We were up at 5.30, still a little tired from our travelling but we had to leave by 0630 to be at the Bruny Island ferry by 7am to ensure we were on the 0745 departure - as today was Saturday there could be lots of visitors. Luckily there was continental breakfast in the room so we had cereals and toast to keep us going. On arrival at the ferry we were the second car - little did we know but Dennis our guide was in the first car! The 15minute trip cost $30 and was quick and easy - as we disembarked we saw all the cars lined up waiting to return. We then set off on sealed, with short stretches of unsealed, roads for the 45km to Cloudy Bay Rd and to Inala the nature company we had booked with. First impressions of Bruny was - rustic settlements -there are only 200 or so permanent residents, set in beautiful country side - eucalyptus woodland, forest, farmland and rainforest.
We turned down the Inala drive just before 0845 and met Tonia, the owner, and Dennis, who had arrived seconds before us.
We got ourselves ready for a birding walk around the 500 acre property but before then we visited the 2 young wallabies and potteroo that Tonia is raising after their mothers were killed , or in the case of the Potteroo - scared off. All the wallabies are released around the property and can be as wild as they like - a few return for tidbits but most live a normal life in the bush. As we walked we saw several including a mum and junior in the pouch - he had clearly heard us coming and had dived in as his feet were poking out but soon he turned himself round and we saw his head.
Birding in the tall gum trees was neck straining but as the morning went on we accumulated a reasonable list of Tasmanian endemics including the often difficult to see scrubtit. ( full list at end of blog).
At 11am we went back for tea and much needed biscuits - I was ravenous and breakfast was along time ago. After refreshing we headed off to collect lunch from the local shop - lovely toasted sandwiches which we took with us and ate at the lighthouse ( the 4th to be built in Australia & the work of convicts). The sun was out but the wind made it cooler, white caps on the sea noticeably increased during our visit....but it was warm enough to have a lovely lunch and watch the splendid fairy wrens in the heathland. After lunch we walked to the top by the lighthouse and took in the views - next stop Antarctica.
Our next stop was a short forest walk to the beach where we saw a magnificent heavy billed pacific gull, and not long after a pelican and a black faced cormorant. We had been talking about the rare and difficult to see swift parrots (endemic breeders) all morning as children had drawn pictures of them and they adorned the walls at Inala - then Dennis heard them feeding on a blue gum close by and luckily one perched in a dead tree long enough for us to see it.
We then decided to go to Cloudy Bay to see what the beach had to offer besides magnificent views and a nice place to have a cup of tea. We parked overlooking the beach and had a birds eye view of a small lagoon with pied and sooty oystercatchers, kelp gulls, forest raven and a caspian tern. On the dunes behind were 8 masked lapwing - only visible through binoculars as they blended so well with their environment. As we stood there we watched a flock of birds fly from the bushes behind the dunes and realised they had been flushed out by a hunting swamp harrier.
About 4.15 we headed back to Inala for a shower, snooze and relax before heading off to the hothouse cafe at 1845 -it is literally in a polythene hothouse overlooking the sea - for a superb supper of salmon for me and gourmet sausages for John followed by hot apple and date cake with butterscotch sauce and ice-cream for me and pecan pie for John ......I couldn't quite finish all mine but John had two clean plates. Everything was cooked to order and really delicious While waiting for our main course to arrive, and thanks to another guest, we saw a white bellied sea eagle flying over the strait.
As it grew dark we headed north, almost to the ferry terminal and then slowly wended our way back looking for the nocturnal animals - particularly the spotted eastern quoll - success - we saw 11 light morph and 5 dark morph spotted cat like creatures endeavouring to catch the insects alongside the road- (today's photo is of a dark morph quoll). We also saw several Bennets wallabies - who require care in passing as they can easily swerve into you and become road kill and a dent in your car, Tasmanian pademelon ( a darker rounder wallaby) and several very fluffy brush tail possum. As we passed the penguin rookery we saw a couple of little penguins returning to their rookery from the channel, rather than the sea and having to negotiate the road.
We got back to Inala around 11pm and literally fell into bed and slept soundly after our very full day.
Additional birds not mentioned above and seen were - the rare forty spotted pardalote, dusky robin, green rosella, Tasmanian thornbill, strong billed honeyeater, yellow throated honeyeater and scrubtit - all Tasmanian endemics. Other birds included black swan, white faced heron, brown falcon,
silver gull, shining bronze cuckoo, a young pallid cuckoo, laughing kookaburra, brown thornbill, yellow rumped thornbill, olive whistler, Australian golden whistler, grey shrike thrush, grey fantail, satin flycatcher, flame robin, scarlet robin, tree martin, silvereye, Australian pipit and European imports - blackbird, starling, sparrows ( which we could do with having back) and goldfinch.