Monday 31st December

We organised room service for breakfast to save time so we could get away on time for our trip to Bruny Island.

The pick up location was outside the Visitor Information Centre in Elizabeth Street - only a block away from Constitution Dock where the yachts come in. So we went straight down to the Elizabeth Street wharf to find Don's yacht. We found it but there was no sign of life.

Three mini-buses turned up to take us to Bruny Island. The staff from the tour company (Bruny Island Charters) were enthusiast and friendly.

Our driver, Lyn, gave us a very informative commentary on our trip which included a car ferry from Kettering across to Bruny Island. Amongst other thinks she told us that Bruny Island is about the same size has Singapore but has a permanent population of 650 people rather than the 4 million in Singapore.

When we reached their wharf area at Adventure Bay, they served us morning tea.

At 11am, we boarded the boats for our cruise. The boats were more like speed boats (for 28 people) rather than cruisers. They told us that seats at the front were for people who are happy with bumps and sea spray whereas the seats at the back were for people with bad backs or who are prone to sea sickness.

They gave us all bright orange head-to-knee spray jackets to protect us from spray on the cruise. They offered us further jackets and beanies to keep us warm if we needed them. The forecast maximum temperature for Hobart today was 33C but out on our cruise it felt more like 3C.

The driver was a real character who joked, entertained and informed us throughout the trip. He stopped the boat at lots of places so we could take photos.

We saw caves, huge cliffs, blowholes and amazing rock structures. There was some interesting bird life but the highlight was the seals at the end of trip at the southern end of the island.

The cliffs rose steeply out of the sea. The tallest cliff was 230m above sea level making it the second tallest seaside cliff in the southern hemisphere.

In several places, the sea has formed caves. Sometimes, the caves went through the cliff and out the other side. There were plenty of great photo opportunities.

The seals were at the southern-most part of the island. They were sunning themselves on the rocks. The seals seals seems to be very relaxed - the guide asked us if we had ever seen rocks look so comfortable before.

As we approached, many of the seals jumped into the water to get closer to our boat. They put on a performance for us - riding the waves, diving and playing. It was as if they were part of the tour company's script.

The trip back took us further out to see where we could see giant albatross birds diving from the sky to catch fish that they had spotted below.

The crew served us lunch when we returned to dry land prior to our journey back to Hobart by bus.