Bruny Island: The Neck

The north and south ends of Bruny Island come together in a spectacular isthmus.  A rather large set of steps awaits any who want to climb up and see the stunning view. We counted on the way back down and there were over two hundred steps.  Look how narrow this strip of land is.  Ocean on one side… And ocean on the other.  It really feels like a unique spot. There’s a memorial to Truganini, and a nearby sign that tells her story.  She was a Tasmanian Aborigine.  Her story is so sad that I can’t bear to think about it. The view from the top is stunning.  We’re wearing hats because it was so. incredibly. windy. Funny faces.  TurboBug, you’re really going to have to learn this.  We can’t have you smiling so cutely while we all make horrendous faces. Absolutely breathtaking views.  Wait up, TurboBug!  That’s a lot of steps to conquer on your own. Look at the difference in the colour of the water on either side.  We passed by here during low tide and the stretch of water on the right side was more like a series of sand and puddles. The ocean takes on such beautiful colours.  I love seeing how different it can look. Part way down we realised TurboBug’s hat had flown away.  We (meaning Dad) had to jump the fence to retrieve it. Breathtaking.  Did I say that already? We’d heard that this was a great point for spotting penguins, so our first night we came up for a look.  We weren’t the only ones!  They’ve erected this platform so that you won’t disturb the penguins or other shorebirds in the area, since they nest in the bush.  At the bottom there is a gate that you can use to access the beach during the day.  We covered our torches with red so as not to hurt their eyes.  We only managed to spot a handful of them.  It’s a fun thing to do, even if we did get rained on a bit! We did see a set of these…young siblings waiting for mum to come back with some food!   Since there hadn’t been many penguins we didn’t try again the next night.  We had seen some in Bicheno, and it probably won’t be our last time during our trip around Australia that we’ll have the opportunity to go penguin watching.  Hopefully we’ll fare better next time!