Bruny Island walking tour – 9 to 14 May 2023

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Frev were joined by close friends for a walking trip with Parktreks to Bruny Island, a trip that always seemed to be in the distant future, but now was suddenly upon us.

The four of us travelled to Brisbane Airport together from the Sunshine Coast to catch our earlyish flight to Hobart. Amazingly it was bitterly cold in SE Queensland in the morning, which meant that we were primed for the cold that was to come!

Our flight landed in the early afternoon, when the ambient temperature was still below 10 degrees. We found it very difficult to get an Uber that would take all four of us with our luggage, so we ended up splitting into two Ubers for the trip to our hotel.

As we were checking in, the receptionist asked for a credit card, before the words were even out of his mouth, I had the dread realisation that I had left my wallet on the plane! An immediate dampener to the holiday which was resolved wonderfully by Virgin as I ultimately collected it from baggage services in Brisbane when we returned. It had had an adventure all on its own. The only thing I could see that was missing was the lotto ticket that I had purchased, otherwise all the cards and cash, even the $7 fijian note, were there.

Dinner that night was at an expensive restaurant called Mures, which had been preceded by a few, outside, at the Hobart Brewery. Dinner was amazing, Fran had the best Seafood Chowder I've ever tasted. I had a very tasty, but less memorable Salmon.

Australian Geographic has a guide to Bruny Island here.

Day 1

We were picked up Emma and EJ from the front of the Hotel Grand Chancellor as planned at 830am on the Wednesday morning. We met our guides and the other folk who were also joining the tour, all lovely people.

The journey to the ferry was quick with a short stop at a coffee shop to discuss the plans for the trip.

After the ferry trip and an enjoyable drive which included a Stop on the "Neck" to admire the views.

We arrived at the lodge which was situated in a remote part of South West South Bruny Island. The rooms were very comfortable although the bathroom facilities were shared but that was fine.

We unpacked and had a quick lunch before we set off for our first walk on the Luggaboine Circuit, which was on the Labillardiere Peninsular. I managed to contact Virgin Lost Property again on this walk and they confirmed that my Wallet was in Brisbane and could be picked up from the Baggage Counter at Brisbane Airport - phew, that was a relief.

After this short walk, we then visited the Cape Bruny Lighthouse, located in magnificent surroundings. The weather was very dramatic with the sun setting low in the sky across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. This was truly beautiful.

Day 2 - the Big Walk

Day 2 dawned cold but calm and sunny. Today's walk was a 12km out and back route from the mouth of Sheepwash Creek on Cloudy Bay up to East Cloudy Head.

The walk started with a tentative stream crossing of Sheepwash creek. The water was flowing quite rapidly but was shallow enough to tiptoe through. This was the first real test of our new boots and they passed with flying colours!