After our beautiful introduction to Tasmania’s north, we woke up pretty early the next morning to depart Devonport for our long drive down south to Bruny Island.
From Devonport, Bruny Island is roughly a 3 and a half to 4 hour drive. If you happen to be in Hobart, then it is a 30-40 minute drive from the CBD.
Once you get to Kettering, the seaside town from which the ferry to Bruny Island departs, you’re only 15 minutes away from an Island of Adventure (sorry if you knew where that reference is from #sorrynotsorry).
The ferry carries both humans, pets and inanimate objects including vehicles. There is no booking system to get the tickets. You simply rock up and pray that you get on the ferry (check the Bruny Island Ferry Website for the times and prices). The ferry departs ten times daily, so to ensure you don’t miss out on that ferry ride there and back, turn up early. If you missed the earlier departure, at least you know you’ll be there in time for the second. A local friend that lives in Hobart has said that in peak times (Summer), you can wait up to 2 hours to get on the ferry!
Luckily for us, there were not too many cars waiting in line (about 20) when we rocked up to the shore for the 11:05am departure from Kettering.
One other important note. There is no public transport to or on Bruny Island, so you will need to bring your own car or hire a car. Good thing we came to Tasmania aboard Spirit of Tasmania with our car!
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Bruny Island Smokehouse – North Bruny, TAS
Once we docked at Bruny Island, we made a quick pit stop at the Bruny Island Smokehouse, also know to the locals as BISH.
Everyone entering and departing Bruny Island will go pass BISH as it’s located right on the main road 2 minutes from the ferry terminal.
As we arrived, Raven the owner of BISH greeted us and walked us through all the products that BISH had in store.
BISH also operates as a restaurant, serving up platters of the islands finest produce including their own smoked meats and fish, chutneys, dips (all which have won very impressive awards in the last few years!).
Apart from selling the obvious, smoked products (wallaby, salmon, ocean trout and quail), they also have a very noteworthy whisky, wine, cider and ale bar, showcasing some of Tasmania’s finest whisky products. This includes the gold gong winner of the recent 2014 World Best Whisky of Sullivan’s Cove.
If you ask nicely, she may even let you touch the bottle.
Address:
360 Lennon Road
North Bruny TAS 7150
Phone: (03) 6260 6344
Website: www.brunyislandsmokehouse.com.au
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Get Shucked – North Bruny, TAS
From BISH, we continued on our food focus journey and stopped by Get Shucked, a cleverly named oyster farm and store!
It was pouring with rain when we arrived, so we were very thankful to be in the warmth and comfort of the store.
Before I had even arrived, I was told that no matter what, we would need to stop and visit and order Oyster Wontons.
As if, we would have driven past an oyster farm on Bruny Island and ignored it!
Joe who runs Get Shucked wasn’t around when we turned up (he was babysitting! What a good dad!), but his lovely wife walked us around the operations.
I was a tad sad that we missed the adventure Shellie had when she visited in Summer, but was tremendously excited about eating fresh Tasmanian oysters. If you want to see Shellie and the Get Shucked boys visit her post and watch the video!).
We had half a dozen (natural of course) in store and then bought another dozen to eat at our retreat for dinner that night.
I was in heaven!
Oh and the wontons? Amazing! Hot little parcels of juicy fresh oysters. <3
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Also, check out their full list of the oyster bar menu and pricing.
Address:
Lease 204, 1735 Bruny Island Main Road
Great Bay, North Bruny TAS 7150
Phone: 0428 606 250
Website: http://www.getshucked.com.au/
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Bruny Island Cheese & Co. – Great Bay, TAS
After oysters, we took the opportunity to head over to Get Shucked’s friendly neighbour, Bruny Island Cheese & Co.
I fell in love with the little building. It was just so idyllic set amongst the trees.
I fell in love even more as we walked in and were greeted by all these lovely cheeses just waiting to be eaten!
All the cheese to eat! All the things to see! All the things to buy!
But I had to get a hold of myself as The Boy was giving me strict eye language which when translated to other folks not attuned with his mind, meant, “You better get a hold of yourself, else no cheese for you!”.
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So control myself I did and we sampled all the cheeses on offer, which were:
- 1792
- O.D.O. (One Day Old)
- Otto
- Raw Milk C2
- Saint
- Tom
Read more about each of the cheeses we sampled: Bruny Island cheeses
Of course we also couldn’t leave without sampling their home made pizza using in house cheeses!
We tried their Wood Fired Pizza with Tom and 1972 and topped it up with Smoked Salmon. It was magnifique!
When in Rome (or Bruny)…
Cheeses: http://www.brunyislandcheese.com.au/meet-cheeses/
Address:
1807 Main Road
Great Bay, Bruny Island TAS 7150
Phone: (03) 6260 6353
Website: http://www.brunyislandcheese.com.au/
Online Shop: https://brunyislandcheese.myfoodlink.com/
Twitter: @brunycheese
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Bruny Island Providore – Adventure Bay, TAS
As we journeyed on to our accommodation for the weekend, we made one more final pit stop at Bruny Island Providore. This tiny unassuming Providore is attached to a castle-like private residence of chocolatier Michael. From that Willy Wonka-like castle, there is a commercial kitchen that produces roughly 600 – 1000kgs of chocolate fudge a week!
We arrived at the store and browsed the many items located on the shelf. We also sampled the many different fudges there before purchasing a few blocks of fudge to take home.
Address:
53 Adventure Bay Road
Adventure Bay TAS 7150
Phone: (03) 6293 1456
Website: http://www.hiba.com.au/providore.html
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One of the things I loved about Bruny Island was that at each location we stopped by for local produce, we were greeted by this proud signage below!
Just in case you had any doubts of where the produce you were eating (or buying was made or farmed).
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Bruny Island Neck Game Reserve
To travel to Adventure Bay (which was where we would be retiring for the night), you will need to pass The Neck, the narrowest stretch of the island, separating north and south Bruny Island.
On the neck itself, is a game reserve and a viewing platform to watch penguins come up to their burrows at night.
Be warned however, the stretch of land where The Neck lays is very windy.
As we were there in winter, we had our winter gear all on before heading on to the beach to take some photos of the scenery.
We could just imagine how beautiful and lovely it would be during calmer weather!
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So if you happen to find yourself with some spare time when you next visit Hobart, drive on down to Bruny Island and fill your tummies (and bags) with all the good food it has to offer.
Don’t forget to stop at The Neck and take in the majesty of it all. You’ll feel pretty small and insignificant as you gaze out into the wide Tasman sea and watch the large waves lashing upon the deserted beach.
Puts life into perspective. Stress less. Enjoy life a little bit more 🙂
Map (including drive to Adventure Bay):
Previous Tasmanian Posts:
Ahhh, the beauty of Tasmania! Food and relaxation overload. Nice shots!!!
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Fantastic photos! I’m set to go to Tasmania tomorrow because of this post. Love the wonton oysters, looks yum.