Adapted from the Tarkine Trails guidebook: This route takes you along one of the world's wildest and most spectacular stretches of coastline. Some of the highest concentrations of largely intact Aboriginal cultural heritage, and huge surf driven by the roaring 40's coming from an unbroken stretch of ocean spanning half the globe from patagonia make this a powerful and humbling run. Immense sand dunes and middens stretch up to several kilometres inland and are part of a landscape that includes sandy beaches, dunes, coastal meadows, heathlands, rocky headlands, and wild rivers that empty (sometimes ferociously) into the ocean. Sea-eagles, wombats, Tasmanian devils, seabirds, kelp, and others make the wild coastline home.
From the FKT route author: This is an epic and extremely remote and wild run - you will be humbled! Following 4WD tracks just inland or the coastline proper, it is super exposed to the wind and weather. It is always super windy, and if swell greater than approx 5m then you may not have limited beach to run on and may get pushed into the dunes - particularly if there's a low pressure system. The river crossings in the dunes are typically narrow but deep, and in high water can become very dangerous. If low swell and low rivers, the river crossings are easy on the beach. Around half it is running on open beaches which can be soft or hard, will have some or lots of quicksand (which isn't a problem for runners unless on the edge of a river), and is almost always guaranteed to be slow. Water from the rivers/creeks looks terrible due to tannins and tastes a little salty and metallic, but is apparently all natural, and I didn't feel any ill effects from drinking it untreated all day.
Logistics: Challenging and long. You either need a support driver, or two cars. To get to the start there are options, but the main one is to drive to Corinna (6hrs from Hobart) to jump on an existing bushwalking group boat charter from Corinna - is there is one. Or bring your own boat and a very competent skipper to take you the 18km down the river from Corrina, or a serious 25km 4WD from Granville Harbour to the southern Pieman heads and some kind of vessel to cross the river. At the end at Temma, you either need someone there to pick you up, or have done a 4-5hr car shuffle to drop a car there. Definitely safer to have a support driver.
