Travelways

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Island reveals its treasures

A BICYCLE rests against a collection of signs in long grass on the road between Whitemark and Lady Barron. It's probably where a schoolkid left it to rendezvous with a bus. The signs mark our turnoff for Badger Corner and the next leg of this journey to Flinders Island. The signs reinforce what a good size Flinders is for the visitor -  big enough to explore but small enough to know your way around quickly. We arrive at Partridge Farm and meet hosts Rob and Lorraine Holloway. The bed-and-breakfast  has three separate accommodation units, all with great views over Franklin Sound towards Great Dog and Little Dog islands. The view is almost an afterthought. Partridge Farm is all about fruit trees and critters. Without Tasmanian devils or quolls on the island, the ground is reasonably safe for partridges, guinea pigs, chooks and any other feathered drop-ins who care to visit. During our stay, a spectacular golden pheasant makes a welcome return. The Holloways run dorper sheep, a wool-shedding variety, with high fences holding deer and an alpaca, and their various apple, pear,  plum and olive trees. The hothouse is also a hotbed of self-sufficiency, which is why Partridge Farm has been chosen as the venue for a long-table lunch put on by the team from SBS television show A Gourmet Farmer. The Tasmania-based SBS team of Nick Haddow, Matthew Evans and Ross O'Meara have organised the series of lunches, called  A Common Ground,  to reconnect diners with producers. Paddock and plate as one. Folks on Flinders Island will be strapping on the nosebags on April 16. It's $170 a head but you suspect it might be a meal for the ages. It's 2pm when Lindsay Luddington, of Flinders Island Adventures, arrives to take us on a four-wheel-drive adventure. The business she runs with husband James "started quietly'' as a boat charter operation 15 years ago and expanded steadily to take in a variety of land tours. Customers come mostly from Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and mainland Tasmania and Mrs Luddington says their numbers seemed to increase after the global financial crisis. We set off from Badger Corner along the coastal road to Lady Barron, passing a rare patch of basalt rock on the tideline when Mrs Luddington mentions how the view across Franklin Sound reminds her of the western isles of Scotland. Views are soon everywhere. We have reached Lady Barron and driven up to Vinegar Hill. Off to the east is Babel Island, with three million breeding pairs of short-tailed shearwater. It's the megacity for the species, with 12 per cent of the world's population flapping and shrieking around over there. Mrs Luddington tells us that when Matthew Flinders arrived there were millions of birds on the wing, gliding silently, but when they landed and started squawking he felt obliged to name the island  after the biblical tower confounded by linguistic mayhem. To the south we can just make out the wreck of the Farsund off Little Green Island and learn that Flinders has 120 beaches - about one for every seven residents. We venture towards the East Strzelecki track where large stands of ti-tree cast baleen-whale smiles at the mountain. The track's overgrown so occasionally we have the tactile enjoyment of hopping out and shifting fallen branches. There's a cup of tea and biscuits on some secluded granite outcrop and we emerge in time to visit Trousers Point, where Mrs Luddington reminisces about her first swim on Flinders Island between the orange-tinged granite outcrops. It was the summer of 1973: "It was a bright, sunny day and I remember the rocks were sparkling.'' It's overcast during our visit but not hard to imagine the blazing sunshine, brilliant white sand and turquoise water that so impressed the eloquent Englishwoman. Clouds cling to Strzelecki's western flanks. Usually, you could wait five minutes for the sun to reappear but it's a still day and the mountain won't undress. Peaceful place, Trousers Point. Recent storms have ripped down some of the coastal foliage but you can still find a shady tree by the water for a lazy day or two or three.