Tasmania - Bruny Island
Two days at Bruny Island, Tasmania eating oysters and berries, hiking and learning a lot about camping.
Tasmania is well known for the food and wine and all I had been able to think for a week was all the oysters I would eat in Bruny Island. I know - not exactly budget traveling but not something you could skip while being here.
Bruny Island is a short drive and a $33 return ferry ride away from Hobart. If you are in a rush remember to check the ferry schedules beforehand, we arrived just when there was a longer break and waited for 1,5 hours at the shore.
The first stop (did I say oysters already?) on our journey was just a short scenic drive away.
A $50 dollar shared oyster plate and a glass of white wine is not exactly a backpacker experience but I am just in the beginning of my transformation. The interesting part here was Richie the seafood hater trying oysters for the first time. If you deep fry, smoke and add bacon to the mix it didn't seem to be an issue at all to savour half of the plate. Great success! My favourites are still the natural ones and can't wait for the next oyster stop at Tribuanna before going to Maria Island.
The Neck Lookout
As we wouldn't have time for the main walk today, we visited the Neck Lookout quickly. Couple of stairs up, wait for the short time window when there's no-one else in sight and pose for photos. This is the place for fairy penguin spotting during dusk and dawn and since it was neither, no penguins at this time.
Searching for our first temporary home
I have been using WikiCamps Australia to search for free camping spots. Free usually means no facilities, often even no toilet whatsoever. According to the app there was only one free spot in whole of Bruny Island, at Cloudy Bay, South Island. It was fairly easy to find and had just one stop for a tent available. It's getting to a low season now and it was a Wednesday night so I can just imagine how busy the free spots must be during summer.
This was our first night camping, what a remarkable day!
- 8th of April we learned that it might be nice to have a table and chairs to cook and eat instead of kneeling down and enjoying a snug bread while standing.
- We also learned how cold exactly it is to sleep in a tent in autumn. Doable but not exactly enjoyable.
- Our day rhythm was reset, going to bed at 7.30pm and waking up at 5-6am is now how we roll.
Sunset at Cloudy Bay, Bruny Island
Controlled fires can be seen across Tasmania. Cloudy Bay, Bruny Island.
Day 2 at Bruny Island
After some "standing oats, weetabix and coffee" we packed our car again and took off to Adventure Bay and our first proper hike. The drive from Cloudy Bay to Adventure Bay went through the middle of the South Island climbing high in the middle of the forest and was definitely an enjoyable journey.
This track was said to take 2,5-3 hours, for us it took exactly two with a lot of photo stops and without a lunch break at the top. I'd definitely walk this counter-clockwise as the climb to the cape has awesome views and would be a bit more challenging coming down than the other way. We spotted plenty of wallabies on the way but did not see the famous white one!
After the hike we had earned our second food experience, fresh berries and pancakes.
This was Bruny Island for us! Next up would be a 2 hour drive to Mt. Field National park for our next lovely camping spot and another cold night..
Week 1 - Arriving to Tasmania
We are officially on the road! Saying goodbyes was difficult but quickly moving from place to another and trying to stay alive in free camping spots with a tent in 9 degrees (more on this amateur camping journey later..) takes your mind of sunny Sydney and all the fun people are having in Bondi.
Arriving to Hobart
Tip 1: Bus from the airport to the city centre is $19 one-way - not ideal for a couple of cheap budget travellers like us. Find a person to share an Uber with you an boom, saved at least six dollars!
Gearing up
As we are here only for 2 weeks, we didn't want to buy/rent a camper van. Regular car and tent it is. However cooking equipment and basic camping stuff was badly needed and since the Hobart city centre only hosts the more expensive shops a 20min we started our roadtrip with a drive to outlet hub and Anaconda store. Also because we are pro-campers after all, we spent (the best investment ever made) $35 for a duvet and pillows in Target.
Shop list (aka "Could have brought a lot of this with us from Sydney):
- Cooker
- Propane bottles
- Knives, forks, spoons
- Bowls
- 1 cup
- Big pot, small pot, pan
- Tongs
- Lighter
- Washing stuff
- Esky from Gumtree
Master Chef camping edition
After all the shopping the four person car had room for only two people and time spent searching for stuff among the mess was guaranteed to take a significant portion of any breaks we'd take.
And then we were off to our first destination - Bruny Island. Eat all the Oysters!
Beginning number 2 - last day at work and first stop Tasmania
Past weeks flew by. Finishing up at work, selling our dear and beloved furniture, practise packing, attending as many social gatherings as possible and planning filled up the days easily.
Leaving an awesome, one-in-a-lifetime job is not easy and I am still not sure what am I thinking. At the same time I am confident new opportunities will come up if this author-thing won't work out.
The planning:
I have spent hours on reading, creating maps, estimating how many nights we'll spend and where. Soon you realise that traveling won't necessarily be a chill 15 months off but hard work. Hard work of leaving places, saying goodbyes, keeping in mind other places you want to see instead of getting stuck for one month in one little village.
I already notice that my timelines tend to get longer and longer. "Surely we can add one week to Tasmania, two to NZ, maybe another month for Western Australia" and boom suddenly we won't have time to go to South America.
Clearly ruthless prioritisation applies to all aspects of life, including travel.
First stop: Tasmania
Now I'm glad we didn't do a long-weekend type of trip to Tassie during our time in Sydney. That would have meant us skipping it now but instead we get to do a 2-week roadtrip almost all around the mini-Australia! Two weeks is a bare minimum but we'll see plenty more than in four days.
Route is:
Hobart - Bruny Island - couple waterfalls on the way - Queenstown - Cradle Mountain - Penguin (!!!) - Launceston - Bay of Fires - Freycinet National Park (Wineglass Bay) - Maria Island (they call this the Eden on Earth) - Port Arthur - back to Hobart for two nights.
We will aim to use as much free camping sites as possible but I have to say I'm not 100% confident we'll be able to sleep in a tent when the temperatures are around 10 Celsius. But we are used to sleeping with our hats on after the last winter in Sydney - the houses here are so cold!
Next time I hope to share amazing photos from Tassie - learning photography has been definitely a new challenge for me!
The Beginning (and preparations: Camera gear)
It's official - we are leaving Australia and going traveling! Countdown is 4 weeks and first flights to Tasmania are booked.
I don't promise to document every step we take but I do intent to share as much as possible so it'll be easy to follow our journey across couple of continents.
Preparations so far have included:
- A practise back over the weekend. I was done in 30min while the other half took 3 hours. I will be carrying way too much stuff versus him who claims he'll survive with one jumper for 14 months. Ok.
- Buying more stuff. Next on the list: Get rid of old stuff.
But in all fairness I had to get a proper camera. One can't go on with iPhone panorama & Photoshop Auto Tone- function forever. I went with Panasonic Lumix 100 (LX100) based on the size and recommendations from a trusted source, dad. Since I didn't know anything about photography it's been couple of long nights learning about all the finer details about this travel companion.
I'm pretty sure first attempts I publish here will be fairly shit but at least then you see how you improve.
And now we'll start from the very bottom. Here's my camera (and globe from Jessica!).
Photo taken by iPhone 7s, edited with Photoshop Auto Tone.