Slept well, but had to get up at 06:30 to get ready for a trip to Bruny Island.
Song had booked the apartment which was only 5 minutes away from the trip start, so a quick couple of slices of toast and then down to the bus.
Drove for about an hour, the weather was nice and clear but a bit cold, saw some nice views of bays and then arrived at the ferry, which was basically a flat deck, but apparently this was the backup ferry, there are others with 2 decks.
Ferry took about 10 minutes across a small channel of water, got off the coach for a couple of minutes to stretch our legs, then drove for about an hour to a stop where there is a thin spit of land between the water, called the Neck. Climbed 233 steps and had a fantastic view across 4 bays, the sun was out and it was clear so could see for miles.
Back on the bus, passing several beautiful beaches and bays; a lot of Tasmanians have holiday homes here. They ranged from nice stone houses with manicured lawns to 1980s caravans on a patch of mud. As we drove along the driver stopped and pointed out a white cat on someone’s lawn. Not really interesting, but it turned out to be a white wallaby, quite rare (about 40 are thought to be on the island). Arrived at the tour company building which had a restaurant and had a free muffin and cup of tea. Song realised she’d left her water bottle back outside the tour office, so had to buy a bottle of water on the way.
The main part of the trip was a boat jaunt along the coast, and three smallish boats (seated about 30) were waiting for us by the dock. We were told it would be cold, and some spray, so we were all given bright red waterproof jackets that almost touched the ground.
We were told that the swell was around 1.5 – 1.8 meters, which was small; sometimes they go out in swells of up to 4m.
We headed out of the bay, bouncing around a bit, then left the bay and into the Southern Ocean – and it felt as if we were standing in front of an industrial sized fan blowing freezing air in our faces.
The waves looked pretty big to me, but the boat was pretty stable except for the odd drop now and then, which elicited lots of “oooh’s” from the passengers. After a while a few people, including Victoria, weren’t feeling too well and went to the back of the boat which was supposedly more stable.
The weather was perfect, clear skies and sunny, but cold. Speeding along in the boat made it even colder, but I had a t shirt, jumper, down coat and bright red windproof jacket on and the only really cold thing was my face.
We kept close to the coast and stopped at various places – sea caves, cliff faces, blow holes etc where we could stand up and take pictures. We then headed over to some small islands where there was a colony of male Fur Seals – the females were at a different place further south. We got quite close, and some seals were swimming just near the boat. As we drifted along the rocks, we suddenly caught the smell of them – basically a public toilet.
Since the weather was so good, the driver took us a bit further down, giving us great views of the cliffs and landscape. The rock is called Jurassic Dolerite, about 180 million years old. We were in the national park, and there is basically nothing here but nature – no walking tracks etc. There were also no trees, nothing can grow there.
We then headed back to the restaurant, pushed away from the coast and headed out to sea and got some great views of the island. The swell was about the same, but it got colder, if that was possible. The trip back took about 30 minutes and was pretty uncomfortable – not the motion, but the cold wind.
Finally turned into the bay and slowed down and started to warm up. Our boat was last so we sat on the water for a few minutes as the other boats unloaded, and watching all the people walk in a line up the dock in their red coats made them look like a cult, or a scene from The Handmaid’s Tale.
Headed up to the restaurant, now we were on land and out of the wind we warmed up even though it was probably only around 14C it felt a lot warmer. Removed the red coats and sat down for lunch (fish and chips for me, Pumpkin soup and salmon roll for Song and Victoria).
Back on the bus then an uneventful drive back to the tour office in Hobart, had a bit of a snooze.
The tour office was still open so I said I’d go and ask if Song’s water bottle had been handed in, when Victoria saw it still in the place where it was left, it had been sat there all day.
Went back to the apartment to relax, then over the road to the restaurant we’d booked back in October, one of the better seafood places.
It was quite nice inside, with a view of the marina, but the food wasn’t great. I had fish and chips (again), Song and Victoria shared some oysters (I tried one, still don’t see the attraction), then Victoria had salmon and Song had seafood laksa. I also had a beer, a Cascade Stout.
My fish and chips was average, same as any you’d get in a pub. Song couldn’t eat her laksa it was so salty. Victoria said her salmon was nice but she might just have been being polite.
Left the restaurant and went for a walk to Battery Point, then back to the apartment, tried to stop for an ice cream (for Victoria, not me) but they had just shut.
Felling pretty exhausted, went to bed early.
Hiring a car tomorrow and driving to Launceston.
