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Maria walk a celebration

WE retrace our steps over the isthmus to the north and stop for food breaks at abandoned farms near Point Lesueur, one of many island features named during Frenchman Nicolas Baudin's 1802 exploration. The visit by Napoleon's man prompted the British to colonise Van Diemens Land. The beach walks are great for tideline scrutiny. Our lunch among convict ruins at Dunbabin Farm is followed by a trek past Bloodstone Point, where Aborigines mined ochre. After a solid beach trek we cut to higher ground where Cape Barren geese and wombats ramble. The geese and a lightly coloured species of wombat were introduced to Maria from Bass Strait when their survival was in doubt. They are flourishing. That night at our second camp there's ratatouille, couscous salad, barbecued quail, lamb cutlet and duck-and-kangaroo sausage. It's another slice of gastronomic genius, washed down with a chardonnay and pinot noir. Day 3: The next morning a pancake breakfast fortifies the spirit for a walk up Mount Maria. The turnoff sign says four hours but we stop and smell the mountain berries and enjoy a lofty lunch. At 709 metres, it's a fair clamber from sea level but fellow walkers Sue, Val, Yvonne and I are guided expertly to the top by Stefan, while the other guide, uni student Lily pushes on with Judy and Pat for Darlington, our final destination. The walk is thirsty work but we enjoy magnificent views to the north between hakea and Oyster Bay pines until the cloud lurking south of the mountain draws around us like a curtain. It's much the same on top: northern views to Freycinet and southern mist clearing occasionally to allow spectacular views of the isthmus. It's after 7pm when we reach Darlington. The settlement has several convict buildings, a hostel, parks office and cafe. The island has long been a destination for school groups and day trippers but only clients of the Maria Island Walk get to dine and sleep in the beautiful colonial home of 19th-century tourism pioneer Diego Bernacchi. The hot showers are a welcome change from the chilly Tasman Sea. Dinner that evening is a celebration of a rewarding bushwalk; a celebration of Maria Island; a celebration of journey. It's also another celebration of Tasmanian food: a three-course feast starts with roasted pumpkin and pine nut salad, moves on to crispy-skinned Huon Valley salmon on a caper and herb mash and finishes with lemon tart and cream. There's time after dinner to explore the sitting-room library. There are tomes on Bernacchi, the island, sealers, whalers, pirates, pioneers, birds and poetry. Day 4: My disappointment at finding healthy stuff like fruit and muesli on the breakfast table disappears with the arrival of eggs benedict. Breakfast, and for that matter lunch and dinner, has been a treat all trip. I drink plunger coffee and prepare for the morning walk, a Lily-led excursion to the Painted Cliffs. I listen carefully, then carefully forget, why the sandstone cliffs have eroded in such an alluring manner. It's something to do with iron oxides. They are a low-tide favourite, another Maria masterpiece. After lunch, Stefan leads a tour around Darlington. Almost everywhere in and around the settlement you run into Cape Barren geese, kangaroos and wombats. They all seem to know they have right of way. There are many convict ruins in Darlington, the most striking of which is the four-square commissariat store built in 1825. The foundations of the Grand Hotel remain from the 1880s, when Bernacchi had the island humming along, promoting it as the "riviera of Australia'' with vineyards, game and fishing as attractions. Huge silos by the jetty are a reminder of Bernacchi's ill-fated attempts to build a mighty cement company by mining limestone. The flamboyant Italian silk merchant and business promoter died in 1925 but looms large in the island's history. He would have enjoyed the Maria Island Walk. _ This report by David Scott first appeared in the Traveller section of  The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.