Is Bruny Island Dog Friendly?

Bruny Island is a VERY Dog Friendly Place

On a regular basis in the Facebook group the question about whether it is worth taking a dog to Bruny Island crops up…all the time!

Visitors think because there is a high percentage of National Parks and Reserves on Bruny Island that there is no point in taking a dog to visit.

But wait…

Bruny Island IS a very dog friendly place to visit with your dog. So much so, that we went back a second time for another week’s stay to check out the areas we never got to visit the first time round, and we’d go back again we enjoyed it that much with the furry gang.

This opinion comes with a caveat though, if you are camping on Bruny Island with your dog, it is much harder to find places to stay. There are only two places that I know of, and both are located on South Bruny Island (see further down this post) with neither offering a daycare option, nor are you allowed to leave your dog unattended at either camp. Research shows that there are places on Hipcamp that you can camp at, but you will need to search Hipcamp online and narrow your search to Bruny Island and pet friendly to see what is available and what they offer regarding dog sitting. All dog friendly camping sites are fee paying sites, no free camps with a dog unfortunately.

To get Bruny head down the Channel Highway to Kettering and catch the Sealink Bruny Island Ferry. Our stay on Bruny Island was at AirBnB’s both times and like the two dog friendly camping sites, we couldn’t leave our dogs unattended at either property. Which was fine by us as we weren’t there to leave the dogs behind as we explored. We did find it much simpler exploring from the AirBnB’s, and the dogs had access to enclosed yards both trips when we returned to the AirBnB at the end of a long day.

OUR 2 TOP TIPS FOR BRUNY ISLAND.

TIP 1:

Get off the main drag that goes from the top of North Bruny when disembarking the ferry to the South Island. Explore those little side dirt roads. All the ones we went down were suitable for 2WD vehicles. These roads opened a whole new world of dog friendly places to explore. With some real gems were found.

TIP 2:

Don’t dismiss all those boat ramps, they take you to interesting dog friendly places that offer great exploring and swimming.

Read on if you are contemplating a trip to Bruny Island with your dog. I will do a more in-depth blog post on both North & South Bruny Island later, but for now, a taster of our top dog friendly places on Bruny Island.

DOG FRIENDLY PLACES ON NORTH BRUNY ISLAND

Dennes Point and Jetty Beach

The first stop is at Dennes Point at the very top of North Bruny Island.

A leisurely walk around Dennes Point with the tourist information of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Hearth Group, the Nuenonne people, the history of James Kelly and the Dennes farming family make for interesting reading.

The walk through the little conservation area is on lead and won’t take long. Then it’s down onto the sheltered jetty Beach where the first ferry point was established by the Government, who ignored the local fishermen’s advice of not to build there. The jetty was subsequently washed away with harsh weather and later moved to its current position at Roberts Point. Look for the Jetty ruins. Dogs can enjoy a little off lead run and swim here after being so good on lead on the walk through the conservation area.

Nebraska Beach

From Jetty Beach you can walk along the shoreline to the dog friendly Nebraska Beach, it’s a dogs off lead and under effective control beach, again swimming in the bay for dogs. Stroll along the shore stopping before reaching Bligh Point, a conservation area that is not dog friendly. You will have some splendid views looking across to North West Bay and Tinderbox on the Big Island, which seems so close you could touch it.

Dog Friendly Places on South Bruny Island

Cemetery Beach

This little gem was right on the doorstep of our AirBnB accommodation place at Lunawanna. It was a quiet walk along the dirt road down to Point Winifred or towards the cemetery itself. There is a little walk along the front of the cemetery that also leads down to the beach at the end. The beach has views out across the D ‘Entrecasteaux Channel. Dogs permitted off lead but must be under effective control.

Coal Point

This was one of those unexpected finds. There’s a pull off area on the left-hand side of the road at the look-out with magnificent views out over Coal Point. However, if facing the sea, turn left and walk along the road a little until find a hidden track that takes you down to the bottom of Coal Point. This is best when the tide is out so you can walk along the rocky shoreline and take a closer look at the seams of coal in the cliffside above you. On good windy days take a moment to watch the surfers out on the point break too.

Dog Friendly Accommodation

Alonnah & Lunawanna AirBnB’s

For each of our stays on Bruny Island we used AirBnB’s. It was much easier to do this with five hairy medium sized dogs than to attempt camping with them.

Both stays were on the South Island. The first was at Alonnah. This had fabulous views out across Sunset Bay to Satellite Island, Arches Rock, and Huon Island, not to mention within walking distance to the wonderful Alonnah Beach, off lead and under effective control. We stayed at Discover Bruny Island Accommodation If we wanted a dinner or lunch out, it was just a short leisurely walk along the beach to Hotel Bruny, a dog friendly place out on the deck.

Our second stay was at, Lunawanna opposite Cemetery Beach. Another fabulous place with a nice wraparound deck and large fenced yard which meant the dogs could have a wander in the yard while we sipped our wines from Bruny Island Wine Co, sadly not dog friendly.

Camping

There’re only two places to camp on Bruny Island with dogs. The first is at Adventure Bay, Captain Cook Holiday Park with a great dog beach opposite and the second is Camping at Bruny located down around Cloudy Bay Lagoon. This is a privately owned camp ground. As I haven’t been to either I cannot say what they are like but comments from the Facebook group seem to point to the cloudy Bay Lagoon campsite as being the better of the two, although more expensive.