Flinders Island is growing its appeal. In a series over the next three weeks, The Sunday Examiner’s MANIKA DADSON and photographer GEOFF ROBSON explore what the island has to offer, what its producers are doing and why people live on the remote destination.
MICHAEL Buck and Linda MacGregor know they live in paradise.
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At their back doorstep is beautiful Lady Barron, which looks straight out to the islands of Franklin Sound and is often a sight to spot dolphins.
Twenty minutes north is the island's main town Whitemark and a further 40 minutes away is one of their favourite walking tracks and free camping destinations, The Docks.
The Docks is a place Mr Buck often visits with tourist groups, as he and Linda own the Flinders Island Travel Centre and he is also the tourism association's president.
The only way to get to The Docks is in a four-wheel drive, which is why Mr Buck often takes groups there.
Many roads on the island are four-wheel drive only and fire tracks. It is these tracks that are often used for mountain bike riding.
One of the most spectacular things about Flinders is its untouched, unspoilt beauty.
It isn't overpopulated.
About 750 people live on the island, so it isn't hard to enjoy peace and quiet.
Secluded beaches are on the outskirts of the Bass Strait haven and as the locals will tell you: "if there is a car at one, you just drive on to the next."
Flinders is becoming a population destination for those who enjoy recreation activities.
It is getting a name for itself as an "absolutely spectacular" rock climbing destination and statistics show 69 per cent of tourists undertake recreation walking or bushwalking while they visit, which is why new tracks are in the pipeline.
Mr Buck said The Docks was the start of a walking track to Killiecrankie Village - another popular place for locals to live.
The track is currently undergoing re-alignment work with the help of a $50,000 state government grant and it could be the start of Mr Buck's proposed Flinders Island Trails.
Mr Buck wants the Flinders Island Trails to link a range of walks together to create a seven-day bushwalking experience from the north to the south of the island.
Once environmental and Indigenous land checks are completed and signed off by the Parks and Wildlife Service, more tracks included in the trails could be developed.
Tourism operator Wayne O'Brien, who has run walking and skiing tour companies in the alpine regions of NSW and Victoria, has also lodged an expression of interest to create a five-day walking experience across the island.
His proposal is part of the state government's expressions of interest process for development in national parks and the World Heritage Area.
Mr O'Brien's proposal would likely cost more than $1 million, with the walk departing from Patriarch Inlet, on the east coast, across the Patriarchs, Darling Range and Strzelecki Peaks and finish at Trousers Point.
Trousers Point is a real beauty on the island and a must to see or even camp at if you have the time.
Seeing the Darling Ranges from the top of Walkers Lookout is another good sight and a popular trip for tourists is walking up Mount Strzelecki.
Running Mount Strzelecki was a key leg in the former Three Peaks Race, which was cancelled last year with its organisers going into recess.
Many new accommodation places are in the pipeline to be built on Flinders Island because of the rise in tourist numbers, but there are many free camping spots too.
Keen rock-climber Dave Freer said he had climbed for more than 50 years and Flinders had some of the best rocks he had seen.
"The quality of the rock is superb," he said.
"It's a unique place for climbing . . . and there's so much potential.
"It's the most spectacular thing you've ever seen [climbing up these rocks].
"The island is over the sea, so you get the views over the lovely clear oceans."
New bolted routes are also being developed on the island.
Mr Freer, who was born in South Africa and is also a fantasy and science fiction author, moved to the island with his wife five years ago.
He has two sons, Paddy and James, and said whenever they visited he often went rock climbing.
Mr Freer also takes medical students out to learn the ropes of climbing when they visit for educational purposes.
His favourite place to rock climb on the island is at The Docks.
The Sunday Examiner will feature how Flinders Island producers are growing their produce next week.
