After Cockle Creek we made our way to Bruny Island for a week.
We decided to camp at a place called Cloudy Corner on the eastern side of Cloudy Bay, towards the southern end of Bruny.
It was a really nice spot. To get there you needed to drive about 2km over a beach, but it was the hardest beach I’ve ever seen, plenty of 2wd cars were driving over the beach fine.
After our first night we woke up to what sounded like a dog barking on the beach. I often think Katie likes dogs more than she likes me, upon hearing the barking her eyelids opened a little wider than they naturally should (like this) and her voice went up a few octaves as she said, “Can we go find the puppy!?!!?”
When we got down to the beach instead of finding a puppy, we found this.
After talking to the Rangers it turned out she was an Elephant Seal that had been relocated to Cloudy Bay after apparently causing havoc in Adventure Bay. Our theory was that she was just looking for a nice warm place to moult. Apparently Elephant seals stay out of the water for a month, not eating while they moult as they get too cold in the water. A few days later she was looking a little shabby.
The Rangers put up a sign at the end of the beach which for some reason made me think that they believe in a place my mate Dave calls Period Island. A place of myth and legend where if Dave was Prime Minister all women would go while their monthly internal moulting occured.
I managed to get a few waves while we were there, but the surf was pretty small.
Bruny Island has Penguins which you can see at sunset on the ocean side of a place called the neck, a thin land bridge been the north and south parts of the island. We didn’t see any at the official viewing area as they’re pretty flighty for a non flying bird and I’m sure were scared off by the hordes of dad camera (SLR) wielding tourists. But we did see some further down the beach and on the road on the way back to camp.
Spot the penguin.
On our last day the surf wasn’t too good at all, but some young blokes from Hobart didn’t let that stop them from having a good time. They were towing each other into a lagoon on the beach using a family station wagon and a body board.
Unfortunately they had been ignoring a pesky oil light on the dash and when we passed them on our way off the island it seemed their fancy Subaru boxxer motor was short a few bearings…
Mmmm roast pork.
FACTS:
How to get there:
The Bruny Island ferry departs from Kettering roughly every half hour during daylight most days. It costs $33 return.
Once on Bruny follow the signs to Allonah and then onto Lunawanna, then Cloudy Bay. Once at Cloudy Bay drive East along the beach for approximately 2km.
Camping Cost:
$10 per night for two people. A Tasmanian parks pass is required.
Boat Access:
You can beach launch from Cloudy Corner and leave your boat in overnight. Blokes with boats were catching a lot of crayfish.
Ramblings of an Extreme Man 
