Where's Wall(ab)y

We woke up to another perfect weather day in Hobart. Each night the weather forecast for the next day is rain and each morning we wake up to blue skies, just hope I haven’t put the jinx on it now.

I had to hustle Ann to make the designated meeting point only to get a call that the guide was running late. As is becoming standard fare in Hobart the meeting point is on a corner so as I go around one corner to check if we are meeting in the right spot the bus turns up where I was originally and I need to run back, this time up a hill!

We learnt a little more about MONA today, Matt (our guide) told us more about the poo machine exhibit. You can buy a poo for about $5,000. Makes me think Riley is just a money generating machine.

The Bruny Island ferry which is a pretty cool double decker car ferry. The ride is very short and the sea so calm it is hard to actually tell when you have left the wharf, and no risk of someone getting seasick.

First stop on Bruny Island was Bruny Island Cheese where I picked up some cheese to take home. But my favourite part was the wood oven they use to bake their own bread, fresh bread and a warm oven, beautiful.

Next stop Bruny Island Honey, at least I tried some of the honeys while Ann was more interested in patting the dogs. Although I must say I was a little hesitant on rubbing the honey on my skin, but it is meant to be good for you, so what are you to do. At least I was popular with the ants for the rest of the day, although when I learnt about the jumping ants that most people are allergic to, I regretting the honey rub.

We skipped the ‘neck’ lookout on the way to the lighthouse as the crowds are always bigger in the morning. This also means that when we got to the lighthouse there were not too many people there. The lighthouse, just like almost everything else in Tasmania was built in the 1830’s. It is a short hike up to the lighthouse where there is nothing between you and Antarctica. The wind comes straight off the ice and is rushing to head north and get warmer, so it doesn’t go around you it goes straight through you, brrrrrr. Surprisingly, for a small circular structure, the lighthouse provides good protection from the wind.

I wanted to take the optional lighthouse tour and discovered I had left my wallet in the bus. We were all going back to the bus anyway so I ran down grabbed my wallet and headed back to the lighthouse while everyone else headed to the beach. There was a tour group on their way so I got a shortened private tour before they arrived. You get to learn about the history of the lighthouse and the keepers and if the wind isn’t too bad a view from the top. As the guide is struggling to open the door against the breeze he commented it was a nice calm day today, before making sure all my pockets were zipped up and everything was tied on, not sure I want to be there on a windy day! The view from the top is spectacular, as long as you stayed out of the wind.

I hustled down from the lighthouse and took a quick detour to the museum before heading to the beach. I met the rest of the group on the way up where they were all frozen in their tracks. I thought it might be from the sea breeze but it was they had spied a Tiger snake a few metres off the track. The snake was basking in the sun and not interested in tourists. While everyone else headed up the hill I headed down to the beach for a quick swim. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time so I just dipped my toes in the water. I caught the group back at the light house keeper’s station where we stopped to sample some cheeses collected earlier in the day. Apart from the awesome scenery we had seen Rabbits, Snakes, Echidnas and lots of different sorts of birds, and sampled some wonderful local cheeses and honey and the day is only halfway through.

On the way to spot the White Wallabies we stopped at Resolution Creek in Adventure Bay where Captain Cook stopped in 1777 on his second voyage to Australia. What is most amazing is that one of his crew did a painting of the landing and it is reproduced on a plaque there. Aside from the road very little has changed in over 200 years with the same trees still visible, just to clarify here was no road in 1770.

Now it is white wallaby spotting time! The grey wallabies were camera hogs but the white wallabies a little shyer. Just to trick you there are a few sheep in the distance and just when we were about to give up we spotted a large male (according to Matt) just on the edge of the tree line. As he was too far away to get a good photo we went to another spot and again the greys were abundant and the white wallabies hiding from us. But then Ann spotted not one but two white wallabies. The white wallabies and much shyer and stayed well clear of the roads, so we left them to their grasses.

Matt offered us the option of Oyster tasting but we all decided to skip that so we headed back to the ‘neck’ which is the narrow isthmus that separates the two main parts of Bruny island. Matt’s suggestion to leave it till later in the day was excellent as there were not many people there, which is important as the viewing platform at the top of the 200+ stairs is quite small. Although it did look large enough to perform CPR on the couple struggling to make it up the stairs.

While we waited for the return ferry I decided to check out the comfort of the back seat of the bus and can attest that the ferry ride back is just as smooth as the ride over, Ann for some reason refused to sing ‘Soft Kitty’ to me, but no matter I still caught some zzzzzzz’sRead more