Everyone told us how great Bruny Island was, and how it was a "must see". They were right.
It wasn't perfect - the fudge factory was really just a fudge shop with a fairly grumpy salesperson and the "pick your own" berry farm was fresh out of berries to pick but we made do despite these "difficult" circumstances and managed to enjoy ourselves very much!!
Day one's highlight on Bruny was getting to see the much anticipated Bruny Island Cheese Factory and taste Nick Haddow's cheese. Despite a small amount of disappointment on behalf of the kids about not seeing Nick himself, we had a great time. The front of house guy, John I think, was so warm, generous and accomodating. We tasted some cheeses, then ordered a cheese platter and some milkshakes. We took some cheese from our platter home and bought some more. We figured we would be disappointed if we didn't manage a weight gain of a kilo a day each, for our 3 days on Bruny! We all enjoyed seeing the woodfired oven cooking up the day's loaves and gazing in the window to the factory and aging cheese. As we were leaving John, clearly recognising our innate foodieness, gave us a swagful of yesterday's sourdough loaves for free. Yum.
After school battles were over and the caravan set up at Adventure Bay, the boys had a quick play with the Spence kids. Isaac chose to stay and play ping-pong with Elijah, while Sasch, Dom, Paul and I went to the beach. The water was spectacular and clear (except for the dead penguin and the plate sized jelly fish) and Paul and I had one of our "Aaaah! It is all worth it!" moments. I even did my first knitting of the trip!
Day one's highlight on Bruny was getting to see the much anticipated Bruny Island Cheese Factory and taste Nick Haddow's cheese. Despite a small amount of disappointment on behalf of the kids about not seeing Nick himself, we had a great time. The front of house guy, John I think, was so warm, generous and accomodating. We tasted some cheeses, then ordered a cheese platter and some milkshakes. We took some cheese from our platter home and bought some more. We figured we would be disappointed if we didn't manage a weight gain of a kilo a day each, for our 3 days on Bruny! We all enjoyed seeing the woodfired oven cooking up the day's loaves and gazing in the window to the factory and aging cheese. As we were leaving John, clearly recognising our innate foodieness, gave us a swagful of yesterday's sourdough loaves for free. Yum.
After school battles were over and the caravan set up at Adventure Bay, the boys had a quick play with the Spence kids. Isaac chose to stay and play ping-pong with Elijah, while Sasch, Dom, Paul and I went to the beach. The water was spectacular and clear (except for the dead penguin and the plate sized jelly fish) and Paul and I had one of our "Aaaah! It is all worth it!" moments. I even did my first knitting of the trip!
Despite a spectacular sunrise as a backdrop, early school on day two, with Isaac was unsuccessful. We were both too tired. I surrendered as gracefully as I could and made the best of yet another fairly poor day on the formal schooling front.
The weather was predicted to be very windy so we shelved plans for the boat trip and headed off with the Spences to enjoy some games in front of the berry farm and some fudge beside the fudge shop! Our afternoon was spent attempting not to get blown off the Neck and hunting baby penguins. Fun and a bit scary for me, as Dom was low enough to fit under the handrail, and the wind was very strong!! Reading the tourist information about Truganinni was gutwrenching but an important part of our history to know.
While I sorted out all the school stuff to send back, the Tenorio and Spence boys (big and small) all went fishing. Or was that the day after, when I cooked a big vege korma? Or was it both? Aah yes, thats right. It was both. (Thankyou, Martha)
Isaac and Elijah each caught their first fish! Isaac actually caught four and they are in our freezer still (a month later), as bait for hopefully the big one!! The next day Paul caught this little baby whom we promptly let go. He was quite chuffed as it was the last cast of the day, he was just hoping to get the fish to nibble off the bait so he wouldn't have to touch it and got his first real bite of the day.
We also enjoyed a lovely picnic dinner by the river with the Spences that night, enjoying plenty of good provender from Bruny and Salamanca.
Isaac and Elijah each caught their first fish! Isaac actually caught four and they are in our freezer still (a month later), as bait for hopefully the big one!! The next day Paul caught this little baby whom we promptly let go. He was quite chuffed as it was the last cast of the day, he was just hoping to get the fish to nibble off the bait so he wouldn't have to touch it and got his first real bite of the day.
We also enjoyed a lovely picnic dinner by the river with the Spences that night, enjoying plenty of good provender from Bruny and Salamanca.
The bulk of day three was spent on the Bruny Island boat tour which was really quite spectacular. The crew were friendly, funny and informative and organised a round of "Happy Birthday" for Dom as it was one of his birthday gifts and it was his actual birthday the day after. Seeing the magnificent albatrosses and many sheerwaters, as well as the sea lions, bull kelp, caves and blowhole, was just wonderful. The kids especially enjoyed the TimTams and BBQ Shapes handed around on the way back. I was pretty hungry by then, so I did too!