We were up drinking tea around 6.30am and looking at the wallabies outside including a white one, which had also been hand reared. In our minds we were readying ourselves for another full days exploration of Bruny island.
Dennis collected us at 8am and we set off to the north - we stopped at a track to a lagoon ( and the beach ) and slowly wended our way down looking for wildlife - we had good views of the new holland and yellow throated honey eaters and eventually saw the fantail cuckoo which called but was seemingly invisible. It was a lovely sunny Sunday morning walk - at the lagoon we saw a male musk duck, with a great wattle under his neck, diving - a very unique and ancient looking duck - there was also a white faced heron fishing and 3 black swans slowly swimming majestically through the reeds - making one of those memorable scenes. When we returned to the land cruiser we had a cup of freshly brewed espresso from a vacuum sealed coffee-bag, far superior to instant, and a traditional Anzac biscuit - an oaty crunchy biscuit with its origins in WW 2 apparently! Next stop lunch collection at the village store before heading off to Adventure Bay to eat them. We crossed the island via the mountain route and stopped at two lookouts but the cloudy haze meant the views were difficult. Lunch was at a historical spot on the beach - two trees point - where Captain Cook had replenished his water at Resolution Creek. He was lucky to find water as there is not much flowing fresh water on Bruny. It was a great place to stop - sunny and warm if a little windy; we watched the welcome swallows swooping around us but were thwarted by a fast flying yellow wattlebird.
Lunch over we headed to another beach were we walked to a protected area and found a pair of hooded dotterel nesting - they were luckily unperturbed by the beach goers enjoying their Sunday by the sea.
Our last walk of the afternoon was to Grassy point - following a historical trail which reflected on the old whaling settlements that had been along the shoreline and which albeit made the men in the 1800s rich nearly made the Southern Right Whale - with its slow breeding cycle of one calf every 3 years, extinct. We got back to our wonderful - well equipped and luxurious lodge at 1730. No time for snoozing just showering and then we were off again at 1845 for supper at the one and only pub....but not before seeing sparkles - the dark morph orphaned quoll which Tonia is raising - he will be released soon as he is becoming a nocturnal handful.
For dinner which was was all local produce we chose breaded ling, salad and chips with mixed berry crumble for John and apple fritters and butterscotch sauce for me both served with ice cream - John cleaned his plates again - I had to ask for a takeaway box for 3 of my 5 delicious fritters as it was an enormous portion and I am sure they will taste just as good tomorrow.
We waited for it to grow dark and then headed to the penguin rookery to see the little blue penguins return. We got out of the car as the sky filled with hundreds of returning short tailed sheerwaters who also nest in the same spot with the penguins - it was a real spectacle - you could hear some of them crash landing into the bushes before waddling on their inadequate legs to their burrows. From the look out I saw a penguin in the surf but never saw any cross the beach yet there were soon small lines of them making there way up the dunes to their burrows calling to each other. You couldn't hear or see the chicks who were safely in the burrows but it was a great sight to watch their parents return from a days fishing - we all used red filters on our torches to make sure the penguins were not disturbed so I have red pictures of the little blue penguins!
We returned again to Inala at about 11pm and like last night fell into bed and slept soundly after another long but rewarding day.
Additional birds seen today included: pacific black duck, Tasmanian scrubwren, Australasian gannet, Tasmanian native hen, new holland honeyeaters, dusky wood swallow and black faced cuckoo shrike.
Today's photo is of the mother and joey wallabies at Inala mentioned yesterday.