Rose at 5 a.m, paranoid about getting lost driving right across Brisbane City to the Abel cars centre near the airport. Leaving at 6 and, despite the traffic, we managed it very easily, arriving at their Nudgee Rd depot at 6.40. Their courtesy bus took us to the airport, a very chatty older driver bringing us up to date with all the roadworks.
Checked in our luggage with Virgin Blue and.... they weighed our hand luggage. Both overweight despite our cases being underweight. When we said we'd got laptops in there all was allowed. Weird. The girl was very nice about it, even running off to catch Pam's big bag so we could put more in it.
After customs (my knees did not set the machine off, hurrah), we had a very inadequate and tasteless cheese and tomato toastie breakfast so that we could take our Amoxycillin.
The plane was late in but very comfortable, wider seats and adequate leg room for me. The two and a half hour flight and our reading, was interrupted by turbulence but nothing serious.
The airport is on a peninsula east of Hobart, so we had a sea side drive and a bridge crossing before negotiating the city. Most of the drive to Kettering and the Bruny Island ferry was along the coast with some very different scenery from Queensland. Around Hobart most of the trees were non indigenous, Willows, Elms and Oaks amongst them. Cattle grazed in belly high grass and there were fields of sheep. Neither of us felt well so we didn't even think of taking photographs. Most unusual.
We'd been warned that the one shop on Bruny is inadequate and advised to do a major shop in Kingston, about half way to the ferry. So we did so, in a heavy shower. We missed a ferry -it's a smallish RORO - by 5 minutes so had to wait 45 mins for it to return. We were first on and first off after the 15 min crossing. Goldfinches, Blackbirds and Starlings around the terminal, we Brits have a lot to answer for.
Bruny has a North and South Island, connected by a narrow isthmus, we drove well down to South Bruny, to Inala. Rolling grassland, Eucalyptus forests, rocky coasts, sandy beaches and mountains during a 45 minute drive along both tarmac and gravel roads - there's just the one road. We passed by tracks to Adventure Bay, Penguin Rookery and Cloudy Bay, following Tania's directions to her property. Yes, there was our cottage, Nairana, at the end of a dirt road amid the gum forest.
http://www.inalabruny.com.au
We unpacked the car, explored the facilities and sat outside on our verandah. It doesn't get dark here until after 8,30. We landed in a temperature of 20C having left a very hot Brisbane. Despite the fan, it was 28C in our bedroom last night. It was good to be comfortably cool BUT I needed to put on warm clothes this evening and the electric blanket is already warming up my bed.
I feel better to-night and enjoyed my boiled egg and toast tea whilst watching small marsupials feeding in the small clearing below the verandah. Not sure what they are yet.
We've seen a few new birds already, Forest Raven, Yellow-throated Honeyeater and several we haven't been able to identify. A Collared Sparrowhawk appeared over our heads and landed in a tree for a short time. Still haven't taken any pics apart from the Raven.
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