All around the world

Graham, our host, with his wwoofers

G'day!
We currently have 5 female wwoofers here. Each of us came on different days. We have an Englishwoman, 2 Germans, 1 Japanese and me. Two Taiwanese girls as well as a Spanish guy with his Dutch girlfriend, all ex-wwoofers, live nearby and wwoof informally here. (They are all 26-29 years old except me and a 22 year old.) One night with our hosts and their son, we were 11 at table representing 8 different countries. Learning about other cultures takes a lot of time, especially when you have to repeat your words slowly and/or have to find different words to convey your meaning. We have concluded that Australian and English are more similar than American, Asian languages are very difficult to learn, and Asians have a harder time learning Australian/English/American. 

Cloudy Bay and Lagoon

I've also learned a lot of history. Here's a synopsis. Bruny Island is named after Bruni D'Entrecasteaux, the French explorer who discovered in 1792 that it was an island and not part of the mainland of Van Diemen's Land (Dutch), now Tasmania. He also has the D'Entrecasteaux Channel named after him. Adventure Bay, where I am staying, was named by Captain Furneaux (English) in 1773 after his ship, the Adventure. Captain Cook (on the Resolution 1777) and Captain Bligh (on the Bounty 1788, on the Providence and Assistant 1792) are among early visitors here. Both have numerous landmarks and memorials named after them. The berry farm is right across the street from a Conservation Area called Two Tree Point with a wonderful beach, the outlet of Resolution Creek, giant kelp beds, and great tidepooling rocks. The two trees are in a picture drawn during Captain Cook's first landing; the two trees are thought to be at least 300 years old.

Can you find the seastars and anemone?
The seastars have more than 6 arms each.

Being so close to the beach is great. After work, all I have to do is go over the road (cross the street) and I'm at the tidepools where I can find anemone (including the red Actinia tenebrosa and the shell-grit Oulactis muscosa), sea stars, sea squirts, sponges, little crabs, shrimp, chitons, various snails/screws/whelks, limpets, barnacles (including gooseneck), mussels, periwinkles, encrusting sponges and lichen, Neptune's necklace, etc. I can spend hours tidepooling. And I'm not collecting shells cuz I don't want to carry them for 9 months and risk them breaking.

Watarah anemone - Actinia tenebrosa

One night, we walked over the road at 9:30 pm to see the fairy penguins (Udyptula minor novaehollandiae). The 12" high penguins spend the day in the water. At dusk, they waddle from the water and across the beach to where their chicks await in their burrows in the sand dunes and among the rocks. We waited a little while and sure enough, the penguins braved the beach gauntlet to go regurgitate for their chicks. We had 2 torches for our group of 7. Red cellophane over the light seems to affect the penguins less and we couldn't take pictures because the flashes would disturb them. Pretty cool!

Nudibranch?  Looks like one to me.

Bruny Island really is gorgeous. White sand beaches, sheer cliffs, numerous coves and bays, tiny and large islands, sand bars and rocky outcrops and some of the cleanest water in the world. On Sunday we went to the Bruny Island Lighthouse, about an hours' drive away. The Lighthouse was built in 1836 using convict labor. The light was decommissioned in 1996 and replaced with a solar powered automatic light. We stopped at Cloudy Bay at the entrance to Cloudy Lagoon. If it weren't only 50*, it could have been a tropical island Paradise. We clambered onto the rocks and tidepooled. The water is so clear that I had to double check what was under water and what wasn't. I've gotten my shoes wet several times. I saw what I think is a nudibranch. I need one of my Marine Biology classmates to confirm this.

The weather's a little weird though. Wait 5 minutes and the weather will change. At one point, it was 8* C (46*ish F) when we were in the rainforest area of the island. Later, we had hail. Lucky for us, each time we got to a scenic turnout, it wasn't raining. It's supposed to be summer here! The weather really does change constantly. Most days we have sun, clouds, sprinkles, and downpours. One day we even got a huge rainbow that lasted a very long time. Temps have ranged from highs in the teens (50 - 60s F) to upper 20's (lower 80s F).

An ideal South Pacific island beach if the temps get above 75*

I'm staying in a caravan about 150' from the main building. The caravan has a double bed on one end (mine) and a set of bunks with a banquette and table opposite. The other end has a small kitchen. However, the caravan doesn't have electricity. We don't spend much time there and we have a couple of candles and the torches we use to light our way from the main building. Although the caravan's supposed to be insulated, it's been really cold at night. Socks and sweats over PJs cold. But when I'm snuggled and warm, I can listen to the sound of the surf, the wind howling, or the cow chewing its cud.  Mostly its the sound of the surf, thankfully.  Good thing, too, that my roomies don't snore.

The water is cold, looks like a blue rainbow, and is so clear!

Mainland Australia has been dealing with extensive massive flooding since December, a cyclone last week, and now huge bushfires in 2 states. Australia truly is a land of extremes. Hope all is calm in your neck of the woods.


Cheers!
Cyn