Fossil Cliffs

How to get there

1. Ferry to Darlington. Parks Pass. On foot or bike as signed.

How to do it (step by step)

1. From the Commissariat Store, head toward the cement works and silo ruins, then the coastal section to the Fossil Cliffs.
2. A short steep drop leads to the fossil platform in published trail notes — confirm the signed line. Bishop and Clerk is visible to the east; that is not this walk’s summit.
3. Return via the hill above the cliffs and convict-era quarry ruins if the circuit is signed that way. Do not invent cliff-edge shortcuts.

What to expect

From the Commissariat / ferry precinct north past industrial ruins to fossil-bearing limestone cliffs. Published notes: about 4.5 km circuit / return — verify signs and grade. Permian fossils, cement-works and silo ruins, wildlife on the grasslands.

Bishop and Clerk is visible to the east. That is not this walk’s summit. Calling Fossil Cliffs “Bishop and Clerk” in the photo album is how people skip the scramble later without realising they are different walks.

Not walked for this guide. Good Plan B when wind kills the Grade 4 route. Still unfenced coastal drops — hold the line at edges.

Day shape and logistics

Ferry to Darlington. Parks Pass. On foot or bike as signed. Start at the Commissariat Store precinct, head toward the cement works, then the coastal section.

A short steep drop leads to the fossil platform in published trail notes — confirm the signed line. Return via the hill above the cliffs and convict-era quarry ruins if the circuit is signed that way. Do not invent cliff-edge shortcuts.

Pair with Darlington township. Pair with Bishop and Clerk only if you still have a full 4–5 hour buffer after this circuit — usually you do not, on a first day-return.

Hazards, reverse, ferry buffer

Unfenced coastal drops and wind on the exposed cliffs. Forester kangaroos and wombats use this country — 2 m minimum; do not feed.

The lower fossil platform is a clean turnaround if the hill return is too much. Reverse early rather than mixing this circuit with a late Bishop and Clerk start.

The last ferry still applies. This walk is short enough to leave a jetty buffer; blowing that buffer on “one more lookout” is how last-ferry stories start.

Map (orientation)

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