Tuesday 13/2/2018 Darlington – Bishop and Clerk
Maria Island National Park, TASMANIA
Paredarerme country
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report)
This scenic day walk to the rugged rocky outcrops known as Bishop and Clerk provides panoramic views over Fossil Bay to the west on Maria Island and across the Tasman Sea to Freycinet Peninsula.
Max elevation: 588 m
Total climbing: 1442 m
Total descent: -1442 m
Average speed: 4.03 km/h
Total time: 06:51:12
From Darlington settlement the walk follows a pleasant path which climbs gently to a saddle just past Bernacchis Creek. Forester kangaroos and Cape Barren geese were frequently sighted along the way.
From the saddle the trail follows the grassy slope up along Skipping Ridge, with great views of impressive sandstone sea cliffs above Fossil Bay to the west and Bishop and Clerk to the east. Further up the ridge the trail heads into the bush populated by Casurinas, Banksias and Eucalypts. Further along still the trail begins to climb more steeply on a well formed trail through a rocky dolerite scree slope.
Looking along Skipping Ridge to Bishop and Clerk
The last section to the summit area involves a scramble over some dolerite columns. The summit is a great place to linger if the weather is pleasant. The views are panoramic and the dolerite columns very impressive. Steve had examined the topographic map and noted it was only about 4km along a ridge past Mount Pedder to Mount Maria, one of the other main day walks on Maria Island. This would have formed a great circuit but looking closely at the very jagged dolerite boulders across the top and seeing how thick the vegetation is it was very obvious this would potentially be a very serious multiway route finding bushbash. So we headed back down the track!
Maria Island Wombat (Vombatus ursinus)
On the return we walked past Fossil Cliffs, the landing ground and old convict museum full of long retired machinery and decaying horse drawn buggies. Back near then ferry jetty we again admired the crystal clear water and contemplated a swim.
Another great “Tassie” day walk!
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Hi, what a great, concise review and handy route/map.
I climbed this last week and took a left turn at the very top instead of taking the right hand dog leg shown on your map. Ultimately I struggled to find my way down. If I had your route at hand I would have made my life easier and saved me some time. Other maps of this route lack this detail. Take note of this anyone attempting this climb.