Bass Strait Islands

Depart for King Island in the morning with a stunning scenic flight over the 12 Apostles. At King Island, hop on your purpose-built 4WD vehicle, guided by a local, for a Hidden Southern Experience tour. You'll discover bays and coves not generally seen by visitors as you traverse private property and sometimes go off-road. Visit the 7,000-year-old Calcified Forest, where a short walk will work up an appetite for a white tablecloth paddock-to-plate lunch, including wine, local cheeses and fresh crayfish. Learn of the island's early history, sealers, lighthouses, kelp and harvesters.

Journey to the most southern point of the island before arriving at your accommodation. Relax with your fellow travellers and have a pre-dinner drink at the delightful Wild Harvest (voted the best Australian regional restaurant on Tripadvisor) before the evening meal.

Overnight: King Island Wilderness Retreat

Visit the tranquil village of Naracoopa, then head west for insights into the island’s kelp industry and maritime past. Visit British Admiral Beach and the local museum before a final tasting at King Island Dairy.

In the afternoon, fly across Bass Strait to Flinders Island and settle in for a two-night stay.

2 nights: Whitemark Foreshore Apartments or Island Quarters

Your expert local guide will take you on a two-day exploration of Flinders Island. Begin with a short beach walk at Trousers Point. Get your camera out for the striking Fotheringate Bay, with granite caves formed by emerging groundwater and marine erosion. Head north to Killiecrankie, famous for its white topaz, which is known as Killiecrankie Diamonds. On to Palana on the northern tip of the island, where evidence of WWII surveillance is still visible, then across to North East River, where the Tasman Sea and Bass Strait meet.

Head to Vinegar Hill for views over to Cape Barren Island, then Patriarch Wildlife Sanctuary to meet wombats, wallabies and Cape Barren geese (weather permitting). Stretch your legs in the capital, Whitemark. Reflect at Wybalenna, the site of the Tasmanian Aboriginal settlement between 1833 and 1847 and learn some of the local history at the Furneaux Museum.

Depart Flinders Island in the late afternoon after an incredible four-day trip, touching down in Moorabbin in the early evening.