Day 1: The tour will begin with a walk with one of our expert guides around the Inala Private Reserve, a 1,500 acre (600 ha) Land for Wildlife property which is home to a variety of threatened species and all 12 Tasmanian endemic birds. View at close range the Endangered Tasmanian endemic Forty-spotted Pardalote from the purpose-built canopy platform within one of its largest known colonies, raptors such as the Tasmanian subspecies of the Wedge-tailed Eagle and the white morph of the Grey Goshawk from the raptor hide, and the uncommon white morph of the Red-necked Wallaby. Learn of the conservation efforts to protect these species and their habitats.
After this, your guide will drive you to historic and scenically beautiful Adventure Bay to see beautiful beaches, and cool temperate rainforests containing some Gondwanan and Tasmanian endemic flora. Have lunch by the beach, and stroll along the shore in search of Hooded Plovers, White-bellied Sea-eagles, and Kelp and Pacific Gulls and, if you are lucky, Humpback Whales, dolphins, Shy Albatross, and rafts of thousands of Short-tailed Shearwaters. Then visit the site of collection of the first botanical specimens of the genus Eucalyptus and learn about the ecology of wet eucalypt forest and the relationship between eucalypts and cool temperate rainforest, and stroll along a streamside reserve lined with giant tree-ferns while searching for the elusive Tasmanian endemic small-brown-birds: Scrubtit, Tasmanian Scrubwren and Tasmanian Thornbill, as well as the striking Pink Robin.
Your guide will return you to the Inala Reserve in the late afternoon, so that you can settle into your cottage and freshen up before dinner.
After dinner you and your guide will visit the Little Penguin and Short-tailed Shearwater rookery to view these birds returning to their burrows after dusk. Penguins can be viewed during most of the year, but Shearwaters are only present between September and April. Your guide will then return you to your cottage at Inala for the night.
Day 2: Generous breakfast provisions comprised of fresh local produce will be placed in your cottage for you to prepare at your convenience this morning.
Your guide will collect you from your cottage after breakfast. You will spend most of the day exploring the spectacularly rugged southern coastline of Bruny Island and observe the magnificence of the Southern Ocean in all its splendour (next stop Antarctica…). This includes a visit to Cape Bruny, the location of Australia’s second oldest lighthouse, and Cloudy Bay beach to view spectacular coastal formations and interesting vegetation types including coastal heathlands. Lunch will be supplied en route. This tour also provides a good chance to see Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Brown Quail, Beautiful Firetail, Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo and Dusky Robin, as well as the Short-beaked Echidna (one of our egg laying mammals). We may even see a whale in the distance. Fur seals, Albatross and some of the Southern Ocean Penguin species have also been sighted on these beaches. Your guide will return you to your cottage in the late afternoon so that you can freshen up before dinner.
After dinner, there will be an opportunity to take another evening tour to view some of Bruny Island's nocturnal wildlife such as Tasmanian Pademelons and Eastern Quolls which are now only found in Tasmania, and Bennett’s Wallabies and Brush-tailed Possums which are also found in a rare near-albino colour morph on Bruny Island. Long-nosed Potoroo, Tawny Frogmouth and Tasmanian Boobook are also possibilities, with an outside chance of seeing the endemic Tasmanian Bettong or the endangered Masked Owl. Your guide will return you to your cottage for the night.
Day 3: Breakfast (same arrangement as for yesterday) and then spend another day with your guide on Bruny Island to chase-up 'all those things you wanted to see but haven't done so yet' and 'the things that you have seen that were so good you want to see them again'. Activities today include a walk to some lagoons and a visit to some waterholes around the island for the chance to see a number of water birds. Lunch will again be provided en route. There will also be a chance to visit North Bruny Island this afternoon. This area of the island only receives half the average annual rainfall of South Bruny and the different vegetation and birds on this part of the island reflect this. After dinner there will be another opportunity for a night tour to ensure you have the best chance of seeing Bruny Island’s famous 'white wallabies'. Your guide will return you to your cottage after the tour.
Day 4: Leave Inala after breakfast and connect with a morning ferry back to Hobart, with an estimated time of arrival back in Hobart one hour later.
Accommodation: Three nights Inala (cottage style – sole use).
Meals included: Day 1: Lunch, dinner. Days 2 and 3: Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Day 4: Breakfast.
