You are sitting on a grassy bank at the edge of a forest & just above a white sand beach surrounding a sheltered, blue water cove. The shack with it’s windows overlooking the water is just behind you providing the comforts of home. To reach it you have left the mainland for Australia’s Island state of Tasmania, before leaving ‘mainland’ Tasmania for a smaller island, then navigated most of it’s length before driving along a private sandy 4wd track through forest & dunes, until at it’s end the track opens up into the small clearing containing the shack, the veggie garden & various outbuildings. This is truly a place far from the madding crowd, where one can please oneself, doing as one likes. Where the forest & the sea provide building materials & food, where one can enjoy an entertaining daily dose of dolphins. Where one has close proximity to wilderness areas, but also mobile phone reception & internet. Where a local community comes together to support each other, all just 90 minutes drive & a short ferry crossing from Tasmania’s capital city.
Sounds pretty good to me …. how about you?
Here in the back blocks of South Bruny Island we are lucky enough to be staying on this idyllic property of friends. 16 acres of forest is plenty to provide all the privacy & serenity anyone could want…… & with the choice of two beaches ….. sandy or rocky take your choice!
The constantly changing scenery courtesy of tides, clouds & weather is invigorating. Yesterday we sat & watched a pod of 20 to 30 dolphins rounding up a shoal of salmon to feed on, time & time again. Dolphins & fish jumping out of the water. It was wonderful. Since then we have watched two more pods pass by as well as a couple of lone dolphins cruising through. Yellow tailed black Cockatoos get around in groups of up to a dozen or so, the dead tree along the shore often has between one & three White Bellied Sea Eagles in it, & Bennets Wallabies come out of the ferns at night to graze around our Tvan.
We have been dreaming of finding something similar, but realise that even on an island where shacks & houses in beach-side communities are common that a place like this is not. This is a unique spot which has everything to make what for us would be a perfect lifestyle. Much like our previous home in the Gippsland bush, but with extras & boy what extras! We can dream, we can feel honoured to be able to share this space for a short time with our lucky friends & if nothing else our time here has helped to sharply refine what it is that we would want if & when an opportunity arises, be it here on Bruny or anywhere else in Australia.
This morning my inner hunter gatherer was satisfied as MrsTea & I clambered over rocks collecting large oysters with the aid of a screwdriver to prise the shells off the rocks. I was told that the ‘produce’ was excellent. No way was I going to eat those snotty slimy so called delicacies. Being told they had aphrodisiac qualities spurred on my provider efforts, all to no avail. I guess it’s an old wives tale ….. or at least my old wife’s tale. Ha Ha. We explored the lower half of South Bruny, finding some lovely beaches – Jetty Bay & the beaches along the narrow channel running between Cloudy Bay & Cloudy Lagoon.
BUT I am getting ahead of myself, my enthusiasm for this ’slice of heaven’ has seen me jump ahead. I will have to take you, the reader, back to mainland Tasmania.
Cockle Creek had been a pleasant & relaxing place, & after leaving we stopped off for the night back in Geeveston. Another relaxing place. We seem to have managed to do a fair bit of chilling out & kicking back recently. 4 nights in Geeveston, 4 in Cockle Creek , a further 1 in Geeveston & …. well…. we had established a pattern hard to break…. so when we reached Mt Field National Park we propped there for a further 3 nights. Goodness not a single ‘overnighter’ in the past 12 days…. we must be doing something right, it has certainly felt right.
Mt Field NP was sort of unexpected, we were heading back to the mountains to go visit Lake Pedder & the Gordon Dam, but being a public holiday (Australia Day) the few small hidden riverside free camps we had learned of along the way were already taken by the time we reached them, so we ignored our internal Scottish voices & decided to pay $16 for a night’s camping at the NP. Our recent ’staying rather than going’ travel style plus the good facilities saw us stay for 3 nights instead of just the one. How many National parks provide unlimited time hot showers, excellent camp kitchen, flushing loos as well as free ranger conducted nightwalks. This in addition to some great walks (which my knee could manage) to waterfalls, (Russell Falls, Horseshoe Falls & Lady Barron Falls) giant trees & a beautiful sub alpine lake (Lake Dobson) surrounded by a most unusual mix of large snowgums & pandanus. We made Mt Field our base to explore Lake Pedder & the Gordon dam from as daytrips. In hindsight it was an exellent decision as camping opportunities west of Mt Field were limited & pretty ordinary.
Lake Pedder was unexpectedly gorgeous. After driving for an hour or more through dense forest, passing some impressively huge rock outcrops we came to the shores of the blue blue lake surrounded by mountains & white beach highlights. As we drove alongside it it just got better & better. Well worth the drive. Lake Pedder’s beauty was also surprising given it’s controversial history & being man made. Most man made lakes are far plainer, usually just gigantic puddles with un-vegetated & boring edges. Not so for this lake which comprises extensive flooded valleys, the act of flooding it being what sparked the Franklin blockade to prevent the further destruction of precious wilderness ecosystems.
