The Bruny Island great escape

Craving a holiday filled with fine food, drinks and wilderness? Just off Tasmania’s south coast, Bruny Island has everything from fresh seafood to epic scenery. Add amazing caves, waterfalls and Australia’s best restaurant by driving there along the road less travelled through Tassie’s heart. Bring an Esky and your stretchiest pants!

Drive off Spirit of Tasmania in Devonport and straight onto the state’s northern Tasting Trail. It showcases 44 delicious destinations for everything from cheese and truffles to berries and ice-cream, as well as coffee, spirits, beer, wine and cider. Visit a handful of these artisanal businesses while wending your way south (or extend the itinerary to enjoy them all!), and either stop at one for lunch or gather goodies for a picnic.

There are picnic facilities at the next two places on your itinerary, starting with Mole Creek Karst National Park. Its main attractions are caves with incredible crystals, limestone shawls, stalactites, stalagmites and flowstones, as well as subterranean streams, reflecting pools and even glow worms. Choose from two easy-access caves for a guided tour.

From these underground wonderlands it’s about 60km south-east to Liffey Falls, where you can quickly conquer one of Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks. It’s just 45 minutes return on a trail winding past the Liffey River through peaceful green rainforest. Along the way you’ll see not one but four picturesque waterfalls, gently cascading over tiers of sandstone.

Continue south to the Central Plateau, a wild sub-alpine moorland with countless lakes, pools, ponds and rocks under big skies. It’s the heart of Tasmania but with few roads or visitors, so getting back to nature is easy here. You don’t have to rough it though.

Thousand Lakes Lodge, about 65km from Liffey Falls, offers casually luxurious accommodation complete with fine Tasmanian food and beverages. Will you embrace the wilderness all around, or just admire it through wraparound windows by the massive fireplace?

After feasting on the lodge’s breakfast offerings, which include homemade baked beans and warm waffles, drive about 155km south to Mount Field National Park for another Great Short Walk. From the carpark it’s a 10-minute stroll along a path lined with moss, ferns and fungi to the star of Australia’s first postage stamp. Russell Falls cascades in two tiers before tumbling spectacularly into a natural pool.

If you love a good walk, bring a packed lunch and continue on to complete the two-hour Three Falls Circuit. It’s yet another Great Short Walk, through a tranquil setting of trickling creek and towering swamp gums to Horseshoe and Lady Barron falls.

If you love a good meal even more, from Russell Falls return to your vehicle and travel 40km east to Gourmet Traveller magazine’s 2024 Restaurant of the Year. That’s right, The Agrarian Kitchen is the best in Australia, so book well ahead for lunch at this New Norfolk restaurant where produce is sourced fresh from the extensive walled garden.

It’s 65km from Tasmania’s ultimate food destination (or 105km from Mount Field National Park’s visitor centre) down to Sealink’s Bruny Island ferry in Kettering. It departs frequently and carries vehicles, so you’ll soon be at your destination.

Bruny is 50km long (so it doesn’t take long to get anywhere here) and almost two islands, as it’s just held together by a long, narrow strip of land called The Neck. Pause here for Truganini Lookout’s cracking 360-degree view of land and sea, plus birds including short-tailed shearwaters and little penguins.

Places to dine on Bruny Island are limited but there’s lots of irresistible local food and drinks to buy, so choose accommodation with a well-appointed kitchen. Adventure Bay Retreat’s three rustic-chic self-contained options tick that box. Choose from The Lodge, which sleeps up to eight, and The Cottage and The Studio, both designed for couples. Consider pre-ordering a welcome hamper for your first night from Hamperlicious on Bruny.

Work up an appetite for your afternoon of hunting, gathering and tasting with another Great Short Walk. South Bruny National Park’s 2.5-hour return Fluted Cape trail is on your doorstep, and leads to cliff-top panoramas of Adventure Bay, Penguin Island and the Southern Ocean. If you’re not a keen bushwalker just do the easier 1.5-hour option. Either way you’ll spy various seabirds and probably Bruny’s surprising white wallabies too.

Lunch is at Australia’s southernmost vineyard, Bruny Island Premium Wines. Their cool-climate whites and pinot noir pair nicely with a menu celebrating local, seasonal produce. Can’t decide? Try the Island Tasting Platter.

Then feast your eyes and get an exciting fresh perspective on Bruny with Island Scenic Flights. Your pilot will point out sights such as The Neck, The Friars rocks where fur seals gather, and the 1832 lighthouse.

Spend the rest of the day grazing. Find sweet temptations at Bruny Island Honey, where you can also see bees at work in an observation hive. Housemade fudge is among Bruny Island Chocolate Company’s many treats, while Bruny Island Raspberry Farm’s berry delicious offerings include ice-cream and scones.

Savour Bruny Island Cheese Co and Bruny Island Beer Co’s moreish fare together in one tasty place. Baked camembert with the Bruny Black perhaps? If you like oysters you’ll love Get Shucked, which serves them every which way and always super-fresh. Just want some to go for dinner at your accommodation? Roll up to the world’s first oyster drive-through! And be sure to pick up a sourdough loaf from The Bruny Baker’s roadside vintage ‘bread fridge’.

After honey on toast and a barefoot walk on Adventure Bay’s white-sand beach, head out on the water with Bruny Island Cruises. Experience an extraordinary environment of sea caves, soaring seastacks and some of Australia’s highest cliffs. You’ll also encounter marine wildlife such as seals, dolphins, albatrosses and maybe migrating whales too.

After lunch at Bruny Island Cruises’ seaside restaurant, immerse yourself in nature again at Inala. Either explore the Jurassic Garden, which has hundreds of species of dinosaur-era plants, or the nature reserve. Many native plants and animals are found here, including all 12 of Tasmania’s endemic birds.

Enjoy a tasting paddle at Spirit of Bruny distillery, whose wares include White Wallaby gin, then a hearty dinner with beachy views at Hotel Bruny. Their pub grub is next level, from loaded seafood platters to lamb shoulder braised in Bruny Island Cider. That’s just one of the options on a drink list that champions Tasmania.

There are many reasons to linger on Bruny Island, from the vista atop the lighthouse to South Bruny National Park’s Labillardiere Peninsula trail (yet another Great Short Walk). But if it’s time to go, Devonport is a 300km drive from Kettering. Bruny Island House of Whisky is close to the ferry departure point, so consider popping in for a tasting and souvenir bottle before boarding.

If you prefer to head north at a leisurely pace, taking in more of Tasmania’s fabulous food, drinks and wilderness, tootle up the east coast. Discover its wineries, seafood and national parks, including Maria Island and Freycinet, then make your way to Spirit of Tasmania via Launceston, a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.

Information included in this blog is correct at the time of publishing. Please contact individual operators for further information.