A flash of electric-blue distracts us from the fractured quartzite cliffs mirrored in the tea-coloured waters of Davey Gorge. The azure kingfisher alights on a branch beside us, seemingly unperturbed by our outboard and frantically clicking cameras.
In an explosion of indigo and orange feathers, it plunges into the water and flaps back to the branch, a squirming fish clamped in its sword-like beak. It's yet another pinch-me moment in this far-flung wilderness.
To say Port Davey is remote is an understatement. At the bottom of Tasmania, this marine reserve seeps into the jagged folds of Southwest National Park. At 600,000ha, it's Tasmania's largest national park, and the southernmost section of the 1.58 million-hectare Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
There are only three ways to get here; hiking for seven days, often through thigh-deep mud; by boat if savage Southern Ocean swells permit; or by light plane, sometimes delayed by inclement weather.
But it's a clear day for our 45-minute flight from Hobart over the Arthur Ranges, whose gnarly, arthritic ridges roll towards the sea. Densely forested in the interior, by the coast their vegetation is exfoliated by battering salt-laden winds.
From the air, you can see the enormity of Port Davey Marine Reserve, a drowned river valley. Extending 20km inland, it's the same size as the Waitematā Harbour. The open jaws of Port Davey force salty ocean waters through the throat of Bathurst Narrows, where they're swallowed into the protection of Bathurst Harbour – a harbour within a harbour.
This is where we join Odalisque, Tasmanian Boat Charters' 20m boutique cruiser, for our three-night expedition.
Our 10-seater plane touches down on Melaleuca's white quartzite airstrip, built singlehandedly by legendary Deny King, whose biography, King of the Wilderness, drew me to this wild corner. A tin miner and environmentalist, he lived here for 50 years, raising a family, discovering new plant species and building huts for walkers.
We're met by Odalisque's guide, Peter Marmion - a retired principal who has hiked and sailed this area since boyhood - who shows us around Melaleuca before we join the boat.
It was originally home to the Needwonnee Aboriginal people and a boardwalk through paperbark forest beside the lagoon features replicas of their domed huts, canoes and tools. The remains of Rallinga mine and the Deny King Heritage Museum offer a more contemporary insight into the hardships of living in this challenging terrain.
We hope to spot the endangered orange-bellied parrot here, but it seems we're too late. Volunteers monitoring their numbers as part of a recovery programme tell us they saw only two this morning, indicating their migration to mainland Australia has commenced. Marmion explains the adults depart first, leaving young ones to follow.
His knowledge seems boundless and his treasure chest of stories enriches our experiences over the coming days.
Odalisque's owner and skipper, Pieter van der Woude, is equally engaging. An ex-police search-and-rescue diver and abalone fisherman, he worked on Macquarie Island for the Australian Antarctic Division. He's now a citizen scientist with the Hobart-based Reef Life Survey and relishes showing nature-loving guests around this unique marine ecosystem. "It's one of the last untouched places on Earth," he says. "It's a very fragile place."
Tannin-tinted, nutrient-poor freshwater, stained by peat soils, is suspended above heavier salt water, blocking out light. This enables delicate invertebrates like sea whips and sea pens, usually found in water deeper than 60m, to thrive in just 5m-20m. It's a haven for experienced divers, but we're a group of amateur photographers, here to capture above-water seascapes with help from Hobart photographer Andrew Wilson.
Our itinerary is dictated by wind and sea conditions, and we're on the go from dawn till dusk. We climb Balmoral Hill for sunset views over Bathurst Channel as sea eagles hover and soar beside us. Crescent honey eaters whistle as we tramp through darkness to catch sunrise from Forrester Point. Rain doesn't stop our ascent of Mt Beattie, though it wipes out the panoramic views and thins our numbers as some retreat to the fireplace at Clayton's Corner.
Back on board, it's hot or cold drinks (they have Moo Brew craft beer on tap), followed by fresh Tassie produce shared around the huge saloon table. As Odalisque cruises between anchorages, there are anecdotes around every headland, of timber-getters, shipwrecks, escaped convicts and failed expeditions. The saddest tells of Critchley Parker, who died alone in 1942 while scouting the area as a possible new Jewish homeland.
But nature is the hero. Strange landscapes of button grass moorlands and marsupial lawns, where Marmion points out holes of land-burrowing crayfish and explains dainty Fairy Apron flowers are also known as Purple Death due to their carnivorous roots.
Strings of Neptune's necklace bob in water the colour of golden syrup, and on the hills white sprengelia glisten like mother-of-pearl beads strung across the bronze button grass. I learn to recognise the silhouette of Smithton peppermint eucalypts and see mountain berries so big they look like Jaffas hanging from the bush.
In the tinnie, we chase light shafting through clouds that smudge the landscape into a charcoal etching and putter up Davey Gorge, where miniature Huon pines sprout neon-green between black-streaked quartzite cliffs.
On the leeward side of Breaksea Islands, which protect the entrance to Bathurst Channel, Van der Woude guns the dinghy through swell that sucks at bull kelp and surges into sea caves. As ephemeral rainbows appear in sea spray swirling off whitecaps, he tells us gigantic waves sometimes crash over the 12m cliff above us.
Next morning the wind is gone. Pillows of cloud rest between mountaintops. Gossamer mists rise to reveal reflections so crisp they're disorienting. Warm dawn rays sculpt the Celery Top Islands into oversized bonsai gardens. It seems Port Davey is as mercurial as it is remote.
CHECKLIST: TASMANIA
DETAILS
Odalisque is based in Port Davey from January to April for trips of four, five and seven days, priced from $5500pp, twin share.
From June to December, explore another part of Tasmania on a five-day East Coast Exhibition cruise, with highlights including Port Arthur, Fortescue Bay, Maria Island, Wineglass Bay and the Freycinet Peninsula, priced from AU$6650pp twin share.
The ship sleeps six guests (three couples) and private groups up to 10. Prices are all-inclusive from Hobart. tasmanianboatcharters.com.au
ONLINE
Check the latest border restrictions in each state and territory before travelling. For more information visit discovertasmania.com.au
