With kayaking a no go due to the weather, I ended up going out to Bruny Island. On the way, I stopped by the Australian Antarctic Division Headquarters. The facility was mostly devoted to offices and research, but they had a few exhibits focused on the science they were doing. It was interesting to listen to video of several scientists talking about their work.
Then it was on to Kettering, a small marina with lots of sailboats and yachts, at which one gets on the ferry to Bruny Island. The island is quite rural and is made up of two big pieces of land joined by a very narrow isthmus. One side of the isthmus is a long curving white sand beach, on which there is a penguin rookery. Since the penguins are at sea during the day, there were no penguins to see while I was there.
The ferry lands on the north end of Bruny Island, and you drive around to the south end on paved and gravel roads, all narrow and winding. I went to Adventure Bay on the southeast corner of the island. Abel Tasman spotted this bay in 1642 but couldn’t land due to gale force winds. Captain Cook and Captain Forneaux left England in 1772 to explore the area and became separated in the southern seas. Forneaux found the bay again and named it Adventure Bay, after his ship. Cook returned in 1777 with William Bligh as his sailing master, and Bligh returned again in 1788. So there is a lot of documented history in this little bay, to say nothing of the unknown history we walk across unknowing wherever we travel.
Lots of whaling took place at the bay until the crash of the whale populations. It’s said that the ocean floor around the bay is littered with whale skeletons. (Not sure if that’s poetic license or not … don’t know how long a whale skeleton would last at the bottom of the ocean…)
From the south end of Adventure Bay I took a hike along the shore, then up to Fluted Cape. Beautiful sunny day, lovely hike. Fluted Cape has about 4 of the vertical columns that are similar to those on Tasman Peninsula. People fairly regularly climb the ones on Tasman, so I assume they climb these as well. After the hike I returned past Bligh's Creek, Captain Cook Creek, and a sign where Captain Cook's tree once stood (complete with his carved initials), then headed back to the ferry.
I had passed a chocolate factory on the way to Adventure Bay and thought I would stop on my return if I had time, but alas, when I returned the place was closed.
Back in Hobart, I headed down to Salamanca Street looking for dinner. Saturday morning there’s a huge market there, which I’ll go to tomorrow. But tonight only the restaurants were open, and I just wandered around and people watched. It’s nearly full summer here, so everyone was walking around in shirtsleeves, and it’s light until 8:30 or so. I listened to a bagpipe band that was fundraising. Seven pipers and two drummers, all in kilts, plus several people walking around selling raffle tickets for a bottle of scotch. (I didn't ask what kind of scotch...) The band was quite good, but I did a double take when they started playing Jingle Bells. Yes, it was nearly December, but on bagpipes? When it was summer and shirtsleeve weather?
One more full day, and then it’s time to go home. In some ways I’m looking forward to being home, and in other ways I’ll be very sad to leave. But there’s tomorrow to enjoy before thinking too hard about leaving. Cheers!
Today's pictures are here.
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