Bruny Island

Bruny Island is Tasmania’s fourth largest island, but really it’s two islands connected by a narrow isthmus called The Neck. Aquamarine bays fringed with icing sugar sand; fluted, dolerite sea cliffs; dense rainforest; rolling green pasture; snow-white wallabies; and not to mention the best oysters in the world: Bruny Island has it all!

When we said we were going to Bruny Island everyone had a favourite place to go and thing to do – so we had quite a bucket list!

We had our last breakfast overlooking Cygnet Bay, vowing we would return, and for much longer, to this part of the world and this great B&B. We then headed to the Bruny Island Ferry – only swiveled from our objective by a sign saying “Last Cherries” which necessitated a very quick u-turn. We had bought some cherries in Hobart but were frustrated in our search for more by the fact that the cherry season had finished and so none available – until we headed south.
We arrived just in time to for the small ferry, MV Bowen, and despite the queue managed to get on. It is very much a first come first served service with no bookings. After a pleasant 15 minute crossing we disembarked on Bruny Island and headed for the first stop on our bucket list, Get Shucked Oyster Farm.

Get Shucked is locally owned and operated and promotes the pleasurable experience derived by eating oysters. It has a fully licensed oyster bar offering a wide range of oyster dishes, beer, wine, sparkling and cider which is connected to their processing shed so you can eat the freshest Bruny oysters from the farm whilst watching your oysters being harvested, sorted and shucked. We found a table and ordered one dozen Naked (freshly shucked and served with lemon) and one dozen Dressed (Naked oysters served with 3 dressings on the side) with a Bruny Island Beer for Edgar and a Prosecco for me. The oysters are large Pacific oysters, which we normally don’t care for, preferring the smaller sweeter oysters such as Coffin Bay, Sydney Rock and Moreton Bay. However these were everything you could ask for – plump, creamy and totally delicious. So delicious in fact that we thought we should try some of the cooked and had half a dozen Mother in Law’s Kilpatrick (cooked in the shell and topped with Marie T’s Worcestershire sauce and Bruny Island Foods bacon) and half a dozen Oyster Wontons (wrapped in wonton pastry, deep fried and served with wasabi cream). All delicious but fresh is best!

We debated about going through the drive thru and getting some takeaway but decided that this would be excessive. Our destination, and location of our B&B for the next couple of nights, was Adventure Bay on the southern island. On the way we had to pass the Bruny Island Cheese and Beer Shop, Bruny Island Berry Farm and Bruny Island Chocolates – yes Bruny Island is all about food!

We stopped at the Bruny Island Cheese Shop, picked up some cheese and beer and had a coffee/tea with a cheese based dessert. We decided to leave the Berry Farm and the Chocolate Shop for another day – we were after all staying for three days! We crossed over the Neck

before arriving at “Baywatch”, a seaside house overlooking Adventure Bay. Gus, our host, had everything ready for us and we unpacked and settled in. After an exhausting morning of cleaning, motoring, boating and eating and knowing we had a dinner reservation at the Bruny Island Premium Winery Bar & Grill for dinner we debated on whether we should go for a walk or have a rest and read. We opted for the latter.

Fortunately our visit to Get Shucked and the Bruny Island Cheese shop was late morning because the menu at the Bar & Grill, featuring wallaby, beef, lamb, salmon – nearly all locally produced – was promising. The drive across to the other side of the south island was very pleasant with some lovely scenery and lots of wildlife. We had an early reservation so that we could get home before the 9pm sunset to avoid connecting with any of the wildlife. The narrow roads and their abundance make this a very real hazard.

Bruny Island Premium Wines, like most other businesses on Bruny, is a small family owned and operated vineyard/winery and is Australia’s most southern vineyard. Their wines are grown, made and bottled by hand. The Bar & Grill, open 7 days for lunch and Saturday and Sunday night, is set amidst the vines. We decided to bypass the oysters and settled for several Tapas sides:
Char grilled Bruny Island Lamb Cutlets: Grazed on a neighboring farm, served with Onion Chilli Jam

Marinated Mushrooms with Haloumi: Huon Valley Mushrooms marinated in secret herbs & spices topped with Haloumi

Cha Sui Huon Salmon:
Huon Salmon marinated in a Chinese BBQ sauce served on bamboo skewers

We teamed this with some of their excellent wines and followed with House Made Chocolate Sticky Date Pudding served with Bruny Island fudge butterscotch sauce and ice-cream.. We had finished and made it back to “Baywatch” a whisker before dark.

The next day we made our way down to the beach and walked it’s length and back (about 5 ks).

