Bruny Island Adventure

Bruny Island is one of those little gems that you only know about if you go looking for it.

To get here, you fly into Hobart Airport, probably via Sydney or Brisbane if you're not coming from the Mainland (or North Island, as the locals call it). The next step is to hire a car, drive about an hour to the Bruny Island Ferry, and spend about 20-30 minutes on said Ferry.

Your first stop should be the Bruny Island Cheese Co, where you can pick up a block or two of your favourite locally-made cheese. They also have fresh bread and an assortment of relishes, chutneys, pickles and jams to go with.

The other must-stop is the Chocolate factory, where you'll find truffles, fudge, chocolate sauces and treats of all kinds, but also a variety of handmade crafts.

In Summer, there is also a berry-picking farm, subject to availability.

Unfortunately, Vocal deemed the photo size too large for my pictures of both, so you'll just have to go and see for yourself...

If you're the outdoorsy type, Bruny Island has several nature walks, varying in length and difficulty. There is also a historic lighthouse at the north of the Island and a penguin nesting site around the middle.

For dinner options, there are multiple seafood restaurants, plus the Bruny Island Inn on the northern half, and a very nice Fish and Chip (and burgers, and other fried things) shop in Adventure Bay on the southern half of the island.

Adventure Bay also has a number of caravan parks, and family-friendly stays within walking distance of the beach.

There are also helicopter rides, and a few honey farms, though these require advanced bookings.

Alternatively, you can just settle into wherever you're staying and enjoy being far, far away from anything resembling a city, with a better view of the stars than you've probably seen in a very long time.

My first experience of Bruny Island was for my 21st Birthday, when Mum took me there for a weekend.

My enthusiasm dropped significantly when I discovered we were going on a 6-hour hike, especially when my legs staged a mutiny on hour 4. Still, the experience stuck with me, and once I had a stable job with vacation money, I took myself back on a solo trip in January of 2019.

My most recent venture there was taking my girlfriend and bestie of 30+ years on a road trip for my 40th birthday. Mostly so that I had a good excuse to be nowhere near anyone who might consider throwing a massive birthday bash on my behalf. Five days in Tasmania, with the first 24 hours being on Bruny Island.

(The rest of the trip was 1 day driving from Hobart to Stratham, because for some reason Tasmania decided to plant it's capitol city a 6 hour drive from the other major population centres, and two nights in Cradle Mountain, before driving to Launceston for our flight home.)

I was the only one who had been to Bruny Island before, and the weather was a little less than co-operative, but we successfully completed the non-hiking activities, didn't realise the fish and chips store walking distance from us closed early, and headed to the Inn for dinner, followed by some genuine watching (wrong time of year, but the view was nice)

The following morning, we ate the rest of the bread and cheese for breakfast, and had a relaxed start before catching the ferry back to Tasmania Proper for the rest of our trip.