Fun fact: Tasmania has 334 islands. Are these the best two?

By Amy Cooper

It's easy to forget that the Apple Isle is an archipelago, with 334 islands surrounding the beard-shaped main event. Some are well worth a visit, while for others a quick squiz through the binoculars will suffice.

Which one to hop from Hobart? The capital's closest are Bruny and Maria, who sound like Italian cousins - but that's where the resemblance ends.

Maria's mate Mal will probably play Tasmanian devil's advocate and eulogise the wondrous wildlife, to distract from the fact there's nothing to do on an isle where there's water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink - no cafe, no pub, no shop. If you're going to toast those marvellous marsupials, you'd better have remembered to BYO.

Meanwhile, down in Bruny, you'll find me celebrating a sighting of the rare white Bennett's Wallaby with a White Wallaby Gin from Spirit of Bruny, or a Bruny Island Cider, Bruny Island whisky from Hounds Tooth Distillery, Cloudy Bay IPA from Bruny Island Beer Co, or perhaps a cool-climate pinot noir from Bruny Island Premium Wines, made with grapes from Australia's southernmost vineyard.

Something to eat? All you have to do is name your produce.

World-famous Bruny Island Cheese Co makes some of the country's most awarded cheeses, while fresh oysters grow in the pristine waters of Get Shucked Oyster Farm. Or sustainably grown fruit from Bruny Island Raspberry Farm, sweet sensations from Bruny Island Honey and Bruny Island Chocolate, and decadent pastries from Bruny Baker, served fresh from a roadside vintage fridge.

Bruny isn't just a one-stop tasting menu of all of Tasmania's famed epicurean delights - it's a sampler of everything amazing about our southernmost state: spectacular coastlines, a rich and rare animal kingdom, plus trails, lookouts, beaches, bays and forests - all conveniently packaged in a 362sqkm area that's easily accessible via a 30-minute drive south from Hobart and onto a 20-minute ferry ride from Kettering across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel (which is even harder to pronounce after a few Tassie tipples).

In short, Bruny is Tasmania distilled.

I'd argue that it even outdoes the mothership. Australia's very first apples were planted here by William Bligh, so Bruny can claim to be the real Apple Isle. The Neck, a stunning five-kilometre strip connecting Bruny's north and south halves, is the finest of Tasmania's abundance of rare isthmuses (another word to avoid after Tassie tipples) and providing sanctuary for a colony of little fairy penguins.

From luxury retreats to wilderness cabins, roomy Bruny leads on lodgings, while Maria offers just two accommodation options: camping or doing time in the old penitentiary. That's a hard cell.

By Mal Chenu

Why Taswegians mispronounce Maria is a mystery but it has always been thus, and it seems there is no solution. Not even a Mother Superior could solve a problem like "mah-rye-ah". And anyway, who am I to engage in linguistic prejudice against erudite Apple Islanders, such as the editor of this fine journal. (Hi Sarah, love your work!)

Dodgy diction aside, Maria Island is one of the jewels in the rich Tasmanian tourism crown. A "Noah's Ark" of wildlife, the whole island and surrounding water is a national park, it is identified as an Important Bird Area and it is World Heritage-listed for its convict sites. So, if you fancy flora, fauna and felons, Maria's your island. Bruny, by these measures, is puny.

Despite its exotic address in the Tasman Sea, Maria is just an hour-and-a-half from your Hobart hotel room. The ferry from Triabunna to Maria is a picturesque 16-kilometre trip, accompanied by dolphins, fur seals, gannets and albatrosses. The ferry docks at the main "settlement" of Darlington, and a small sign encourages you to head to the 1825-built Commissariat Store, where a photo of Queen Victoria watches over a Spartan morning tea. The penitentiary (now a more comfortable accommodation) and the dam on Bernacchis Creek, which still provides Darlington's water, complete the convict constructions.

Maria Island is about the best place in the country for a stroll (or a cycle, if you're in a hurry). From Darlington you can wander down to the Painted Cliffs, where you'll see ochre-coloured, swirling patterns, created as if Pollock or Dali had worked in the medium of iron oxide on Triassic sandstone.

Read more on Explore:

On the other side of the island, the limestone Fossil Cliffs are imprinted with millions of ancient sea creatures that lived in these parts about 300 million years ago, when Maria was underwater off the coast of Gondwana. Further afield, the summits of Mt Maria and the slightly smaller Bishop and Clerk offer windswept grandeurs, and spectacular photo-ops. As do the bare-nosed wombats, Tasmanian pademelons, Cape Barren geese, Forester Kangaroos, Bennett's Wallabies and the fairy penguins of Haunted Bay, so named because of the penguins' eerie evening shrieks. There's also quite a few introduced Tassie devils, sent here as an insurance policy to maintain a population free from the facial tumour disease affecting so many on the mainland.

Maria Island is close to civilisation but feels like another world. No shops, no traffic, no tourist traps, no resort pools, not even a gift shop. Just 115 sq km of remote tranquillity sprinkled with pristine beaches, eucalypt-scented wilderness, graduations of geology and a smattering of heritage sites.

For some, like Amy, whose last grog-free holiday was on Gondwana, this may not be suitable.