There was a lot of birdlife to see including a couple of very watchful swans on the waters edge, which we avoided. We passed a monument to commemorate the whales. There were four shore based whaling stations situated from East Bay to Penguin Island in the 1820s – 1830s

Towards the end of the Bay we could see four boats from Bruny Island Cruises filling with what seemed to be an endless queue and heading out to sea.

Adventure Bay could be called the birthplace of Van Diemen’s Land. First sighted by Abel Tasman in 1642 when exploring for the great southland – because of gale force winds he was unable to make a landing.

Captain James Cook in H.M.S. “Resolution” and Captain Tobias Furneaux in H.M.S. “Adventure” left England in 1772 also to explore the South Seas, becoming separated Furneaux followed Tasman’s chart and in 1773 found the bay naming it Adventure Bay. Captain Cook landed at Adventure Bay in 1777 with William Bligh as sailing master. At this time Adventure Bay, and Bruny Island, was inhabited by the Neunonne group of the South Eastern tribe of Tasmanian Aborigines, the most famous of whom was Truganini.

Captain Bligh revisited Adventure Bay in 1788 and with botanist Nelson planted a number of fruit trees at East Cove. When he returned in 1792 he found one apple tree still growing. It is said that this was the first Granny Smith apple tree. Tasmania was later to become known throughout the world as the Apple Isle of Australia.

There are many memorials dedicated to these early explorers as well as one dedicated to Truganini.

We visited most of these and other sites of historical significance that afternoon and spent about an hour at the Bligh Museum. The foundation stone of the Bligh Museum, built to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Vice Admiral Bligh. It displays historic maps, documents, paintings and other artifacts relating to the famous explorers as well as some original documents in Cook’s handwriting.

That night we dined at Hotel Bruny at Allonah on the western side of the Island. It is a beachfront hotel offering beautiful views over the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. We had a highly recommended Seafood Platter, which was so large we couldn’t finish it, and then took our drinks out to watch the sunset over the Channel.
The next day we were up bright and early for our Bruny Island Cruise, which is a 3 hour Wilderness Cruise that explores the spectacular rugged coastline of south east Bruny Island and has been the winner of Australia’s best tourist attraction for 2012, 2014 & 2015.

We set off in four boats each holding about 40 people in covered open-air seating – yes we had our ponchos on! After a brief, and amusing, talk by our guide we set off at a rapid pace for Penguin Island and then cruised beneath the towering cliffs, drifted up close to listen the “Breathing Rock”

and paused to watch a sea lion sun itself on a sheltered beach. We entered some of the deep sea caves and then powering up hurtled through the narrow gap between the coast and “The Monument” – twice!

There is a large colony of Australian Fur Seals living on a cluster of remote rocky outcrops & craggy islands off the coast of south Bruny Island so that is where we headed, leaving the relative calm of the Tasman Sea for the much more turbulent Southern Ocean – fortunately for us it was relatively calm.

At any time there are up to 1000 seals there. When we were there they were only males as the females only come ashore to give birth and mate. We watched them fish, generally laze about and sometimes fight to establish their territory. Many bore scars from encounters with sharks and with nets. They are the number one enemy of the salmon breeders, tearing the nets and taking bites out of the salmon leaving devastation in their wake. They are apparently becoming smarter at breaking through nets. When they discover a new way of getting into a cage on one farm it’ll spread round other farms within a few days – as if they’re telling each other how to do it. Some seals have become aggressive and there have been a number of attacks on the farm workers.

Both going out and coming back we saw numerous seabirds including an Australasian Gannet, which is rarely seen in these waters. These birds are plunge divers and spectacular fishers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They mainly eat squid and forage fish that school near the surface. There were a number of schools of fish with seabirds of all descriptions taking their fill.

We were told before leaving that, if we were lucky, we would see some dolphins. Well we were certainly lucky, as there were quite a number of them surfing in the wake around the boats –and with the water so clear you could see them swimming under the boat. We were also incredibly lucky with the weather as the day was sunny and the waters calm. You can see why this cruise is a multi award winner. It was certainly the winner for us.

Back on shore we decided to go back to Get Shucked Oysters for lunch. This time we tried the Asian Fusion, which is a panko crumbed oyster on a nest of rice noodle salad with a very tasty dressing. Though we rated the Naked the top – this was a close second!

A quick visit to the Berry Farm for an icecream – blueberry was best!
and a visit to the Bruny Island Chocolate shop saw us finish off our bucket list for Bruny.
Then it was back home to pack and tidy up as we were leaving at 5.45 am to ensure we caught the ferry.

Our last memory of Bruny was driving slowly along the road in the predawn with suicidal wildlife hurling themselves at us and hoping we would get the rental car back in one piece!

And that was it. We handed in the car and caught our flight home. It had been a terrific three weeks but it was good to be back – and there had been rain and the garden hadn’t died!