Bruny Island, Beautiful Scenery and Gourmet Food

9th February 2018

It is another overcast morning with a few showers. We leave Battery Point at just after 7 am, heading for Kettering where we will catch the car ferry across to Bruny Island. The drive takes about 25 minutes and there is already a good line up of cars for the ferry. The 9 am ferry is ready for boarding and it is a simple process to arrive, pay your fee (in our case $33 for a car), and we were on the ferry in a short time and on our way to Bruny Island. It is a 2 deck ferry and once loaded, wastes no time getting there. The schedule is about every 30 minutes from either side.

Kettering Marina (taken from the ferry terminal)

On board the ferry and ready to go

The tripacross to Bruny was quick and in no time we were motoring off the ferry and heading for our first planned destination, Dennes Point, at the Northern tip of the Island. We.

 had been told there was a great cafe here, so we called in for a cup of coffee and a great view looking back to the mainland.

Bruny Island Map

Looking back towards the mainland

The Jetty Cafe and General Store at Dennes Point

The cafe was an impressive piece of architecture with excellent views (due to the disappearance of a few pine trees), and they served excellent coffee and accompaniments. The food menu looked pretty good also, but we were just in need of a coffee.

From here we followed the road to Killora and on the Shelter Cove and Quarantine Bay, which was the site of the quarantine station for Tasmania, which in its latter years focused on protecting agriculture. In its earlier history it protected Tasmania from Thyphoid, Smallpox and an Influenza Pandemic that followed WW1. German prisoners were also interned here when war was declared in WW1 and a German ship was in port loading timber.

Walking around what remains of the site was very informative, sadly many of the old buildings have gone.

The Medical Officers House (now occupied)

The Mortuary

The Jetty at Shelter Cove where to passengers arrived no longer exists

Carole checked out the oysters at Shelter Cove and it was hard to get her to leave

We have a lot to see and only a day to do it, so it is time to move on. It would have been quite easy to spend some more time here soaking up the very well documented history.

Not far down the road, we came across the "Get Shucked" oyster house. We were told it was a must do to visit, and we needed little encouragement having seen the oysters at Shelter Cove. Half of Asia was visiting at the same time we arrived, and we could understand why. We ordered a dozen oysters each (for morning tea) and they were fantastic.

They tasted even better than they look

With morning tea out of the way, we drove only a few km down the road before the next gourmet experience confronted us, The Bruny Island Cheese Co. and Bruny Island Beer Co. We called in and had a look, but it was very busty and we were only curious to have a look, we didn't need any more food for a while.

They are working hard to woo the Asian tourists and it seems to be working

Driving further down the road, we came to the "neck" which is the division between North and South Bruny Island. There is a brilliant lookout, which is a fair climb up at stairway to the top of a high dune, but the view is well worth it.

The Neck

Once across the Neck, we turned east to go around to Adventure Bay, where the scenic cruises of Bruny depart from. Adventure Bay is just a residential community, but there is a clear representation that tourism here is on the move upwards. A stunning new Cruise Centre and Restaurant has been built and was still going through a "soft" opening when we were there, as there is still a lot of fit out work yet to be completed.

Driving back out of Adventure Bay and back along the road on the western side of South Bruny, it was time to seek out lunch. We had already been told to go to Bruny Island Premium Wines for lunch, and as there was not much in between, we followed the advice.

Not that impressive on the outside, but the food was fantastic

The lunch was extremely good, and very well cooked and presented. I would go back here any day. However, we still have things to see, and our next destination is Cape Bruny Island Lighthouse, signalling the Southern end of the Island at the entrance to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel.

Lighthouse Bay Beach

View from the Lighthouse looking South

After leaving the Lighthouse we were heading back in the direction of our accommodation for the night, but had to drive past a turn off to Cloudy Bay and couldn't resist going to have a look. Like everything we have seen on Bruny, the scenery everywhere is not to be missed.

Cloudy Bay

Our accommodation has been booked through the local, and only, hotel, Hotel Bruny in Alonnah. We pulled into the carpark of what looked very much like a country pub. Once inside, it clearly was a country pub, and we struggled to see where the accommodation was. After talking to the guy at the bar, we were directed into the restaurant where we spoke to a girl who acknowledged our booking, went and got a key, and then explained that we were staying in one of the Explorers Cottages, about 10km away along the lighthouse road. We booked to eat at the hotel restaurant and return at 7.30pm before heading off in search of our room for the night.

When we arrived we realised we had a cottage with 2 bedrooms, kitchen, lounge etc in a group of other cottages. Many of the roads here are dirt and the thought of driving back to the restaurant and home in the dark after a few drinks and with plenty of wildlife around resulted in a quick decision to cancel the restaurant booking and order a takeway pizza from them. 

Our very Comfortable cabin

The locals picked up the scent of our pizza and tried to come inside and join us