Bishop and Clerk

How to get there

1. Drive the Tasman Highway (A3) to Triabunna — about 75–90 minutes / ~86 km from Hobart in light traffic. Check in at Maria Island Gateway; passenger ferry to Darlington takes around 45 minutes. Bookings essential (encountermaria.com.au).
2. A valid Tasmania Parks Pass is required, including for private boat or plane arrivals. Buy online, at the Gateway, or as a ferry add-on. Carry the pass even though there are no visitor cars on the island.
3. No shops, cafés or rubbish collection on the island. Pack food, treat water, pack rubbish out.
4. The last ferry is an absolute clock. Budget a buffer to be back at Darlington in daylight. Do not start this walk on a late Hobart leave.

How to do it (step by step)

1. Leave Darlington after checking tide/weather and the return ferry time. Fill water; put on a wind layer — the summit is colder and windier than the jetty.
2. The day shape is gradual then steeper: grassland and open forest, cliff-line sections near Fossil Cliffs / Skipping Ridge, then extensive rock scree and boulder field.
3. The final section is rock scrambling on exposed dolerite. Summit views can include Freycinet on clear days. Unfenced sheer drops — stay on the formed line.
4. Return the same way. Bikes stop at the signed limit. Do not invent a loop onto Mount Maria the same calendar day.

What to expect

Parks Tasmania publishes Bishop and Clerk as 11 km return, Grade 4, 4–5 hours walk (or 3–5 hours riding to the bike limit). Bushwalking experience is recommended; the track may be long, rough and steep, and signage may be limited. Confirm live notes — grades move.

The walk is the island’s height-and-exposure product, not the wildlife-and-heritage stroll around Darlington. Wombats on the lower grassland do not mean the summit is casual.

Day shape and logistics

Start and finish at Darlington Settlement — the ferry jetty. Climb from grassland through open forest and tall woodland to rocky slopes and the dolerite-column summit (~620 m).

Bikes are permitted only to a signed point about 2 km past the Fossil Cliffs junction. Leave bikes; continue on foot. Out-and-back: there is no “other side” descent that still meets a ferry.

Pack for a full exposed day even if the jetty is mild. Treat or carry water. There is no café bail-out.

Hazards, reverse, ferry buffer

Hazards that actually change the plan: unfenced cliffs, steep boulders, scree scramble, unprotected edges, wind on the summit. Do not attempt the steep summit route in high winds. Supervise children as if the edge is the whole problem — because it is.

Reverse is always available. The scramble is the filter. If energy, weather or time fails, turn around there and still have a Fossil Cliffs or Darlington afternoon.

The ferry is the hard stop. Check encountermaria.com.au the morning you leave. Build a buffer to reach Darlington in daylight for the last sailing. An unplanned overnight needs food, a stove or Penitentiary/camp booking you already have — do not invent one on the track.

Pairing and clock

Do not stack Mount Maria on the same calendar day. Different start (Counsel Creek), about 8 hours published walking, still a scramble. Pick one summit.

Painted Cliffs is only an honest extra if you finish Bishop and Clerk early, the low-tide window is still real, and the last-ferry buffer is intact. Fossil Cliffs is the neighbour Plan B when wind kills the columns — not a warm-up that still leaves five hours for the scramble.

Leave Hobart early. A 10am CBD departure plus Gateway check-in plus ~45 minutes on the water is how this walk eats the last sailing. Not walked for this URL — confirm parks.tas.gov.au and encountermaria.com.au the morning you go.

Map (orientation)

Pin may be approximate. Confirm trailheads, the ferry timetable and track status on Parks Tasmania before you sail.