And, at this point, I guess, we should turn our attention, briefly, to the logistical issues associated with Bruny Island in general and the Eco Cruise in particular.
Unless you've got access to a boat or helicopter, the vehicular ferry is the standard option when it comes to crossing the Channel and landing on Bruny. It's a vehicular ferry, though I understand you can walk on and off for free. That, presumably, is a sop to Island residents who don't want to pay to ship the car back and forth, so one could commute to the mainland for work or shopping if you maintained a separate vehicle over there. There might also be public transport options, but the most likely scenario would be one vehicle on the island, another for mainland activities.
You'd need the island vehicle because the ferry terminal on that side is a fair way from the various settlements scattered across North and South Bruny. With around thirty kilometres between the ferry terminal and the Eco Cruise base in Adventure Bay, The Astute Reader will undoubtedly see where I'm coming from.
Predictably, there are a number of cars queued at the terminal on both sides of the Channel, and once Ido had shrugged the shoulders and put the bus into gear, there was every possibility the missing travellers were somewhere over there.
So it was a case of down the road, into the minibus queue and wait. Passengers were advised to disembark, and Ido set off to see how many of the missing travellers he could find. He bobbed back into view with the news that he'd found three, which didn't quite add up, but there you go.
Come boarding time, as an individual with an apparent reputation for terseness and temperament directed proceedings, we found that one of the Located Three was a French national with limited English, and the other two were a Chinese couple from Hong Kong. While the process of boarding was completed (predictably, fitting the maximum number of variously sized vehicles into a defined space is an exact art) there was considerable amusement at the banter between a Frenchman and a bus driver who'd studied German at High School as the various French-derived place names in the vicinity were discussed and pronunciations attempted and corrected.
Once the ferry was loaded we were encouraged to leave the bus and take in the view as the fifteen minute crossing was made, returning just before the vessel docked on the other side. The ferry makes the crossing ten times a day for most of the week, with eleven services on Friday and eight on Sundays.
A Bruny Island Background: The Nuenonne, Tasman and Furneaux