plaque to commemorate the death of more than 100 Aborigines at Wybalenna. What is left of this settlement is the chapel, cemetery and low piles of broken bricks. In early October you can see a sprinkling of white and blue irises in the grass. An area of 126 hectares has been made a Historic Site. Today Wybalenna counts again as an Aboriginal Land.

On Flinders Island, visitors can visit and enjoy Strzelecki National Park. It is a lovely national park with granite mountains and rugged coastal scenery. This national park is a wild and remote sanctuary for a lot of rare plant and animal species. Within the park are open forests of Tasmanian blue gum and a dense coastal fringe of tea trees as well as Sassafras-musk rainforest and many rare orchids. 

Among the resident animal population, you’ll find wombats, Bennett’s wallabies, Tasmanian pademelons and potoroos. There are also many birds over 100 species living in the park. You can see the rare swift parrot, forty-spotted pardalota, grey-tailed tattler and the hooded plover.

Ways to get to know this national park is by taking short walks from Trousers Point and Fotheringate Bay as they pass through Casuarina woodland and coastal heath. For the more energetic you can take the Strzelecki Peaks walking track. This is a most challenging day walk that rises from sea level to the 756-meter granite massifs. This is the highest point on Flinders Island and offers awesome views. There are also a number of short rock climbs.

Popular holiday spots include the rocky headlands and lovely beaches at Trousers Point and Fotheringate Bay. Experienced sea kayakers can have great water adventures. Trousers Beach is a lovely cove that is protected from mighty winds and surrounded by granite headlands covered with orange lichen.

Fotheringate Bay has some unique rock formations and is a favorite place with the locals. There are family-friendly campsites and picnic spots. You can choose to swim, fish, snorkel, dive or take a long, leisurely stroll. 

Take the Trousers Point Walk which features amazing rock formations, views of off-shore islands and two lovely beaches. This is a 1.5-hour circuit walk, starting from the main town of Whitemark. Granite boulders protrude through the shallow sandy soil and along the coastline. 

Also known as Mutton-Bird the Short-Tailed Shearwater is a member of a group of 100 medium to large sea birds in the family Procellariae. At Port Davies, visitors will find a viewing platform from which they can view the birds flying at dusk from November to April. These birds have a beak that hooks at the end so that they can hold prey. The chicks produce large amounts of oil in their stomachs which is high in energy. An adult bird has around a one-meter wing span and weighs about 500 grams. These birds have webbed feet. Every year eighteen million of these birds arrive in Tasmania. Their largest colony with more than 3 million burrows can be found on Babel Island. Their breeding period is from September to April and their average life span is 15 to 19 years with some living up to 38 years. Local operators offer evening boat trips to let people see the flight of the Mutton-birds during the summertime.

Whitemark the main settlement on Flinders Island overlooks Parry’s Bay. It is a great holiday getaway. There is much to do like exploring nearby Strzelecki National Park. 

Take a look at The Bowman History Room which offers an unusual historic collection. It is located in Whitemark. The room was created to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Bowman Family business, E.M. Bowman & Co. Pty. Ltd., established in 1921. This is Flinder Island’s longest-established retailer. Their general store sold clothing, shoes, fabrics, gifts, stationery and household needs. It was also a newsagent that sold papers and magazines.

Here you can see an impressive collection of shop items, photos and account books dating from 1921 and onwards. These trace both the development of the one family and their business. The most looked-at item is the huge scrapbook of newspaper and magazine articles that were collected through the years by Elvie Bowman. 

For golf lovers, there is Flinders Island Sports & RSL Club which has a nine-hole golf course. The course has picturesque views and provides a challenge for amateurs to experienced players. The golf course is located on the shores of Parry’s Bay and is open all year round. The club also offers full-sized synthetic surface lawn bowls green, also available for visitors' use. 

Kings Island offers many interesting things to see and do for tourists. It is easily accessible from both the city of Melbourne and from the mainland of Tasmania by air. King Island is located in the middle of the Bass Strait between Victoria and the North West Coast of Tasmania. Here visitors will find some of the most beautiful beaches that Australia has to offer. The island also offers delicious gourmet cheeses, succulent beef and crayfish that come right out of its crystal clear waters. 

On Kings Island, you’ll find a network of recreation and food trails that cover five distinct areas around the island. The Grazing Trails were created to combine the best of King Island’s walks and sights with the most delicious food available. You can relax at one of their fantastic local restaurants or you might like to take along a packed lunch, picnic hampers or have a barbecue. 

Currie is the largest township and the administrative center of King Island, Tasmania at the western entrance to the Bass Strait. It has a scenic harbor with awesome views of the vast Southern Ocean. Currie is well-known for its gourmet produce that includes superb soft cheeses and grass-fed beef. 

Nature lovers will enjoy Seal Rocks State Reserve, offering amazing views of stunning cliffs and calcified forests to explore. 

The King Island Arts & Cultural Center is a small gallery and studio that is located in the picturesque Currie Wharf precinct. The gallery displays art and craft that was made by King Islanders. It is a great place to visit for tourists who want to know more about King Island. It frequently changes exhibitions that feature the work of several well-established artisans. There is also a range of artwork and craft items for sale. The Cultural Center has a creative space and hosts a wide variety of workshops and master classes for locals and visitors. 

The artist-in-residency program is one of the most celebrated functions at the center. Visiting jewelers, writers, painters and musicians from all over Australia and overseas come here and stay awhile working at their craft and getting to know the local community. 

King Island Historical Museum located in Currie this museum features exhibits that are unique to King Island’s history like shipwrecks, mining, sealing, lighthouses, agriculture and telecommunications. 

After the Cape Wickham Lighthouse started operating in 1861 tragic shipwrecks continued to happen. A lot of the ship’s captains mistook the light from this lighthouse for the light coming from Cape Otway in Southern Victoria, Australia and therefore sailed straight onto the coast. To help with this unfortunate situation the Currie Lighthouse was positioned so it would be visible to ships approaching from the southwest and would remain visible to the north until the Cape Wickham light could be seen. This lighthouse began operation in 1880.

he King Island Dairy has earned the reputation of being a producer of some of the world’s finest produce. There is a wide range of delicious cheeses it makes such as Brie, Camembert and different Cheddars as well as many others. All of their products are made at their factory on the island. Milk for the products comes from King Island dairy farmers whose cows are known for their unique quality of milk.

King Island is one of the few areas in Australia where cows graze all year round. The King Island Dairy Fromagerie Tasting Room can be visited on weekdays or on Sundays. There you can sample their wonderful cheeses and as you walk about the island you can see the cows grazing in the pastures.

King Island also offers excellent salmon, flathead and whiting fishing from east-coast beaches and morwong, yellowtail kingfish and squid fishing at British Admiral Reel just three kilometers south of Currie. 

In the southeast at Grassy, you can see penguins returning to shore at dusk.

King Island Kelp Craft specializes in the rare form of bull kelp handicrafts. It offers special displays and sales.

At The Blowhole you can explore offshore shipwrecks and get to meet the island’s unusual wildlife which includes the rare orange-bellied parrots. For more energetic activities there is kite surfing and diving.