I woke with the smell of smoke in my hair from the campfire, the sound of rain, and the crashing of waves at the beach. It was going to be a day of completing our tour of the island in the rain, glad that we did the majority of the roads and the beautiful scenery yesterday with the blue skies and sun shining.

Last night both Lach and I walked down to the beach to see whether we could see any ‘Sea Sparkles’ but to no avail. We also were hoping to see a ‘White Wallaby’ which is unique to the South Island of Bruny at Adventure Bay (exactly where we are camping) but we think that the rain has kept them away. Maybe we will see some tonight or tomorrow morning.

The rain didn’t look like it was going to pass and the wind was blowing, so what better place to start off our adventures than the Cape Bruny Lighthouse. It is the 2nd oldest lighthouse in Australia which is still standing. Built in 1838 it was Tasmania’s third lighthouse and Australia’s fourth. In 1996 it was replaced by a solar panel lighthouse erected on the adjacent headland, so this was decommissioned and handed over to the state government and made into a national park. We didn’t realise you were meant to book a tour to climb to the top, but the guide managed to squeeze us in and we all climbed the 72 steps to the top – it was a stunning lookout across the huge national park which takes up the majority of South Bruny, the sun was attempting to come out, but the wind was relentless. We all had our rain jackets on to keep the wind out, so reminded us of our visit to Kangaroo Island and the walks we did in the wind and rain.

We piled back into the ‘not so clean car’ – 20km of gravel road after rain isn’t kind to a clean(ish) car – and headed to The Neck. The Neck is an isthmus of land connecting North and South islands which also is home to fairy penguins and short tailed shearwater birds – we have discussed venturing out this evening at dusk with the girls to see the penguins coming in to nest, but the tiredness from both the girls already, without the addition of a late night, means we will most likely miss the penguins on this visit.

We needed some lunch so we ventured to the Bruny Island Cheese and Beer Co. – where they specialise in artisan cheese, bread and beer. We had a flight of cheese, a ploughmans and a prosciutto pizza, accompanied by a beer (which actually I liked – normally I am a beer snob!). More Oysters were my single request for the day, so we went to the Get Shucked Oyster drive through for me to purchase another dozen to be the entree for our steak – very gourmet! I also learnt that the Oysters which we eat are 2.5 years old. I am considering buying more on the way back tomorrow before we board the ferry to have for lunch – much easier than making sandwiches.

We were blown about, the rain was still challenging, so we headed back to the van, having ticked off all the items on the island that we wanted to see – including having driven on 100% of the sealed roads along with the majority of the council maintained gravel roads, visited all of the tourist attractions with the exception of the Bruny Island house of Whisky (as we know that Lach isn’t going to like them, as he is a whisky snob and only likes Isle of Islay whisky’s), and the last item on our list is to visit the Smokehouse tomorrow morning to buy our smoked salmon for Christmas Day, before we board the ferry.

Back at the van we decided, that due to the inclement weather and the girls being so tired, to start the christmas puzzle on our puzzle board. So the 1000 piece puzzle was more challenging than both Lach and I anticipated from the photo on the front. It took us 2 hours to just complete the outside edge due to the whole edge being a repetitive pattern. Let’s hope we can finish it before we finish our holiday – also lets hope that the puzzle board works as well as the lady in the shop told us it would.

Bruny Island is definitely bigger than what Lach and I expected, and we are surprised by the lack of inhabitants and facilities – i would say significantly less amenities than kangaroo island and more remote. The beaches are beautiful and the national parks stunning. It’s a shame that we didn’t have sun today to make the most of the views from the lighthouse and The Neck, but we have loved our stay here and glad that we stayed the two nights rather than the day trip we originally intended.

There are a couple of things about Tasmania which remind me of the UK, the flowers, the sloe berries and the tweeting birds.

We will most likely do some more of the puzzle this evening as the rain continues to fall, and then tomorrow morning we will get the 10am ferry, so that i can buy some smoked salmon at 930am when the shop opens, then head to Fortescue Bay, in the Tasman National Park for two nights.