LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Saturday, December 3, 2011

On the Way to Antarctica



From Sinfonia's kitchen window, one can see Bruny Island in the distance, separated from the main island by a stretch of blue water. When we got to Bruny Island, The Husband, with one of his rare flashes of pithiness, said "Australia is a continent at one corner of the world. Tasmania is an island at one corner of Australia. Bruny Island is an island at the corner of Tasmania." It seemed to me that we were at the edge of the world... and if you look carefully, you can actually find a place on the Tasmanian map marked "Edge of the World".

The waters around Bruny Island are cold and pristine. Oysters grow there in great abundance. All ya gotta do is pick 'em off the rocks, shuck em and eat 'em... that is, if you own one of the beachfront properties on Bruny Island, with a jetty. Since we don't own such a property, we stopped by an oyster shack and carted home 12 oysters for AUD12.

From Bruny Island, we took a boat out to try and catch sight of whales, dolphins and seals. There were plenty of wild seals to see. They looked lovely in the water, frisking about... flipping into the air and turning somersaults, dancing in elegant pairs of Mikhail Baryshnikovs. We saw a baby humpback whale too. There were flocks of sea birds - cormorants, gulls, albatrosses and eagles soaring above the clear blue water riding on the crisp cold air currents that blow from the South Pole. It is an invigorating air, clean, pure... and 2000 km away is the Antarctica. The ocean is large and whilst Bruny Island is the same size as Singapore, it only has 550 people living there. So, everyone seems to know everyone else. We would spy a lone boat in the distance and it would invariably be a friend of the boat captain, Robert. I gather that it is the social custom here to drive up and say hello.

We met an oyster diver, a couple of fishing boats and one bright red boat on its way to the Antarctica. I'm sorry for the misleading title of this post. WE didn''t actually make it to the Antarctica, though for a fee, such trips can be organised.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Exciting and I love the part about the oysters...I haven't had a fresh oyster in years! Happy, happy, happy for you, family and Sinfonia!

Blur Ting said...

Wah, such a great trip. I want to go and eat fat oysters!

Petunia Lee said...

Theanne - Thank you for your well wishes. Fresh oysters cost an arm and a leg in Singapore. We're gonna eat em every day till we go home.

Petunia Lee said...

Ting - I am very sure that Sinfonia would love to have you. You really should come. It has been a lovely holiday so far!!

My Sinfonia said...

Indeed I will be very happy for Ting to come and visit my little corner of the world!

Malar said...

Your holiday sound so lovely!