Bruny Island, Tasmania...
We decided to do a day trip as our first jaunt from Hobart to Bruny Island. We got up early and were ready at 7:30 am for Eric to pick us up. We were greeted with the news that the ferry that we would be taking us across to the island had a gap of 2-hours and the next one departed at 9:30 am. Ugh, we really didn't need to get up that early... Well, we were certain that we wouldn't miss the ferry!

The island is quite large and varied. The first region we explored was the isthmus between the upper and lower parts of the island. Stairs leading to the top of a large sand dune gave a great view of the isthmus. On the beach, sadly, we found a dead fairy penguin. We also found a floundering, stranded baby skate. John attempted to rescue it by bringing it back into the deeper water, but on a return from our walk the poor thing appeared to have become beached again. Not a good day for these particular animals.

Further down the road the trees and bushes took on a golden tone that was quite strange. On scanning the horizon we found two plumes of smoke in the distance that were creating brown clouds that caused the golden light. There must have been a couple of fairly large forest fires on the mainland. We never did find out where they were. A ways further down the road we returned to normal lighting conditions.