Tasman Island Trip
On Saturday 15 February, Tasman Island will be open to visitors. A short and very scenic helicopter flight from Safety Cove (Tasman Peninsula) will transport visitors to the island and they will have at least two hours, and up to 4 hours, on the island. The main light keeper’s house will be open and the extensive restoration work of the Wildcare group, Friends of Tasman Island, will be showcased. Visitors can walk 1 km to the top of the historic haulage way to view some of Tasmania’s most spectacular coastal scenery.
About Tasman Island
Tasman Island is part of the Tasman National Park and situated approximately 500 metres from Cape Pillar, the south-eastern point of the Tasman Peninsula. The island is approximately 1.6 kilometres long and one kilometre wide. Dolerite cliffs and steep coastal slopes rise 300 metres to a central plateau.
Tasman Island has significant breeding colonies of Fairy Prion (between 300,000 and 700,000 pairs) and small populations of Short-tailed and Sooty Shearwater. The prion colony is considered the largest in Australia. There are no native terrestrial mammals on the island; however Australian fur seals haul out on the lower rock platforms and a small breeding population of New Zealand fur seals occurs on the western side of the island. Domestic cats were introduced to the island in the early 1900s as pets for lighthouse staff and the resulting feral cat population was estimated to be killing between 30,000 and 60,000 seabirds per year. Parks and Wildlife undertook a successful cat eradication program from 2009 to 2011.
Read more and register on the field trips page.