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Published: March 8th 2015
Saturday 7th March 2015 The blog today may sound a little different to usual, it being written by our guest blogger - Jan. :-)
Oh, dear regular readers of Weggsies’ blog, I have been charged to unleash my Inner BloGoddess and write this entry as my penance for dragging my beloved fellow travellers on grueling (but oh so fun and incredibly healthy) hikes through various wild Tassie spaces. Let’s see how this description of our gastronomic speed-date with Bruny Island goes. Be prepared to feel a little queasy, Possums. However, in the past few days we have worked very hard on burning calories!
We were up and out early to catch the small open-decked car ferry for the calm 20 minute crossing to Bruny Island, the terminal being only cooee down the road from the house. Surprisingly we were able to drive straight on despite it being a long weekend. The trip was nowhere near as exciting as the 4m high waves of the high-adrenaline Maria Island crossing so the muesli, yoghurt and pineapple brekky was safe.
Bruny Island is about 100 km from top to bottom with a very
narrow isthmus joining the two ends. It is covered with rolling hills of pasture and bushland with almost every turn of the road revealing pretty coastline and secluded bays, some of which are filled with oyster farms. Luckily we arrived too early for visiting the first business we saw – the “Bruny Island House of Whisky” - or our “tour- de-diet-abuse” may have stopped there. To overcome that massive disappointment we drove around North Bruny looking at prime real estate with fabulous views that we couldn’t afford. After an hour of this, we decided it was time to…
“Get Shucked” (great name). This is an oyster bar with a “drive through” window where we enjoyed a plate of skewered wonton oysters with wasabi cream and local sourdough. We were also able to watch the oysters being prepared. It was a delicious - but unconventional - morning tea that simply had to be followed 20 minutes later by…
A “cheese tasting” of artisan cheeses at the “Bruny Island Cheese Co”. The cheeses are all made locally and include whisky-cured and vine-leaf wrapped varieties and we tasted them all. There were tempting displays of delicious chutneys and other produce but
we settled on cappuccinos and chocolate milkshakes, whetting our appetites for…
The Providore Chocolate Factory and tastings of fudge and handmade chocolate! Oh yes, this was the perfect accompaniment for cheese and oysters! The ginger and dark chocolate fudge were winners so we nibbled on that as we headed for….
The Bruny Island Berry Farm, where we all explored the virtues of the blueberry cheesecake brownies and (a strangely spicy and delicious) “pepperberry” ice-cream. The beach at the doorstep of the Berry Farm was beautiful.
Do you feel sick yet?
As we were now in South Bruny, we followed a winding mountainous track across the island – stopping to take in some panoramic views and some intensely spiritual tree-hugging moments - before discovering the…
Bruny Island Premium Wines restaurant, with its ambiance and cool climate wines. Having had our berry nice desserts earlier, Judy and Rags enjoyed a delicious Tassie salmon burger each, Brett demolished a “Woolly Jumper” (lamb burger) and I loved my seafood chowder. We stopped for a while and solved the problems of the world before following the west coast on a picturesque drive back to the ferry terminal, our tummies enjoying
the random excitements of the day.
Don’t judge too harshly, dear readers. We couldn’t leave Bruny without visiting an art gallery and doing both a short walk to Captain Cook’s landing place and the (roughly) 230 steps to the top of Truganini’s Memorial lookout, above penguin rookery dunes, for the panoramic view across the sandy isthmus. Truganini was an astoundingly strong and proud Tasmanian aboriginal woman in the 1800s. Her life story was disturbing and heartbreaking to read. It made us feel ashamed for promises made to her that were broken.
The return trip was on a larger double-decker ferry that we shared with tourist buses and utes bulging with freshly hewn firewood.
After our (quite frightening!) gourmet frolic at Bruny Island, Rags and Judy cooked us a dinner of peri-peri chicken and vegetables … and it really was the yummiest thing we’d eaten all day because it was made with the incomparable fresh ingredients of true friendship and joie de vivre. XX
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Nice blog, Jan...
I encourage you to start writing about your adventures.