Drawing the curtains this morning, Pam spotted a white Bennett's Wallaby at the waterhole, and I took a shot through the bedroom window.. There are a hundred or so on Bruny. There aren't any predators so recessive genes persist.
The drive to Adventure Bay and the boat trip jetty, is 10K along a dirt road through a forest, we left in good time so that we could bird along the way. Adventure Bay 'township' is big by Bruny standards, it has a shop. We bought postcards from a limited selection and made our way to the boat office which is a shop cum cafe. We had a hot drink (14C this morning) and bought a fleece each. The ones we had were not warm enough and to-day's outing was not conducive to infected oldies.
Just before 10.00, we had a short intro and then a 4 min walk along the road to the jetty where two yellow ribs were waiting. Tonya had suggested that we sit in front of the driver's console at the rear of the boat and we were able to do so. Less likely to get wet she said! A good proportion of the passengers were Asians, a few Aussies and us. The introductory talk by Mick, the main man, was informative and amusing, this goes for the rest of the trip too. A bright and quick-witted man who is taking part in the Sydnet/Hobart yacht race on Boxing Day. He won the Melbourne/Hobart race last year. His boat is the Archie.
This boat is not ours, the Albatross, but its twin.
It was raining heavily by now, floor length bright orange waterproofs were donned by all (Pam could stand on hers), and beanies offered. We were then given two ginger pills and water to wash them down before setting off at high speed. The 3 x 300HP engines mounted on the rear raise the front out of the water. These craft have great manoeverability, turning on a sixpence, the whole craft appearing to tilt like a motot bike when turning. Very exciting! I think the crew of two love the squeals from the tourists.
The first hour and a half was spent driving along the Jurassic basalt cliff coastline, stopping at caves, blowholes and any wildlife present. These cliffs are the second highest in the Southern Hemisphere, the first are elsewhere on Tas, and the same formation as the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.
This map shows the route taken, marked with a purple dotted line.
The first stop was at a nesting colony of Black-faced Cormorants, most attractive birds but very niffy, we have seen them before. Not common but they are on Tassie.
The sea edge is heavy with Kelp, a seaweed which is the fastest growing plant in the world. It grows 2.24 metres in 24 hours. It's used by the Japanese to make Miso Soup and as a thickener in many foodstuffs including milkshakes. The pink stuff on the rocks above the Kelp is an algae which blooms in darker places such as caves.
The Kelp Gull colony was not very active, no young as yet, when there are, the Sea Eagles come hunting. This gull is a sub-antarctic species which is spreading rapidly north, it was recently added to the Western Palearctic list - hasn't it heard of global warming?
One of the tricks - advertised on their website http://www.brunycruises.com.au/ - is to take the rib at great speed through the narrow gap between a column known as the Monument and the land edge. It just fitted! Many squeals from the Asians, followed by clapping.
The boatmen thoroughly enjoy it.
There followed a very fast ride to the Friar Rocks. Boy, was it cold. That's when I donned a Beanie. Despite the calm sea all the way so far, we now entered the junction of the Tasman Sea and the Southern Ocean - as a few bone jarring bounces announced.
In the lee of the giant rocks, hundreds of male Australian Fur Seals lay, a few of the thousands yet to return from mating with the females further north. They were of all ages, just the one enormous bull seal. What a stench!
Sleek youngsters flopping out of the surf.
Both varieties of Oystercatcher were on nearby rocks, the Pied looks just like ours, here's the Sooty.
The return journey was much better for birds, the crew did us proud. They'd taken note of the bins and long lens and gone out of their way to search for and find groups of Australian Gannets - would you see the difference if you saw one off Cley?
We'd already had distant views of a Shy Albatross on the way out, now they were closer and we must have seen six in total. Trying to take photos under the railing of a pitching, rolling boat was not ideal but I was reasonably pleased with the results. Oh for a sunny day....
They're great birds, I love them.
We also saw a few Short-tailed Shearwaters and finished with a large pod of Common Dolphins, which put on a good show between our two boats. Everyone loves them.
We climbed ashore just after two p.m., cold and contented. Great trip. We had to leave our orange gear behind unfortunately.
A Wedge-tailed Eagle sailed above as we drove of to eat a late packed lunch at Mavista picnic area - a wide bit of the gravel track. We must come back here again.
In earlier than ever after a very strenuous yet wonderful two days. Much of the evening was spent downloading photographs and then writing up my Blog. I was half way through the latter when the internet crashed and I couldn't get back on line. All gone....I started again in the morning.
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