Bruny island

We spent the weekend on Bruny Island to the south of Hobart. It consists of N and S islands joined by a very narrow isthmus, which is a point where the fairy penguins come in from the sea to nest in burrows in the dunes each evening (correction Most evenings). This is something I very much wanted to see, and Chris was keen to go mountain biking on the island so we took the ferry over with him and his mate Dan and their bikes. Jon and I spent the night in a holiday cottage. A friend of Chris's was doing a month's voluntary lighthouse keeping so they stayed there at her cottage.





The lighthouse was first lit in 1838 and is the oldest continuously-manned lighthouse in Australia. It was decommissioned in 1996, when it was replaced by a solar-powered tower. So Chris's friend minds the automatic weather station and takes manual readings, and looks after the old lighthouse. We all went up inside the lighthouse with champagne and snacks for a bit of a party as this was her last week there. At the very top we took turns to sit inside the light chamber surrounded by lenses and were slowly rotated, for the most surreal experience of ever-changing distorted visions of stormy skies, or people peering in at us. Not an occasion to be taking any mind-bending drugs!








Jon and I left this happy party to go and see the penguins. We had to drive carefully as it was dusk and there were lots of death-defying hoppers loping across the tracks in front of the car. We watched for penguins for about an hour without success. Apparently, there are fewer to see at this time of year when they're moulting. We were just returning in the car, disappointed, when there was suddenly a lone penguin on the road caught in our headlights, looking very disoriented and oh so cute. (they are only about 12 to 18 inches tall) He wandered this way and that, clearly wondering which way was home (I know that feeling) until we took pity on him and turned off the lights, thanking him wholeheartedly for being so cooperative. Unfortunately no photo, as it was unfair to keep him standing around posing.

We all went on a wildlife cruise next morning in perfect weather (it was wildly variable the previous day, with squally showers, cold and very windy). This showed us some of the remarkable rock features and caves, as well as sea birds and fur seals - a really good 3 hour tour.


Dropping Dan off at home, we were invited in for a cuppa and saw Kate's (this is a shared house) mud house which she has recently built at the bottom of the garden, which slopes very steeply down to the sea. She told me how she wants to spread the word about the technique of building these houses, hoping to make a living running practical workshops in fact. I really loved her "pod" but think I'd want double glazing and air conditioning in that climate!
I'd love to share photos of this but the only ones I took are on my phone and it invokes the wrath of the iPad so I can't. Blame Apple not me.

It's now Tuesday, we've just had a lovely afternoon on the beach. We went back to Tinderbox Bay at my request because it was so quiet - no traffic noise or other people at all, and the council workmen turned up 10 minutes later to cut and strim the grass. So we had our BBQ and went on to Fossil Cove where Chris snorkelled and we were the fossils.






Next stop Melbourne. Maybe no WiFi maybe no blog.

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Location:Huon Rd,South Hobart,Australia