Bruny Island

16th Feb 2023

After another good hotel breakfast, the car is packed and we head South to Bruny Island. We need to do a bit of provisioning as we expect to be cooking a bit more in Bruny, get some fuel etc.  From our drive yesterday we discovered that Kingston Beach had a good shopping centre, basically just off the road to Bruny, so we pulled in there to do our shopping.

The travel distances are very short - Hobart to Kingston Beach, 14 km, and Kingston Beach to Kettering, 23 km. The Bruny Island Ferry sails from Kettering every 20 minutes, so if the waiting line is not too long, there should not be a lot of delay to catch the ferry.

Kettering is a bit of a yachties haven, as you can see from the photo below of the Oyster Cove Marina there.


There was a bit of a line up when we arrived at the ferry terminal and the line was moving very slowly. As we got closer we realised it was because you had to go through a single ticket booth to buy your ticket before boarding. For cars the fee is $48.50 for a return journey. Once lined up in our rows awaiting the ferry I went to the cafe at the terminal to get some coffee.


                                         Ferry Terminal information centre/cafe

Soon the ferry arrived and were all loaded on board, departing quite quickly after loading was complete.


                                                    Loaded up and ready to go


                                                               Departing Kettering


                Mid way across we pass the ferry from Bruny heading to Kettering

Again on dry land we drive off heading South to our eventual destination, Adventure Bay on South Bruny. The roads are good but speed limits are kept at around 80km/hr. We drove past Bruny Island Oysters outlet, "Get Shucked" with a promise of returning for a feed in the next day or two.

Next tourism hotspot is the Bruny Island Cheese Company which now also has a brewery. We stopped for a quick look, but didn't stay. Maybe another day. They had ploughman's lunches, beer tasting paddles etc


                                                Bruny Island Cheese and Beer Co

As you reach the end of North Bruny there is a lookout perched high on a sand dune overlooking the "Neck" that connects North and South Bruny. It is a bit of a steep climb up a lot of stairs, but the views are well worth it.




There is a separate wooden walkway around the bottom of the dune which takes you to the beach and over the top of a very large mutton bird and Fairy Little Penguin rookery.






             The whole area is riddled with burrows that the penguins and shearwaters return to at night

It is now lunch time and we continue on to Adventure Bay, which is on South Bruny. We resist stopping at the Chocolate factory and arrive at the village just before check in time, but ready for lunch. There is a small mini mart, the only petrol outlet on Bruny Island and a Cafe which we head straight for to get lunch. Imaginatively called, Mary Cafe, we are greeted by the Indian staff, and look at the menu which has a heavy focus on curries, but also some lighter dishes and the usual all day breakfast menu.


                                                                       Mary Cafe

We opted for Smoked Salmon Bruschetta, which was actually very nice.


I forgot to mention that there is also a Bowling Club that has limited opening hours.

Not far down the road is The Captain Cook Caravan park, where we will be staying in a 2 bedroom cabin for the next 3 nights. Given the nautical theme our cabin is named Bounty and is very comfortable, if not a little rustic.


All settled in and unpacked, we went for a walk along the beach across the road. The beaches here have very hard sand so are quite easy to walk on, so we head South, hoping to reach the base where Bruny Island Cruises operate from. Unfortunately, a few headlands get in our way, nevertheless it was a nice walk.





                A few fisherman try their luck on a wharf at the end of this section of beach


                                            Looking back towards the caravan park

Dinner tonight was delicious home cooked pork chops and salad, improvising in the kitchen using our portable gas burner as the electric hotplates don't seem to work.

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