Bruny Island

With only a couple of hours driving south of Hobart you can find your way to the beautiful Bruny Island. The island is about 100ks long, with two distinct sections, north and south. They are connected by a long narrow sandy neck.

Before even coming to Tassie, my old man gave Jen and I a voucher for accommodation and a cruise on the island for a Christmas present, score us! 

When first arriving on the island, you'll come across a whiskey place. We were pretty hungry, so bypassed this location. Instead our first destination was the Bruny Cheese and Brewing company. We had some cheeses to snack on, and Jen grabbed a paddle of beers—I was the deso! The cheese went down alright, but the beer wasn't so great. The chocolate shop was also a massive let down—more of a fudge and novelty store like you'd find in the city.

This average start left us a little worried, we felt as though we were falling into a very generic tourist trap! Fortunately though, everything from this point on was pretty much awesome! 

Once we had checked into our cabin down in Adventure Bay, we went for a nice stroll along the beach and relaxed for the arvo. We decided to head down to the pub for tea. There's only the one pub on the island, but it's a bloody ripper of a place! 

We sank a few Moo Brews, then decided to share a big plate of local seafood. All the while, enjoying a beautiful sunset. It was a great one, so great that Jen took 27 photos of it! We chose this one (The one you can see on the top right) for the blog, but like most beautiful glimpses of scenery, the photo does little justice of the magical sunset.

The next day we set off for a hike. We weren't really sure of what—or where—to go, but we had an island to ourselves for the day! Nothing like exploring an island to keep yourself occupied. The hike went for a few hours, and took us up to a radio tower on the south island. Afterwards we checked out the "Jurassic Gardens" as they had Jurassic in the name, and I was hoping to see some dinosaurs. No dinosaurs, but some pretty plants and info on the geology could be found.

We brought our 5mm wetsuits along, and had pondered on going for some snorkelling. It was cold, and we sooked out, choosing to go look at a lighthouse instead. The Bruny Cape Lighthouse is pretty awesome, and I'd well recommend it. For only $10, you can go up the lighthouse on a tour. We were pretty forutnate, getting the lighthouse to ourselves with some absolutely spactacular views. Our guide—who I've forgotten the name of now—was awesome! Very insightful and knowledgable on the area. He did also warn that it is quite easy to rock up to Bruny as a visitor, then suddenly stick around and become a local!

As much as we loved the island, and this whole island state, I think the warmer weather will be calling us back to the mainland next year! 

Our final day in Bruny Island was the only one that we had a plan for. The day of our cruise! We went with a mob called Penicott Cruises. Departing from Adventure Bay, the cruise went for about 3 hours, educating us on the geology (especially dolarite), and the way the locals have interacted with the native flora and fauna. Andrew and Nick were the names of the blokes who took us around. They both had great knowledge, told a good yarn, and gave a good dose of tongue in cheek humour. The perfect type of tour guides for this country! 

We looked inside dolarite caves, drove alongside fur seal colonies, saw some birds—albatross flavoured—and even managed to spot a pod of dolphins!

Does this look like anything to you? If it does, let us know in the comments!