Thursday morning we walked just over a kilometre to collect our rental car which turned out to be a Honda CRV with all the bells and whistles. We made it back to the accommodation, loaded up the luggage and headed south toward Bruny Island. Following insructions from our next Air BnB host, we stopped at pretty little Kingston about thirty minutes from Hobart and bought a few groceries before heading to the beach for morning tea.
At the beach we struck up a conversation with a lady walking her (blind) long haired Weimaraner and she proceeded to give us her top tips for Bruny Island which included the local Bowls Club’s ‘teas.’ We do love a Bowls Club meal, especially if they have a meat raffle too!
After a little side trip to the Margate Bottle-O we made it to the Kettering Ferry at about 1230 and were the LAST car to be loaded. That position worked well for me because I was still getting used to the dimensions of the CRV.
An uneventful 15 minute ‘sail’ and we were disembarking on Bruny Island.
Bruny Island, the edge of the ‘known’ was home to the Nueonne people some 40,000 years ago and came to white man’s attention in the early 19th century. Tragically. within a period of roughly 50 years the local native people had almost totally been wiped out by Europeans and disease. Famously, H.G. Wells author of “The War of the Worlds” wrote:
“The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?”
Prior to these tragic times both Captain Cook and Captain Bligh (on the Bounty) had visited Bruny. Bligh came to Adventure Bay in 1788 and 1792, where he planted Australia’s first apple trees!
The first point of interest off of the ferry happened to be The House of Whisky – selling the biggest selection of Tasmania’s whisky in the state so we stopped for Russell to have a tasting.
He seemed a bit overwhelmed by all that was on offer and fortunately didn’t like any of them enough to warrant the price bracket that those he tasted were in 😉
Next stop was the famous “Get Shucked” oyster bar about twenty minutes down the road. Here we indulged in oysters three ways along with a smoked Tasmanian salmon ‘build your own’ sandwich and a glass of Janz bubbly…. when in Tasmania…
The iconic Bruny Island shot must surely be that one from Truganini Lookout at ‘The Neck,’ pictured above. The neck is a thin isthmus connecting North and South Bruny and the 300 odd steps deliver an outstanding view.
We wandered around here for a time (mainly waiting for a clear shot) and then explored the penguin viewing platform below but unfortunately they’re all at sea at the moment.
By now enough time had passed that we could make our way to check in to our home for the next three nights – ‘The Joneses’ in Adventure Bay.
The winding road to Adventure Bay offered breathtaking glimpses of the coastline along the way, with stunning Australian bushland stretching right down to the water revealing a series of secluded sandy coves. We stopped at Two Tree Point, two distinctive eucalyptus used by Cook and Bligh as a navigational marker to the site of fresh water. The site was sketched and painted by artists aboard early exploratory ships, including George Tobin on Bligh’s 1792 voyage.
A short time later we pulled into the driveway of The Joneses, unpacked and wasted no time in checking out ‘our beach’ and surrounds. This Air BnB is possibly one of the best we’ve ever stayed in (and we’ve stayed in a few as you know) – thoughtfully decorated, a stunning native coastal garden (featured in Country Style Tasmania no less) and floor to ceiling windows showcasing the beach across the road.
The next day we were booked on the iconic Pennicott Wilderness Tour which explores the otherwise inaccessible wild coastline of the Fluted Cape and so at 1100 we found ourselves adorned in fashionable waterproof ponchos along with 60 odd other passengers ready to board their purpose built Naiad vessels. Despite a threatening weather forecast it turned out to be a great day, with the rain just catching up with us in the last 20 mins.
We saw Australian and New Zealand fur seals, multiple dolphins and were awed by the Jurassic dolerite sea cliffs which rise over 270 metres above the Southern Ocean.
On the way home we spotted one of Bruny’s iconic white wallabies. A genetic variation of the common Bennett’s wallaby, some are true albinos with pink eyes, noses, and claws, while others carry a unique white-fur mutation and the lack of predators on the island allow them to thrive.
On our last day on Bruny the weather looked grim – we lounged around for the morning and watched shower after shower pass through punctuated by blue sky and sunshine and eventually we ventured out to explore the south of the island.
I’m so glad we did. First stop was beautiful Cloudy Beach, once home to a whaling station but now a long windswept beach which is part of the South Bruny National Park. We did a short walk around to the next surfing beach but unsurprisingly no one there today.
Looming in the distance was dramatic Cape Bruny -crowned by the Cape Bruny Lighthouse and our next stop. The unsealed road was quite slippery thanks to the recent rain and we proceeded cautiously, totally unprepared for the vista awaiting us at the end of the road.
It was SOOO windy there, we could hardly stand up and I thought the car was going to blow away! We struggled up to the lighthouse just in time for the 2.30 pm tour and it turned out we were the only ones brave enough to do so 😍
We listened to Matt, (a lovely gentleman who was very passionate about lighthouses and their keepers) regale us with the history of this lighthouse, the only one open to tours in Southern Tasmania.
“The heritage-listed 1836 Cape Bruny Lighthouse towers 114m above dramatic cliff tops and coves that form this wild rugged Tasmanian coastline of Cape Bruny.
John Lee Archer, the famous architect who designed many well-known structures around the world was well ahead of his time and the iconic lighthouse he designed still stands proud today. “
It is the second oldest extant lighthouse tower in Australia, as well as having the longest (158 years) history of being continuously staffed. It was first lit in March 1838 and was eventually decommissioned on 6 August 1996. After hearing about its history we climbed to the top and were able to step out onto the gallery, albeit only just on the leeward side and holding tightly to the parapet. It was WILD up there.
Heading back through the car park we had a brief glimpse of a local Flame Robin – not the bright pink Rose Robin which is on my bucket list but a nice sight anyway. Apologies that the pic is not sharp, it was hard to stand up let alone hold the camera steady 😂
Tomorrow we leave the Island and head north west. If you’re planning on visiting Tassie, make time to include Bruny Island, it has been amazing.