Snowflakes in the Valley: Bruny Island

We have been plotting all year to have a getaway, and it finally happened; we spent four nights on Bruny Island, and the holiday was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

I had planned the whole thing in secret, and with a little help from Daddy Snow, I managed to pack all our clothes, bedding, food supplies and other miscellaneous but essential items into the car without the snowflakes noticing. We'd told them that we were going geocaching and might have a BBQ lunch, so they only really got suspicious when after a quick find in Kettering, we drove down to the ferry terminal. The excitement when we pulled up at the caravan park and announced we were staying there had to be seen to be believed! I truly love the way children can bring some of the magic of childhood back to us jaded adults, and it was such fun to watch the snowflakes enthusiastically dashing about checking out every corner of their accommodation, just as I remember doing at their age.

The first night was a very late night because the kids were too thrilled to sleep and too loud for us to sleep, and this didn't stop them from waking up before 6am (but thankfully they settled down early on subsequent nights). We had a celebratory fruit salad breakfast, followed by a play on the beach that lasted all morning, with the somewhat bracing temperature not proving any impediment to the snowflakes' plans to swim. We finally dragged them away from the beach with the promise of a repeat visit, and sallied forth to the Bruny Island Cheese Company for a cheese tasting lunch, where we adults enjoyed the artisan cheese, while the highlight for the children was meeting Gulliver the dog, who sports the coolest dog jacket ever. We also, quite serendipidously, got to learn about stunt riding from this guy and his mates. In the afternoon, we checked out the lookout and the beach at the Neck, before calling in at Bruny Island Providore to stock up on fudge.

The next day we spent much of the morning playing chess, ludo and card games before heading out for some bushwalking. The wild flowers were gorgeous, and although we didn't meet many animals, we did spot an albino wallaby. That afternoon we looked for another couple of caches; we didn't find them (somehow we inadvertantly had the phone rounding the coordinates so that it thought GZ was 30 metres out into the water) but we had a beautiful walk along another beach where we practiced identifying the tracks from different birds, dogs and people. That night we went out fairy penguin spotting. We were incredibly lucky to be the only people there for most of the time, and we got to observe many penguins at close range, with some coming right up to us and walking under the ramp we were standing on.

The following day we drove to Mount Mangana and stopped off at what has to be one of my favourite lookouts anywhere. We listened to the Trout Quintet on the car radio while we took our time breathing in the fresh air and the views. Then we continued our very leisurely drive down to the lighthouse, where we spent and hour or two walking, chatting to the lighthouse keeper, and looking around (and grabbed that cache with no problems). Next it was back to Adventure Bay for a BBQ lunch and a quick game of basketball, before returning to 'our' beach for an hour or two, where a beachball mishap forced me to swim in the icy cold water (thank goodness for hot showers).

On the last day we were lucky enough to have finer weather for the ferry crossing, so the snowflakes got out of the car and watched from the upper deck as we crossed back to Trowenna.