Matt Down Under

Two weeks ago on Thursday we had a public holiday in Hobart. I decided to take Friday off and have a long weekend to do a short camping trip to Bruny Island, something I had planned for a long time already. To make it more interesting, I turned it into a bicycle trip. Unfortunately I only have a mountain bike at the moment, and because of the disc brakes I can’t attach any luggage racks, so I had to carry all my gear in my big hiking backpack. I managed to fix my tent and tarp to the bike frame, but still the backpack was large and heavy.

My plan was to cycle from Hobart to Kettering on Thursday where the ferry to Bruny Island leaves (36km), then I would have to cross North Bruny and cycle another 27km to the first camp site at the Neck - the narrow strip that connects North Bruny with South Bruny. From there I wanted to cycle to Cape Bruny at the southern end of the island and camp at Lighthouse Jetty Beach. There is a 17km/5h walking track nearby, the Labillardiere Peninsula Walk, which I intended to walk. I didn’t make a fixed schedule since I wasn’t sure how well the cycling would go, so I just planned the first day and left everything else open, with the exception of being back in Hobart by Sunday night.

Day 1

On Thursday morning I left, still unsure if cycling with such a heavy backpack would make sense. I got up early in the morning to watch soccer and to pack my gear, and it turned out I had way too much luggage. So I desperately tried to leave out stuff until it looked feasible. The first few kilometres were very intense and I got more doubts. During the first day I had to do a lot of breaks, I was slower than expected and I only kept going by telling myself ‘as soon as I’m on Bruny I will have additional motivation’.

Around 1pm I arrived at the ferry terminal in Kettering, paid the $3 (cheap) for cyclists and waited another hour until the next ferry left. On the ferry I had a nice conversation with a lady who was actually from Switzerland but lives on Bruny and in the end she invited me to drop by her place since my route on the second day would lead me past her house. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to visit her, I must have missed the house and I didn’t have mobile reception on the island. On my way back on the following day I was short on time. Too bad.

Right after I arrived on Bruny and cycled the first kilometres I was immediately fascinated by the island. I left the ferry as the last person, all cars were already gone and I had the roads for myself. The peace and silence was amazing, no traffic, no stress, clean air, fishermen who smoked fish, just beautiful.

I was lucky that I got the perfect day for my trip to Bruny Island, sunshine all day, great for cycling. 25km later I arrived at the Neck and stopped to climb a lookout and to take photos. From the top I could see a group of whales playing in Adventure Bay, probably humpback whales, I couldn’t believe my luck. One of the greatest moments in my life, I probably spent around 15 minutes watching them. See the video below. The lookout is also the place where you can watch penguins at night and I decided to come back here later at night.

The camp site at the neck was really beautiful, well maintained and directly at the beach. I set up my tent and then enjoyed the sunshine while walking along the beach. Later I walked back to the lookout to see the penguins, but I didn’t see any, and I didn’t like it that people were using bright torches to search for them in the darkness, so I returned to the camp site and was greeted by a fat black possum in front of my tent. I was looking forward to a quiet night on my new sleeping mattress and the possum ruined my hopes instantly. I hung up all my food on the tree next to my tent, with the result that the possum sneaked around my tent all night, making unfriendly hissing sounds, climbing on the tree and rattling the branches. It just didn’t want to leave, so in the middle of the night I had to get up and find a new place for my food bag.

Day 2

The next morning I woke up to beautiful sunshine, another fantastic day. After breakfast I packed my luggage went to the beach again before I left, I wished I could have stayed for the day. But I wanted to cycle down to Cape Bruny to camp at Lighthouse Jetty Beach.

I passed the town of Alonnah and soon after I arrived in Lunawanna. There is a nice café at the junction so I stopped to have lunch there. From the café it was another 17km or so on gravel road down to the South Bruny National Park with the Lighthouse and the camp site at the Jetty Beach. It was very tiring for me to cycle this part, it wasn’t my legs that killed me, it was the saddle of my sports bike, because of the additional weight on my back.

The camp site at the Jetty Beach was almost empty, only a handful of campers and a few day walkers around. When I arrived it was still beautiful sunshine, so after I set up my tent I spent the rest of the day at the beach enjoying the sun and the wonderful shallow water.

I shared the camp site with Jill and Jess from Hobart and Marco from Holland, who was travelling around Australia. After lunch we played cards until late at night, watched a black possum wandering around and we all decided to get up early the next morning and walk the Labillardiere Peninsula Walk together.

Day 3

I woke up early with the sun and began packing up my luggage. The walk would take around 5 hours and afterwards I would have to cycle back to the camp site at the Neck - it would have been too much to cycle from South Bruny back to Hobart all on Sunday.

I really enjoyed the long walk, even though the weather kept changing from sunshine to rain to cold wind and back - I think after all this time in Tasmania I’m getting used to it. There must be a lot of echidnas around South Bruny, I didn’t see one but there were many holes along the trail. It was also interesting to walk with Jill and Jess, they knew a lot about the local plants and birds in this area. I wouldn’t have noticed myself that there were orchids and carnivorous plants everywhere.

I think after we got back and had lunch it must have been around 2-3pm when I was finally ready to leave the camp site. I was a little bit worried since it was already late and it took me a long time to cycle the same distance the day before. I was simply worried that it would get dark too soon since I didn’t have lights on my bike.

In the end my worries were absolutely unnecessary, it turned out the be my perfect day. After two days on the bike I must have been used to long distance cycling again; the sun came up as well, the wind was blowing me up the hills and I felt just great. I mean I was walking 17km earlier that day and now I was about to cycle another 35km. I felt amazing, my legs were great, the track was easier than the day before, I was able to keep an impressive pace, I was flying.

When I arrived back at the café I took half an hour break to have fish ‘n chips and I still managed to arrive at the camp site after less than 3 hours. I was a fantastic day for cycling around Bruny Island, the weather was great, I saw many beautiful birds and traffic was very low.

At the camp site I was greeted by a group of hillbilly youth with loud music and large beer supplies. They tried whatever they could to annoy the other campers, so I decided to set up my camp in the remotest possible corner. Just when my camp was set up and dinner finished, it got dark. Perfect day.

Day 4

The night was very cold and wet, I was lucky that I had used my tarp, so I was able to pack up without getting wet from the rain. I went to the beach one last time before I left, I always do that, I guess I could watch the waves for hours.

On the road it was really cold, but enjoyable, still early in the morning and no traffic. A few times I had to face heavy cold rain and it was so cold that my only choice was to keep going as fast as possible to stay warm.

While waiting for the ferry (the return ferry is free!) I had a toasted sandwich at the ferry terminal, very good. Interestingly there were so many cars waiting that some had to stay on the island and wait for the next one an hour later or so.

Back in Kettering I had ‘only’ 36km back to Hobart. This was one of the most tiring parts of the trip, lots of traffic on the roads, occasional rain and not much sunshine. Still I was home at around 2pm, earlier than expected.

After all it was another crazy trip, an interesting experience to cycle with a hiking backpack, but I wouldn’t do it again. I had 4 awesome days in one of the greatest places I found so far in Tasmania. I saw whales, beautiful beaches, an abundance of colourful birds, I had a great time walking the Labillardiere Peninsula Walk, I found new friends, met the most relaxed locals ever, and cycled 200km in just 4 days with a backpack.

Check out this photo gallery.

I will definitely come back to Bruny Island, there’s so much I haven’t seen yet. I haven’t been at Adventure Bay to to the walking tracks and see the albino wallabies, I haven’t seen the seal colonies, the cliffs, North Bruny, and and and. There’s a lot to see for such a small island.