The Tree House

Contact Us 0405 192892

 Bruny Island  Tasmania  AAAT rated ****

  Lonely Planet Review

The Tree House (0405 192892) Alonnah: doubles $150.00, is lofty attractively designed timber place overlooking the unattractively named Sheep Wash Bay. It has all the mod cons and superb views, The price drops to $130.00 per double for stays over  2 nights or more.

Lonely Planet Tasmania 3rd edition 2002, Lonely Planet Publications, Footscray, Victoria.

The Australian Newspaper -Weekend Australian Travel, April 16-17 2005

How about branching out to tree-house accommodation? Its cosy and fun, with no parents to call you in for tea. Alexandra James, Lee Atkinson and Jeffery James report 

The Tree House -Bruny Island, Tasmania

WITH Poles below and high ceilings above, Bruny Island's modern loft style Tree House peers across the splendidly named Sheep Wash Bay and D'Entrecasteaux Channel towards the often snow capped Hartz range on the Tasmanian mainland. Guests who can extricate themselves from the bright, elegant yet homely interior find themselves within easy reach of sheltered bays, ravaged coastlines, penguin colonies, temperate rainforests and, importantly handmade fudge. Although recommended for couples, the Tree House can comfortably accommodate four adults. It also features a full kitchen with oven, bread maker and wood burning heater-just perfect for the depths of the Tasmanian winter -and la barbecue on the deck.

More: (03)5255 5147; www.thetreehouse.com.au

ISLAND HOPPING: a Bruny Experience from The Tree House.

There is something more eventful when leaving a mainland for an island. It is the sense of anticipation of days of relative isolation and an achievement, even within a short journey, of a greater disconnectedness from all that burdens one’s life. That is the feeling we had when driving aboard  the ferry ‘Mirambeena’ at Kettering, Tasmania to leave for Bruny Island.

We had left the big island of Australia for the smaller island State of Tasmania and then left it’s shores for the littlest island of Bruny. Hardly little though, for Bruny is made up of two islands stretching over 100 kilometres north to south and joined by a narrow ‘neck’ of land no more than 100 meters wide. 

Once we disembarked, it was a winding 30-kilometer drive to our temporary and very habitable abode- The Tree House- at Alonnah on the NW side of South Bruny Island.  The Tree House is a pole house that sits under the brow of a hill surrounded by ragged, twisted eucalypts and the house commands a view to the South West straight across the historic D’ Entrecasteaux Channel that separates Bruny from mainland Tasmania. In the distance across the channel stands the impressive 1200-meter jagged spine of the Hartz Range on the mainland resplendent in late September snow.  

During our stay, from the front balcony of the Tree House, we never tired of the sight of the ever-changing moody waterway in front of us, and the clouds moving along the channel. These ‘Cloud Galleons’ on high evoked memories of the heroic seafarers from past centuries who visited these shores in flimsy craft with billowing, high, white sails. Men such as Capt. William Bligh and  Capt. James Cook, and the French Admiral Bruni D’Entrecasteaux, whose visit in 1792-3 gave his name to the Island and the channel.

From the Tree house we set out each day on sorties into the various realms of Bruny.  Our first sortie was to Adventure bay, on the NE leeward side of the South island,  a  perfect  ear-shaped, wide bay  with an inner sheltered cove. It gave refuge to many seafarers in the past and still does today. Capt Cook,  two centuries ago, weighed anchor here before setting off on his fateful journey to Hawaii where he was bludgeoned to death, while Bligh rested here on the Bounty building up water supplies before heading to Tahiti to be stripped of his ship in  that now famous  mutiny.  

There are silent monuments  to past deeds at Adventure Bay, including  the ruins of a whaling station at Grass Point near Penguin Island. In the Caravan Park on the point, huge vertebrae and bleached bones of whales pinned to walls are testaments to the extensive whaling operations of the past. 

The Tree House has a generosity of spirit about it. The owners Rob and Jolanda give you a free run of the condiments and every known utensil is at hand. There is a modern kitchen, cozy lounge with sound system and TV with great reception and two double beds- with one upstairs via the unique internal wooden ' poopdeck' ladder. The ‘Coonarra’ wood stove gives steady warmth on brisk evenings and is well supported by ample provisions of cut wood close to hand. Another standout feature of the house is the electric BBQ kettle on the verandah, which we used to cook a corner topside roast with potatoes, tomatoes and beans. The Tree House has an open plan interior and three external verandahs that allow the inhabitants to either face into, or remain snug from, any prevailing westerly winds.  

