Bruny Island

G'day!

Beach at Adventure Bay

I'm wwoofing at Bruny Island Berry Farm.  It's the only berry farm on Bruny Island and it's a pick your own as well so it is very popular.  The cafe makes and serves berry parfaits, champagne jelly (jello) with berries, berry cake,  scones (what we would call biscuits) and pancakes topped with whipped cream and berries, and other berry goodies.  Valhalla ice cream and sorbets are yummy; I have chocolate and a different berry flavor every day.   Berry milkshakes and smoothies and toasted croissants with cheese are also served.  The only thing I have to do with the cafe is pick the berries they use.  And eat and drink its wares.

Low tide between South Bruny Island and Penguin Rock

The hosts, Graham and Kathryn, are terrific.  I arrived on Sunday, 31 January and immediately got involved in preparations for a tapas party to say goodbye to a Spanish wwoofer/employee, Johnny, who is leaving after 2 1/2 months.   Johnny and his Dutch girlfriend, Lotta, prepared a feast of tapas for 20 people, including gazpacho that was heavenly.  My first wwoofing job was to go gather mussels with Johnny.  You just walk along the rocks looking for large mussels and twist them off the rocks.  There were oysters too but they require hammers and screwdrivers to open.  My second job was to clean the mussels.  Not quite as fun and there were a lot of 'em. 

On Tuesday morning we got up at 7 am to go fishing.  We were out on Adventure Bay for about 2 hours and caught 18 squid and one couta, a long thin bony fish.  We were trawling with squid lures on fishing poles and didn't have to wait very long in between bites.  Kana, a Japanese wwoofer, got squirted right in the face as Graham was warning her to not bring it in too quickly. Luckily, they mostly squirted water at this stage.  Apparently most of their ink was expelled while we were reeling them in.   After that, we let them dangle a rod's length away until they squirted, then we brought them in and put them in the bucket.  The largest squid we caught had a body with iridescent skin that was about 14" long with tentacles at least that long again.  Then we had to clean them.  Again, not quite as fun and there were a lot of 'em.  But what an experience!! 

We also saw albatross, cormorants, and oystercatchers.  Did I mention that it rained on and off beginning when we arrived at the beach to launch the boat?  And that the boat's motor quit suddenly?  I thought perhaps my bad luck with boats was continuing, but the engine did restart so we didn't have to paddle.  And although I was slightly nauseous, it was manageable.  Warm showers and hot tea warmed us up nicely.

White wallaby - abound here

Today, Wednesday, we went walkabout on the Grassy Point track parallel to the coast.  We walked out to Penguin Rock, which doesn't have any penguins (any more?).   Beyond Penguin Rock and Adventure Bay is open ocean.   We saw kelp and sea lettuce in the water; we saw a black tiger snake and 2 brown wallabies along the track.  Apparently all snakes in Tasmania are venomous and there are no kangaroos on Bruny Island, only different species of wallabies.  We were on the lookout for white wallabies, a species endemic only to Bruny Island.  We didn't see any but Graham took us to where we saw several.  These wallabies are not albino; they would hold still until we crept to within 10 feet of them and then hop away when we got a step or two closer.  I've also seen heaps of black rabbits and brown rabbits.

Wwoofing work includes picking strawberries, boysenberries, and youngberries each morning.   The raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and other berries are done.  The only problem with picking  strawberries is that they are very low plants and it's hard on my back (and on the others' too even though they are much younger than me).  And the cane berries are prickly. Weeding is another regular chore.  However,  we don't work at any job for more than 90 minutes and garden less than 4 hours per day.  Pretty easy gig. 

Each of us were able to drive the tractor around the property.  I don't know if it's true with all of this type of equipment but it didn't seem to mind driving in second gear from a full stop.  And the other girls never stalled it despite never having driven manual gears before and barely ever driving anything at all.  So now I've driven a tractor and a ride-on mower.  And I still haven't had to mow grass!  I'm trying to keep to my goal of never mowing a lawn my whole life.

View from front of Berry Farm- Duck pond, road, then beach

Internet service is really slow here as well.  So I will be loading minimal pix until I get to where reception is better.   Gung Hay Fot Choy!!!  Happy Chinese New Year of the Rabbit.  We are having potstickers tonight thanks to 2 girls from Taiwan.  They are making the wrappers by hand because there are no wrappers at the general store (although it has seemingly everything else imaginable).  I will be helping to fill them.

Cheers!

Cyn