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Published: January 29th 2007
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Trust the driver
Zooming through the narrow gap between two towering dolerite pinnacles on Bruny Island. For such an awkwardly positioned, small island, Tasmania has had a remarkably cosmopolitan history. The island was discovered - "discovered" by the West, that is, since an Aboriginal population had thrived there for centuries already - in 1642 by a Dutchman of all people, a certain Abel Janszoon Tasman. Tasman may have given his name to the island, but not until several hundred years later. For over two hundred years until 1856, the island was known as
Anthoonij van Diemenslandt or
Van Diemen's Land. This name, although pretty much unknown nowadays, certainly was
not unknown in 19th century Britain, where it surely sent a shiver down the spines of the country's more, let us say,
unsavoury characters. More on that in the next entry though.
Between being discovered by a Dutchman and settled by Englishmen, Van Diemen's Land was extensively explored and charted by none other than a pair of Frenchmen in the late 18th century. Two marvellously named Frenchmen to be exact - Jean Michel Huon de Kermadec (not too bad) and Antoine Raymond de Bruny d'Entrecasteaux (surely wins first prize). Napoleon may have failed to lay successful claim to the island but these two men live on in
The sea, a master carver
The pounding seas have created arches and tunnels all along Bruny Island's coast, some big enough for the Naiad to venture in ! Tasmania as numerous place names we encounter across the south-east of the island.
Leaving the Far South behind us we head back towards Hobart through
Huonville as far as Kettering, where a small car ferry links mainland Tasmania and
Bruny Island, a long and spindly bit of land lying a small distance offshore across the
d'Entrecasteaux Channel. Engineering nerds may be interested to know that this car ferry, the
Mirambeena, is most unusual in that it uses a Voith-Schneider propulsion system rather than a propeller - if anyone can tell me what on Earth this means I would be much obliged. Much of Bruny Island is also a National Park, and apart from a few dozen kilometres of largely unpaved roads and a minuscule township, this place, too, remains pristine. It is in this small settlement, Adventure Bay, that we find our next night's accommodation, namely a caravan in a camping ground. Grounds all over Australia have such fixed caravans, which usually come equipped with all (or some...) mod cons. We accept our new-found status as trailer-trash with open arms and settle in.
The following morning we take a fascinating boat trip along the island's east coast. The
Geologist's paradise
The towering cliffs that make up most of Bruny Island's western coast are dolerite, a form of basalt. small award-winning company who runs these trips operate a fleet of two powerful Naiad boats, nicknamed "four-wheel drives of the sea". Before setting of, the two driver-cum-guides pass out woolly hats, gloves, seasickness tablets - not forgetting ankle-length bright red sou'westers. Sexy ! Off we go on our marine safari aboard this astonishingly maneuvrable vessel, past the island's wild, untamed coastline, where immense dolerite peaks and columns soar suddenly out of the sea, which in turn has carved them into weird and wonderful shapes, creating arches, piercing holes and boring caves and tunnels that the Naiad can venture into. Blowholes suck in wind and sea to spew them out at regular intervals in a blast of spray like underwater geysers. Here too, we are sheltered by the island itself from the worst of the weather - as we clear the southern tip of the island, the front three rows of the Naiad are cleared of their occupants and the reason for the sou'westers becomes clear. In the blink of an eye the gentle swell gives way to stomach-churning waves (not literally, thanks perhaps to the little white pills we popped before leaving our room) and the wind comes out nowhere.
Naiad
One of Bruny Island Charters' two powerful Naiads. Custom built, these had to be sailed across Bass Strait - eek ! During the 15-minute roller-coaster ride that followed, we were scarcely able to open our eyes against the wind or even to breathe, and we kept our heads down as we bounced over the waves, each thump of the hull against the water eliciting whoops and screams from the soaked passengers. When we are finally able to look up again, the boat is bobbing gently between the waves, metres away from a group of forbidding rocky islets, home to a large population of fur seals, idly scratching their chins with their flippers as we watch them. Others, excited by our approach, bark wildly before slipping into the water and sliding in and out of the waves, occasionally pausing with their cheeky whiskered faces out of the water. Thankfully the cold has somewhat dulled our sense of smell - seal colonies are
anything but fragrant...
Back on dry land that afternoon, we take a short walk to Grassy Point just south of Adventure Bay, which affords us beautiful views of the sea. In the latter half of the 19th century this little corner of nowhere was a whaling station, from which tiny oar-powered boats set out to hunt the then-numerous Southern
Columns
Here dolerite, a volcanic rock, has formed cliffs and pinnacles with a distinctive cubic shape. Right Whale. The foundations of the whalers' simple settlement, where whale blubber was rendered down and put into barrels to be picked up by passing ships, are still visible today. Hardy men indeed, making a hard living in the harshest and most unforgiving of conditions. On the way back to our little caravan in Adventure Bay, we spot one of Bruny Island's unusual white wallabies - living on an island devoid of predators, these albino creatures have multiplied and a sizeable population lives on Bruny. Elsewhere in Australia such creatures, easily visible to predators, would quickly succumb before reaching breeding age.
Bruny Island isn't all wild seas and impenetrable forest - on the drive back to the ferry we passed none other than a fudge factory. Twas very good fudge.
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