Bruny Island

So we read when we were in Tassie in April that Bruny Island has the same land area as Singapore.  I remember Bruny being quite desolate, and empty.  I have one memory where we ran out of petrol in the mini moke when my brother and I were young and my dad had to walk for miles to get some and come back again while our step mum tried to convince us that she was really a man called Bruce....

Anyway, Bruny is quite changed these days.  Our accommodation was quite simple; just some concrete block huts, but they kept out the rain (and boy did it rain the second day).  By the time we got down on the first day, the kids were quite happy to muck around on the beach.  Matt spent ages driving around trying (unsuccessfully) to get a signal for his phone for work issues, so although Bruny may be more built up these days, it's still a good place to get away from it all.

We drove down to Kettering to catch the car ferry across...

 The boys couldn't wait to go swimming once we arrived.  


However, that Tassie water takes a little getting used to...

It's a bit brisk.

Adventure Bay

We even had a visit from a Christmas beetle.

That night Mum, Sarah , Ella, Remi, Oscar and I headed up to the Bruny Island neck to see the Little (Fairy) Penguins come in.  We probably got there a bit early, but the light was just GORGEOUS.

We waited, and waited...

 And listened to the guy from Parks and Wildlife give his little talk.  Here he has Ella holding on to a 4 metre piece of string...at his end there is a 3 cm piece of red tape around the end.  The whole string represents how long Tasmanian Aborigines were around in Tasmania, and the tape represents white Australians.

 We got to stroke this little guy who wasn't going anywhere...

 And they are SO silky soft.

 I went and took some photos of the setting sun...and then Oscar did...

 Then back over to the ocean side beach for more waiting...

I was totally enamoured with these washed out stairs in the light.

...and preparing torches with red cellophane so as not to disturb the penguins when they came up the beach,

Seriously, there was a lit of waiting.  Finally it started getting dark enough

The Shearwaters were the first to come flying in in great big flocks, almost like bats, and then later than usual the penguins started coming up the beach.  You can't really see them as it's too dark, but then suddenly there they are in the bushes around the duck boards and you can see them in your feeble red light.  There were even big fat chicks who came out of their burrows and had a wander around while the parents were swapping over for the night.  Here's my attempt at a photo of them (red cellophane over the iphone camera).

 Yep, they look just like blobs.  It was fun though.  And driving VERY slowly back we saw some possums, an echidna, and some wallabies.  The amount of road kill in Tasmania is astounding, so I was really glad we didn't have far to go.

The following day was rainy and cold, so we went for a bit of a drive.  We visited some places where we camped when we were little.  Like Cloudy Bay Lagoon.

yes, the water really is that clear.

 From there we slowly made our way to the Bruny lighthouse...next stop Antartica

 I love this kind of rugged coast line.  It actually reminded me a bit of Wales.

 ...with different flora

We stopped for hot meals and drinks on the way home, and spent a night rugged up inside our little cabin, before leaving the next morning.  It was a nice little trip.