NSW – Tasmania trip 2021: 15-17 February

Monday – Bruny Island
Left Sorell and headed down to Kettering to catch the ferry to Bruny Island. The ferry goes every half hour, and we got there 3 minutes before it left, and there was just room for us (and 2 more cars!) and off we went.
The crossing took around 15 minutes, and it was quite smooth (though cold outside!).

Bruny Island consists of North and South Bruny, which are almost 2 separate islands, however still connected by a sliver of land, called the Neck. Very pretty, again with beautiful blue and aqua sea.

There are not many facilities here, only one petrol station, we did see a pharmacy (and there probably would be a doctor then), a general store, a bread fridge (more on that one later) and the rest are more or less understated tourist attractions (artisan cheese factory; winery; lookouts, walks, penguins). Oh, and apparently two police officers… On the way to our campsite (in South Bruny where most of the action is), we stopped at ‘Get Shucked’ (oysters) and picked up a dozen plump delicious morsels of high-quality protein, then made our way to Hotel Bruny on the water, where we had the best seafood chowder lunch. Great start to our stay here!
Nice campsite with views on the water.

We have booked in for 2 nights here, but we plan on staying an extra one if that works out. That will give us 2 full days here, and 3 nights.
Arno spotted the first White Wallaby (native to Bruny Island) and the adorable blue Superb Fairywren became regular visitors around the caravan.

Tuesday – Bruny Island
We started the day with a lovely beach walk where the crystal clear unbelievably blue-turquoise sea was just picture perfect with the morning sun.

Got back in time to join our pre-booked boat adventure Bruny Island Wilderness Cruise at the pier just a few minutes down the road.
This is a 3-hour (at times very high-speed) boat trip which took us along the top and east coast to the most southern tip of Bruny. We were given a head-to-almost-toe-length wind and water-proof red coat with advice to be prepared for the cold and possible wave spray.  We had the absolute best weather, and could not fault the knowledgeable commentary, humour and boat handling skills of the captain. In our books, it went down as one of our top overwater experiences to date. Not to harp on about the colour of the water again (which I could do for hours), we saw spewing blow holes; most stunning rock formations of immense height and intricacy; caves; Tasmanian fur seals who were sunning, bickering and/or flapping about; literally dozens of playful dolphins; black-faced cormorants; birds similar to albatrosses (unfortunately we didn’t see any of those today) but I can’t remember the exact name of; and much more.

We came back very impressed with the fun we had, and also having seen so many of nature’s greatest elements and wildlife.

We took a drive down to South Bruny, the tip of the west side of Cloudy Bay, and past the most scenic bays basking in the sun with the white sand – I won’t mention the water colour.  We drove to the southernmost point through the South Bruny National Park, and though the lighthouse gates were closed for cars, we could walk up to it for amazing 360° views.  We could see the little islands where we had seen the seals on our boat tour to the east, and west the most southern tip of mainland Tasmania, where we are going to next, as Kendy and Brad’s shack is there. ‘Shack’ is Tasmanian for a holiday/weekend home, like Canadians have a ‘cottage’. We will be spending a few days with the Morgans there after Bruny Island.

The views were stunning as the weather was very clear.

On the way back we stopped at the (not power-connected) ‘Fridge’ (x2).  This is where fresh bread is placed by the Island’s baker, and you can pick up your sourdough loaf, and leave your money in the honesty box, a slot into the freezer compartment. The baker also advises that you can place an order by phoning/texting him, and he will leave it there for you.  We of course bought Arno’s bread… (not cheap mind you!, but that’s par for the course in Tassie).  We do love that simple way of life…

Back in Adventure Bay, we went to see if we could spot the white wallabies as mentioned before. Arno spotted one the day before but today we both enjoyed this very special and unique Tasmanian animal.

Wednesday – Bruny Island
This next part is a transcript – Jen recorded it on Cloudy Bay beach.
We drove over a long wide 3km long beach around this bay on white sand to the end.  It is the most beautiful place, surrounded by rolling hills, white sand, and hm, turquoise water yet again. This is also part of the South Bruny National Park, and from here there is a hike that goes all the way down to a lookout (so this is on the eastern side of Cloudy Bay; yesterday’s lighthouse lookout was on the west side) but that is probably another 2-2.5 hours walk. Arno is doing a bit of it, while I am sitting on the beach, our car behind us, just loving the view and recording this update.

Every few hundred metres are other visitors, either with a car, or who have hiked this far, it is a beautiful crescent shape, almost a circle if you see it on the Google satellite image. The water is a nice swimming temperature too, but we don’t have our swimmers in the car.

We spent some time this morning moving from our powered site as we hadn’t booked the extra night, and today there were none available. So we now have an absolute perfect spot, closer to the water, running under the sun power again. The non-powered sites are usually in much nicer spots anyway! I took a few pictures of our sublime location.

We put our homemade shade cloth/windbreaker screen up on the northern side of the awning, and are thus protected from the sea breeze, but can still enjoy the magnificent view, and enjoy the sound of the waves.

Today is another glorious day with temperatures in the mid-twenties, and just lovely. I am sitting in the shade of a tree recording this, with my legs in the sun for the vitamin D…!

End of transcript.

Jen walked a good part back on the beach and Arno picked me up on the return.

We stopped at the pub again and had a drink on the terrace with the view over Satellite island. Not mentioning the water colour anymore.

Arno lit another fire and so we enjoyed our last evening on Bruny Island.

Below the map of Bruny Island, and the highlighted areas are:
1 – yellow: first day to lighthouse on west Cloudy Bay
2 – pink: trip to east Cloudy Bay
3 – blue (part of map) the boat tour

Map from Sorell to Bruny Island is in this link, and below.

Trip so far: