A spontaneous trip to Bruny

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I heart Bruny Island

Slept like logs and it was nice not to have an early wake up call.  After a yummy breakfast overlooking the gorge from our townhouse we packed up the car and began the 3 1/2 hour journey south to Kettering to catch the ferry to Bruny Island.

This isn’t the itinerary we had planned, but we are chasing the sun; Bruny is forecast to have a couple of days of unprecedented warm and calm weather, a rare occurrence that we want to make the most of.  Last night we found a last minute cancellation on Airbnb which looks stunning – it’s fate! 

The drive south on the Heritage Highway was fairly non-descript; we’d stopped off at some of the small towns 10 years ago and while some had character, they were nothing outstanding so we moseyed on through on our mission to get to the ferry.

On the drive it was very clear that the long hot dry summer is taking its toll; everywhere was burnt to a crisp and tinder-dry, not the gorgeous green we saw 10 years ago in Spring. There’s no doubt it’s still beautiful, but I don’t think I would plan to come back this late in the summer again.

En route we stopped at a Salamanca Fresh store in a Hobart neighborhood, then popped across the road to a butcher and on to a bottle shop.  Bruny is the size of Singapore but only has 700 residents and 1 small general store so we wanted to stock up with supplies for the next few days.

We rocked up at Kettering ferry terminal at 1:50 pm just in time for the 2 pm ferry. At 2:15 pm we were on Bruny and at 2:30 pm we were noshing on a dozen oysters and a glass of bubbles at Get Shucked.  We polished off the first dozen oysters very quickly so we splashed out on second serving…NOW we are on vacation! 

Oysters and Bubbles Get Shucked Bruny Island Tasmania
Oysters & Bubbles at Get Shucked, Bruny Island, Tasmania

Next stop was Bruny Island Cheese Company.  We did a tasting but didn’t enjoy the cheeses as much as some of the local ones we have picked up along the way so far, plus we found the prices to be tourist rip-off high, so we didn’t linger here.

Continuing to South Bruny we stopped at The Neck, the isthmus connecting north and south and took the timber stairs to the lookout.  We’d seen YouTube videos of people here being so windblown they could barely stand, so we felt very lucky to have a clear calm day, in fact it would have been nice to have a bit of a breeze to cool us down a bit J 

After taking in the glorious 360o views we jumped back in the car and drove the final few miles to our AirBnB rental overlooking Adventure Bay which was stunning or as the locals say…”Sweet as!”

We’d planned to go for a hike this afternoon but with a shaded deck overlooking the bay and temperatures rising above 32O we decided to slow it down and instead sat and enjoyed the view and took the opportunity to relax. 

Late afternoon when it cooled down a little we went for a walk along the beach and felt very smug when we set eyes on the cramped and crowded Captain Cook Campground.  Mike had overruled me on our sleeping arrangements on Bruny and as we retreated along the beach to our house with a view I decided it was an assertion I was happy to have lost.

Happy Hour at Adventure Bay, Bruny Island, Tasmania
Happiest of Happy Hours!

Dinner was a bbq’d pork chop and veggies on the deck whilst enjoying the view, the sound of the waves and the visiting wallabies that hopped through the garden trimming the lawn as they came and went.

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