aggienaut: (Default)
Aggienaut ([personal profile] aggienaut) wrote2023-02-09 06:55 pm

Bruny Island



Wednesday morning we drove about fifteen minutes to the Bruny Island Ferry, which departs every twenty minutes so we didn't have long to wait. Presently it arrived and disgorged an implausible number of vehicles. Around 11:30 we began our crossing of the channel, which only took about fifteen minutes.

First we drove to the northern tip of the island. The northern (and presumably southern) lobes are big enough that while in inland valleys you can't even tell you're on an island. Land use was mostly pasture or eucalypt woodland. There was a little township at the north end but we couldn't find the heritage trail indicated on the map. Proceeded south.

Next stop was a cheese and beer place. They had a very nice outdoor set up with a pleasant atmosphere and it seemed popular. We got a cheese platter and a milk stout (dark beer). The cheese platter had some cooked wallaby on it too.



From there we proceeded a short distance to Bruny Island Honey. Obviously it's not novel to me to see a honey/bee place but I was interested in their presentation and such. And it was really good! Much better presentation than we have at Edmonds Honey. If bossman ever shows interest in substantially redecorating these pictures will be good reference. Also they had some tasty honey-vanilla ice cream.

Next we were headed down the isthmus, which as you can see on the top map is very thin. It does however have a solid hillock right down its middle. About halfway down there was a boardwalk with steps to the top. There are penguin burrows all over the central sandy hillock but we didn't see any penguins, i think it's not the nesting season (and even when it is your primarily see them just after sunset)



At the southern end of the isthmus there was supposed to be a trailhead but we couldn't find it either.

Just at the top end of the southern lobe we went into a chocolateria, selling us chocolate should have been the easiest thing but their presentation was as bad as the honey place was good. Just a shed w self serve chocolates along one wall. I'd kind of expected fancy hot chocolates and all kinds of tempting goodies. We left there without getting anything.

Proceeding down the east side of the southern lobe we came to Adventure Bay. The bay is named after the HMS Adventure which was part of Captain Cook's famous expedition, and had become lost, wandering into the bay alone. Captain Bligh anchored here for reprovisioning in the HMS Bounty a few years later on his own famous journey.

And then we flew past a "Bligh Museum" it was little and came up suddenly. I really wanted to go in but there wasn't a convenient turn around :(



And then there was a tallship! We were able to pull over so i could get a good shot. I think this was the Lady Nelson which we'd seen at the wharf in Hobart.




Finally at the end of this road we found a trailhead. And saw our first live wallaby! By a wallaby cut out!

I would have liked to hike longer but by now we were feeling strained for time -- if we missed the ferry off the island we'd be stuck! So we just went half an hour out and came back. It was a nice well maintained trail ("grass point trail") through forest woodland just beside the coast. According to informational signs here too there were a bunch of whalers huts from whence they'd dart out and nab hapless passing whales.



From there we proceeded straight to the ferry. They don't check tickets getting back on the ferry since they only sell round trip and obviously you got one to get here. Ferry 17:45-18:00



Ate at a pub in the nearby town of Snug that looked like it couldn't decide if it was a nice tourist spot or a grungy local pub. The tables were nice and if you just faced the tables and windows from the bar maybe you'd think it was the former, but the bar itself looked like it belonged to a grungy backwater and though the food was good they didn't have any local Tassie beers or ciders on tap, just the same tastes-of-bootleather mass produced macro lagers you could probably find in the mines in the NT.



And then we returned to our cabin and lit a fire in the stove, the end (until next day update). In the meantime we just boarded the ferry back to the mainland (:

[identity profile] pigshitpoet.livejournal.com 2023-02-09 11:44 am (UTC)(link)
looks like snug has a nice pub, like a snug
; ))

[identity profile] livejournal.livejournal.com 2023-02-09 12:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!
Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).

[identity profile] lookfar.livejournal.com 2023-02-09 03:05 pm (UTC)(link)
What a lovely, adventurous visit you are having! Sad about all those missed trailheads, but at least you get to be outside.

[identity profile] pondhopper.livejournal.com 2023-02-09 03:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Not being familiar with Tasmaniam geography, I wasn't aware of Bruny Island so I just spent some time studying a good map. The isthmus looks longer on a map than it does on your picture.

Another beautiful natural place...love the Wallaby. And the tall ship picture is gorgeous!

I love it that there's a town called Snug.

[identity profile] chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com 2023-02-09 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)

what does wallaby taste like?

[identity profile] engarian.livejournal.com 2023-02-10 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
Lots of ferrying around for you on this trip, LOL. It does sound like you're packing a lot into each day, however. I'm loving the opportunity to see more of your part of the world.

I adore wallabies. I don't think I could ever eat one, they're far too cute!

- Erulisse (one L)

[identity profile] waitingman.livejournal.com 2023-02-10 11:26 am (UTC)(link)
Bruny Island was a definite highlight of our trip to Tasmania last year... the oysters were delicious, the cheese platters also & if you ignore the maps, some interesting dirt roads could be found that went in kind of the same direction you wanted to go... but not always!!
Edited 2023-02-10 11:27 (UTC)