The Neck, Bruny Island

The Neck is the narrow sandy isthmus that joins North and South Bruny, and the view along it from Truganini Lookout, up a long timber staircase from the car park, takes in both halves of the island at once. Most day tours from Hobart stop; the one built around walking is Tours Tasmania’s Hobart: Bruny Island Adventure: Hike, Highlights & Tastes, from US$119 a person (checked November 2026), after a walk to the Bruny Arch.

The calendar above is Tours Tasmania’s hiking day from Hobart, with 80 reviews (checked November 2026).

The short answer

Go up the steps for the view: the isthmus curving away south between two bays, with North Bruny behind you and South Bruny ahead. The penguins are a different visit: they come ashore at dusk, in the season, after the day tours have caught the ferry back to Hobart, so seeing them means a night on the island or timing dusk against the last ferry.

The Neck on the map

The Neck is a narrow band of sand dunes that carries the main road from North Bruny to South Bruny, with Isthmus Bay on its western side and Adventure Bay on its eastern; Discover Tasmania calls Bruny effectively two islands bound together by it. It is 24 km by road south of the ferry at Roberts Point. The land around the lookout is the Bruny Island Neck Game Reserve, and its campground, about 3 km past the lookout, lies outside the national park (Parks and Wildlife Service).

Truganini Lookout

Truganini Lookout is at the top of a long timber staircase from the car park on the isthmus. Discover Tasmania counts its view, along the length of The Neck and into Adventure Bay, among the island’s best. The managing bodies publish no step count and the operators’ figures differ, but it is a real climb: Bruny Island Safaris’ days offer three choices at The Neck, the full climb, a mid-level lookout, or a flat boardwalk to the beach. The Parks and Wildlife Service closed the lookout, its car park, toilets and boardwalk for maintenance from 11 June 2026; its alerts listed no closure there on 3 November 2026, so check them on the day.

The penguins and shearwaters

Little penguins, also called fairy penguins, and short-tailed shearwaters nest in burrows in the dunes at The Neck and come ashore at dusk, watched from a boardwalk and viewing platform; Discover Tasmania, the Tasmanian Government’s tourism site, puts the best viewing in the warmer months of September to February. Its rules for the viewing area: wear dark clothing, stay at least 3 m from the burrows, avoid loud sounds and quick movements, and use only a dim red-light torch; no dogs and no flash cameras, and it is illegal to catch or harass the penguins. Bird flu (H5) has been found in Tasmania’s wild birds since August 2026, when the first case was confirmed near Rocky Cape in the north-west, and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania asks people not to touch sick or dead birds or animals, and to report them on 1800 675 888.

No day tour from Hobart stays for dusk. On the summer timetable the last weekday ferry leaves Roberts Point at 7:15 pm, and at weekends at 7:00 pm, so check the time of dusk on your date against it, or spend the night on the island.

The tours that stop at The Neck

Every day tour from Hobart crosses The Neck, and each stops at it in its own way. Tours Tasmania’s day climbs the steps to Truganini Lookout for the view over North and South Bruny. Bruny Island Safaris’ days end there, with three choices: the full climb to the lookout, a mid-level lookout, or a flat boardwalk to the beach. Pennicott’s gourmet day stops for the view from the Truganini Steps, and Tassie Tours Tasmania’s walking day uses the viewing platform at The Neck. None of them stays for the penguins.

Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (GetYourGuide checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.

Truganini

Truganini was a Nuenonne woman, born to the wife of Mangana, chief of the Bruny Island people, and she died in 1876 (Parks and Wildlife Service). The Nuenonne called the island Lunnawannalonna, a name kept in the South Bruny settlements of Alonnah and Lunawanna. The memorial at The Neck remembers her, and the lookout above it carries her name.