Beyond Lake Pedder we reached Lake Gordon & the Gordon Dam. Certainly the Dam construction was impressive with it double curvature design & 140 metre drop, but the dam itself whilst having many of the attributes of Lake Pedder, seemed, to us at least, to be spoiled by being ringed extensively with felled timber. We thought it was an ugly way to leave that environment, displaying a lack of care & remain puzzled as to why this might be. An ‘industrial’ mindset? We just missed the last of a bunch of helmeted young daredevils who had abseiled to the valley floor at the bottom of the wall. They were all in agreement that the long climb back up the caged steps was the hard part. The steps just down to the dam wall & back up were enough to test me.I was a tad envious of these young men & women, & had to remind myself of my abseiling exploits when I was their age.
Time for another overnighter & the chance to catch up with another old friend in New Norfolk, whom we had missed on our way through previously. The route into New Norfolk from Mt Field took us alongside the river & through extensive fields of hops. The entry into the town from this route seemed far more appealing than when we had previously come along the highway from Derwent River. It showed us the town’s ‘good side’ & we had a conversation as we drove about how much first impressions of a town can influence one’s experience there, something I guess town planners know a thing or two about. Our old mate has for various reasons given up the travelling lifestyle & now has a contented life among friends at the New Norfolk caravan Park where he arranged for us to stay at no cost. As CP’s go it was a very pleasant spot alongside the Derwent River in privacy from the town courtesy of the cliffs that form it’s backdrop & give it a pleasant & secure ambience.
After a night of catching up & reminiscing we said our cheerios & took off once again for Hobart, en route to Kettering where we would catch the ferry across to Bruny Island. This time finding our way through Hobart so much easier & less stressful than the first time. Makes a difference when you know where you are going!
Which brings us back to today. We have now been on Bruny Island for several (3 or 4 … it’s getting late & I can’t be sure) nights & expect to be here for several more. Tomorrow morning we are taking a rare (for us) paid for excursion. This, a boat trip along the wild south & west coast of South Bruny Island, is one we have big hopes for. Big cliffs, crashing surf, seals & dolphins, it comes highly recommended & provides a means of seeing coastline otherwise not accessible, in a purpose built open boat which allows for passengers to experience ‘being there’, (rather than behind glass which removes one from the environment). Of course if the weather isn’t kind to us it could also be very cold & wet. More later.
The boat ride was exhilarating. 3 hours along the impressive cliffs & caves of South Bruny Island, & into the Southern Ocean to get up close to a fur seal colony. The drizzly early morning turned into a sunny day with just light winds & only a small swell in the Tasman Sea, which increased in size by only a very small amount once we reached the Southern Ocean. Perfect conditions for the powerful purpose built ‘Yellow Boat’ which Pennicotts Tours use. It’s 3 big V6 outboard motors moved us along at a fair lick. We had been told to wrap up warmly, but waterproofs were supplied. Ankle length hooded cagoules kept out the wind & spray, allowing camera to be kept dry, but accessible when the boat stopped. Seat belts held us into our seats as we crested the waves. Commentary by the skipper was informative & his presentation of puns & jokes he has no doubt used many times over seemed fresh as well as entertaining. Two boats went out & ‘tagged’ each other throughout the trip. We saw pods of Bottlenose dolphins, colonies of terns & several lone albatrosses. We felt we had received great value from a tour company which understands ‘what works’ & got to see the impressive coastline that we couldn’t have seen any other way. At $135 each it is far from being one of the more expensive tours available in Tassie.
Our drive across South Bruny to Adventure Bay (where the tours are based) was enjoyable, especially when coming down the winding road into the town. It’s a pretty location, surrounded (& sheltered) by forest lined mountains. To ring the changes we took a different route back, one the maps said was 4wd only. It turned out to be a good gravel road (with just a few potholes) up over the island’s central mountains, a trip through thick forests which afforded occasional brief but extensive views of the waters off both east & west coasts.
If circumstances allow I still hope to catch a feed of fish before we leave, but weather & priorities may prevent this (to say nothing of my fishing skills). No matter chilling out in Bruny is pretty easy. We will be sad to leave the island in the next day or two, but we need to get to mainland Tasmania for a few things & so will move on soon.
It is great when you find those “Special” spots Ian we have found a few and breaking away is always hard Tassie has a few for us as well sadly often they are only special the once or twice then it seems the memories are better than the reality . We will be down in your stomping ground late March but I guess you will still be over on the island having fun?
Tassie until mid to late March John.
All good we will be in the area 24,25,26 March see what happens
Reading your tale caused a re-living of our trip in 2009 which incidentally was mainly in Freedom camps or under $15 a night. Many of the places you visited, we also visited and several of your photos are similar to ours. We also did the adventure boat trip but it was bitterly cold the day we went and it took ages to warm up. I thought the adventure people would supply hot soup at the end of the trip. No. So instead we had the Coaster parked nearby and heated up our own soup and used our own home baked bread parked beside the beach snug and warm inside. We did not take that 4WD track. We started in the Coaster but soon realised it was too much of a challenge despite the fact we had driven to the top of Grassy Hill 4WD track in Cooktown the year before.
Hot pumpkin soup is now available Frank, along with a variety of other dishes. They have a new purpose built building to operate from, in use, but not quite finished yet. Will be entirely solar powered I believe.
Another great blog post, mate! Thank goodness you two are doing the hard work to bring those of us who are older and less adventurous many lovely photos and descriptions.