 Chris, the owner at the Alonnah General Store, warned us of  the strong winds that can whip up around the Cape Bruny Lighthouse, but he should not have feared , we were blessed with a perfect sunny and calm day at this outpost of humanity on the island, built in 1836 by convict labour. We met an echidna on the ledge, snuffling in the grass, its spikes echoing the ragged spiky basalt stacks of the precipitous point. All was still this day, but nature can be cruel and unpredictable here, for on  a calm day in April 2003 on Pedara  Branca Rock, 22 miles south to sea,  a young zoologist, only 27 years of age, was washed off by a freak wave while researching a species of rare lizard that inhabits the rock. We sat contemplatively on his memorial seat. 

Taking advantage of the calm weather we trekked the short circuit ( 2 to 3 hours) of the nearby Labillardiere Peninsula, named by D’Entrecasteaux in honour of the great French traveller-naturalist on board his ship during his voyage to Tasmania in search of the lost expedition of La Perouse. The peninsula offers sweeping vistas of the D’E Channel across the tops of casuarinas trees, the male trees at the time in full flourish of their long rusty- flowers. The forest of gums and casuarinas gives way to a central plateau covered in an abundance of wildflowers, especially heaths and a few scattered wax lip orchids. We then descended  through thick eucalyptus forest onto the white sands of the inner beaches, ever the domain of black oystercatchers with bright red beaks and feet. We heard white sea eagles overhead but never caught their flight.  

A drive to Cloudy bay was a dramatic contrast, for here on this semi-circular bay, some kilometres wide, the sea pounds in uninhibited from Antarctica, and the forest of Giant kelp that lies off-shore is stripped from its deep anchorages and churned by the relentless surf, so that the water of the bay is stained a deep wine -red color. 

It was Grand Final day and as battered Collingwood supporters we were determined to salve our hearts with total isolation on Bruny Island and have nothing of football, though on return to the Tree House we were greeted with news of Brisbane’s demise, no four premierships in a row to equal our team of black and white. The red wine flowed and the possums danced on the balcony with us to the smell of gourmet sausages, onions and scalloped potatoes. Sorry Fitzroy- Brisbane supporters- but three premierships is enough! 

As if punished for bad thoughts and deeds the night before, the next morning was cloudy with constant drizzle. We dined on porridge and we baked fresh bread and curled up and read our books and twiddled pens. After a late lunch we headed out into the mist by car to Mount Mangana, named for the last full chief of the local aboriginal tribe. Like a series of scenes from the ‘Lord of the Rings’ we battled onwards and upwards through mist ,on a rocky track to the summit, through lichen forests, giant heath, vines and shiny laurels. The plateau at the top was eerie and the trees were bonsai forms of taller specimens.. We recommend if Mt Mangana is misty, go to the lookout further down Coolangatta Road, for from here the panorama of the lighthouse, the Labillardiere Peninsula and Cloudy Bay to the South can be viewed. 

Like coming and going is as much fun as arriving, Bruny Island is as much about wending one’s way through the landscape as actually arriving at a specific place. On a visit to the North island  we crossed the Neck and collected two-dozen fresh oysters from 'Get Shucked' at Great Bay. We got a flat tyre on the road to Bull Bay . No problem- we discover the tyre lever has other functions and used it at Barnes Bay to bash off the fringes of the oyster shells so a trusty blade could open them up to reveal their plump bodies for adding to lemon juice shooters.  

At Bull bay we get the best view across to the South Arm of the Derwent and the Tasman Peninsula further east. This is the stunning view that observers of the Sydney – Hobart yacht race’s final stages get from Bruny. On late afternoon after cruising through the little coves and towns of North Bruny  we return across the Neck in hope of sightings the penguins, but we are too early- for we see none of the little tuxedo- dressed birds.

We climb what seemed like several hundred steps and look across both sides of the narrow strip of land, the inner calm waters of Isthmus bay in dramatic contrast with the pounding surf of Adventure Bay. It is more about the unexpected in travel that lures one on- no penguins were seen ,but rather we get a sunset to rival any other as the sun appeared to struggle to get down through heavy cloud to the West. The light across the neck was that deep amber-yellow light of Spring, where greens and reds glow intensely and the whole of Bruny to the south were bathed in an almost Dali-like surrealistic light. It was a symbolic moment, for our time on Bruny  had almost come to an end and it turned on a farewell of magic proportions .

 We  retreated each evening to the easy comfort of the Tree House after we had seen a lot of what Bruny had to offer. We are content that we had absorbed some of the soul of Bruny, but we are determined next time in a summer season to take the new eco-boat trip( starts late October ) from Adventure bay, around Fluted Cape to the giant kelp forests off  Mangana Bluff, and go as far south along the east coast to the Friars to view the seal colonies.   

Bruny has more for us to discover. We look forward to returning to the big island on which we live, enlivened with memories of a littler island called Bruny -keen to visit its shores again in anticipation of a mixture of both solitude and stimulation.

 Neville Millen

Bootsnall Travel Journalist

Sept  23-27 2004