Thirsty Thursdays: My Lonely Beer at Australia’s Southernmost Pub

I spent a lot of 2010 travelling alone. I was working hard, saving, backpacking and still did a load of sightseeing on my days off. I had my own car. Life took me to a tiny island on the south east of Australia, off the coast of Tasmania. I got a boat from Kettering in Tasmania over to Bruny Island and loved it. I spent about six months working in Tasmania mostly on remote farms. This is a lonely post tonight…

Once on Bruny Island, I stayed the night there, sleeping in my car down by Cook’s Creek near a beach. It was bliss. I had one tin of beer with me but I wanted to go to a pub and have one and chat to a few locals. I was lonely so I drove down the west side of the island and found the “capital” of Bruny Island, called Alonna. Little more than a remote village, but still the biggest settlement around.

There was a hotel there with a bar and a pub, but sadly I was there off season and it was completely SHUT. So I couldn’t enjoy a beer and meet the locals at Australia’s southernmost pub. There was absolutely nobody about except for some sheep and a few dogs.

I got my photo taken by the sign that read “Bruny Island Hotel – Australia’s Southernmost Hotel”. Don’t forget that the word hotel in Australia is synonymous with the words bar and pub.

I could have a look through a window and see inside the pub which was shut, but it was just so empty. I even wondered when it had been opened last. I left Bruny Island the next day and have no idea on the answer.

I was quite lonely at the time and had no phone or internet (but had my laptop for updating my blog offline) , so it was a case of park by the beach, crack open a beer and eat the food that I had in my car. After typing up my travel blog post and waving goodnight to the local sheep, I slept like a log – alone in complete wilderness.

This was one of the loneliest nights from my entire travels and I’d say I went 15 hours without seeing another person.

But still I enjoyed it. I’ve been to Australia’s southernmost pub. But I haven’t had a beer there. It wasn’t open.

A video I took outsie Australia’s Southernmost Pub (there are a few mistakes in the things I say in this video by the way!):

The world’s smallest and loneliest petrol station on Bruny Island:

Thirsty Thursdays is an ongoing regular feature on Don’t Stop Living – a lifestyle of travel. If you have a bar, pub, drink, restaurant, brand or idea that you would like featured on Thirsty Thursdays, please get in touch via my contacts page or my advertising page. I’d love to hear from you, and I’d also love a free tea or a beer! Cheers! Send it on…