Interestingly, Bruny Island has the same sized land mass as Singapore, but only about 650 permanent residents compared with Singapore's six million.
Our first stop was lunch at 'Get Shucked' ... the oyster place where we had a dozen natural oysters each...fresh and beautiful with lemon juice. They had an interesting veggie garden made from pallets and corrugated iron. There were different levels in the garden for smaller herbs.
We stayed overnight in a free camp on The Neck which is a narrow strip of sand which joins north and south Bruny. There was water on both sides of us and we went to bed with the sound of the ocean, just like home.
Next day we took the boat trip with the island's multi award winning Bruny Island Cruises, which left from Adventure Bay. It took three hours exploring the rugged coastline right down to Friar's Rocks where we saw hundreds of Australian fur seals. At different places the captain took us speeding through narrow inlets and into caves where we could see the giant kelp at the base of towering cliffs. It was a great experience and we were thankful for the full length waterproof macs we had to wear as they kept us dry and warm. The very relaxed commentary was informative and very funny and kept everyone amused.
Adventure Bay is small community with a caravan park, pub and a number of houses with magic views of the ocean. The boat trip brings in a lot of tourists as you can imagine, even from Hobart on day trips. We free camped on beach just north of Adventure Bay with five other vans and interesting people. We went squidding from the wharf with two Queensland couples who gave us some tips and contributed to our catch so we ended up with 12 squid in the freezer. They are a bit tricky to skin we discovered. We also collected lots of lush, ripe blackberries which were growing beside the van.
We drove to Cape Lookout and wandered through one of the cottages which housed the lighthouse keeper and his family of 11 children, and read details of their lives. The isolation must have been difficult, especially rearing such a large family on a cliff edge!! The views were stunning and panoramic.
From there retreated to the shelter of a NP campsite by the water, cleaned the squid and chilled out for the afternoon, reading and preparing the fire for dinner. Around the campfire we had drinks with a couple from Armidale and a Japanese woman travelling alone. A cheeky possum had a chew on my finger .. They are not a bit shy of people it seems on Bruny Is. And are much darker in colour and bushier in tails than our local residents.
After we left our campsite we parked and walked down to Cloudy Bay to get oysters. The Queenslanders from the night before told us about the particular spot and huge oysters were there for the taking. We opened some for dinner tonight and kept some in a hessian bag for later. A couple of Dutch tourists were there with a guide so we shared some opened ones with them.
We had a delicious lunch at the Smokehouse in front of the fire. It was cosy as the day had turned chilly and damp. The platter we shared had smoked chicken, halibut and Atlantic salmon, smoked sausage, three dips and pickles and a very tasty Moroccan peach chutney. We washed it down with excellent Bruney Island Sauvignon blanc and Chardonnay.
Almost everything I've written about Bruny Island is related to food it seems. That's because there is food everywhere you look.. Fruit on trees, berries by the roadside, oysters on the rocks, fish in the ocean and lakes, and wallabies in the campgrounds..(we had Wallaby and pomegranate pâté today at the Smokehouse for lunch) and farm animals and cheeses as well! It's all about fresh produce. The island is beautiful as well as serene, with a lot of wildlife to be seen.
Then the 15 minute trip back on the ferry to pretty Kettering which has a lovely marina.
No comments:
Post a Comment