BRUNY ISLAND, TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA.

We have been exploring Tasmania  both by car and on the yacht.  

First we rented a car and drove to Port Arthur to see where the old convict jail was, this was a place for second offenders in Australia and for an Irish Political prisoner, Smith O'Brien who was a Protestant., he had his own special cottage.  Many of the surnames of the prisoners were Irish.  The cells were tiny, but the grounds were beautiful and there was some lovely houses around built for the wardens, priests and governors.

On the way there we bought some delicious oysters which we had for lunch as picnic looking over Norfolk Bay near Eaglehawk Neck which was where there were once chained dogs to stop the prisoners escaping.

The following day we set off for Bruny Island on the yacht down the D'Entrecasteaux Channel.  We have been popping in and out of various bays ever since.  We had a souwesterly storm so took shelter over in Dover on the main island of Tasmania.  As we walked up the road from the fishing pier where we had left the dingy a man came out of the house and said 'Hi are you the guys with the 'Pretend Oyster' it turned out that Jonathan had met his wife Penny in Hobart at the yacht Club when he went to see the manager.  That evening we met them at the Port Esperence Sailing Club for a drink.  We got chatting as one does and Penny mentioned that her son, Mal Parker was a professional sailor with Team Williams, Ian Williams sailing team.  So we said well he just happens to be Jonathan's nephew!  Just proves the sailing community is a very small one and very friendly.  We headed back up the road after for a very good wood fired seafood pizza.

The next morning we left for Bruny Island again and Jonathan and I did a 5 hour walk around the Labillardiere Peninsula, quite a rough path at times but great fun.  We saw black and yellow huge cockatoos, Echidna, and a couple of the tail end of disappearing Tiger Snakes, luckily they were disappearing into the undergrowth, one after Jonathan had stepped over it, as we found out after the walk that they are one of the most aggressive and poisonous snakes in the world, we were lucky.  Back to the yacht via a couple of beaches where some people had snorkelled in freezing cold water for Abolone.

The good thing is that we are doing some very good walks everyday and I am not having to nag Jonathan to do them he is suggesting it!! so the Christmas weight is slowly coming off.