What makes Bruny Island special?

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Yes Bruny Island is pretty special and I'm about to tell you why. I will also disclose my Bruny Island travel tips.

You get to the island via the "Mirambeena", a vehicular ferry. It leaves from Kettering (on the Tasmanian mainland). As we waited in our rental car, to board the ferry, I thought about the 15-minute ride ahead of me. Something puzzled me about that, but I could not put my finger on it. More on that later...

Bruny Island ferry terminal

On arrival, it was wonderful to see no tall buildings, tourist resorts, cafe lined streets or the like. We drove to Adventure Bay, named after the ship which in 1773 brought Tobias Furneaux here, in search of safe anchorage. We were in search of breakfast, and found it at a cafe named the White Wallaby (formerly the Penguin cafe).

After a yummy breakfast, I had a look around the cafe. That's when I saw a photo of a beautiful cliff-face. Seeing the photo led to our joining a brilliant eco-cruise on which we saw the very same cliff-face and oh, so many more splendid natural wonders.

We were feeling pretty exhilarated after the eco-cruise. But we were hungry too! So to the White Wallaby we returned for a scrumptious lunch. Ready for our next adventure, we headed off on the Fluted Cape walk.

Fluted Cape walk

Bruny island Fluted Cape walk view

We got to a point during this two and a half hour walk, where we found ourselves walking on some of the very cliffs we had been admiring from the eco-cruise boat.

Not only that, we unexpectedly got to learn about the island's whaling history.

So many other walks and beautiful places we wanted to see, so little time. Reluctantly, we headed back to Roberts Point.

Another discovery

While waiting for the ferry, we got to talking to a young University student. He was studying how visitors viewed their impact on Bruny. He told us that on the island there were around 60 community groups actively working toward ensuring that their island and their lifestyle were preserved. For example, locals tried to buy up the land to keep it safe from potential over-development.

Then I remembered that earlier in the day, while waiting to depart from Kettering, I had been thinking about the 15-minute ride. What puzzled me (and at the same time gladdened me) was the fact that we were not driving across a mega-highway on a bridge to get to the island.

Now I knew even more about what makes Bruny Island so special. I am inspired by and appreciate all the people who work so hard to protect their special island environment and their unique way of life.

Bruny Island travel tips

Thinking of traveling to Bruny Island? These tips might be helpful:

  • Make sure you know the ferry schedule for the day you are traveling. We thought we'd missed the first ferry leaving for the island at 6.35am. Later we realised that because it was a Sunday, the first ferry left at 7.45am.
  • You cannot book a ferry passage in advance. It's first come, first serve. Get there 15-30 minutes early to ensure you get aboard.
  • You pay as you board, so make sure you have your money ready.
  • Make sure you have food and drink with you when traveling to the island. When we went looking for breakfast on a Sunday, we were fortunate that the White Wallaby cafe let us in at 9am even though they opened at 9.30am. Just before catching the 7pm ferry back to the Tasmanian mainland, we tried, unsuccessfully, to find a restaurant serving dinner. In the end we had dinner in Kettering. To me this is more evidence of the refreshing unspoilt-ness of Bruny Island!
  • I highly recommend purchasing "Bruny Island on DVD". You can buy it at many places, including the Adventure Bay General Store. The photographs, by Warwick Berry are out-of-this-world. I love the captions too. As I read them, I find myself thinking "yes, absolutely correct" or sometimes "didn't think of that, but how true!". Warwick Berry took the photo I saw in the cafe (mentioned above).

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