3 Mar 10 - Bruny Island, Tasmania

By Craig: We had decided that a stay on Bruny Island would eat into our time on the North East coast so we opted for a quick whiz around tour. The tour had a slow cruise out of Hobart down the Derwent River,
a bus ride across the island, a Wild! boat ride. The ride continued down to the bottom end of the island around some smaller islands in the Southern Ocean to see seals and then on the return bus trip a visit to a private property for lunch with local wine and cheese tasting. OK you got me!

Well the day didn’t start that well as finding an all-day car park in Hobart near the wharf is near on impossible but we finally found out that a parking voucher was available and once parked the day just got better. The cruise was very relaxing and lots to see, you never seem to travel far in Tassie and there’s something new to look at. We arrived at Bruny Island and tracked across and down the island by bus finally arriving at Adventure Bay for our wild ride into the Southern Ocean.


As we stepped on this slick looking craft, long and narrow, we were told of the 3 x 300 HP engines at the rear and that this vessel was built as a troop carrier for ship-to-shore fast transport. ‘You’re safe on this vessel’ the captain said as he commenced handing out beanies and advising our wet weather gear to be on and our seat belts should be fastened at all times. Now we look good as well.
As we left the pier a quick jolt on the power and the vessel sat up and launched into action, to the sound of a few Yoo-hoo's. The cruise down the island was fascinating as you don’t often get to see sheer cliffs from the water.
Before too long we were at the end of the Tasman Sea and were about to head into the Southern Ocean. One noticeable change as we rounded the bottom of Bruny Island was the sea swell increased to around 3 meters.
A quick look at Sam who was sitting in the outside seat and it was thumbs up, a big smile and even a bigger one when the first wave came crashing over the boat.
We toured around a couple of smaller islands and observing seals at close range (bow of boat only feet from the rocks) was extremely entertaining. The weather was not at its best and I understand why we were issued with all the gear; it was blowing a gale, raining and very cold but smiles all round.
We headed back and on the way we were treated to a very fast pass-through between two rock pylons, the idea being that in time with the swell you passed through at full throttle, very exciting stuff. Too fast and wet for photo opportunity but the WOW factor was 10++. Lunch, well what can I say, beautiful local oysters, wines, cheeses and fudge, says it all really & all in a day.