Hello from Triabunna

Tasmania is even chillier than Nova Scotia, though the water is warmer. It is mainly the wind as in a sheltered spot when the sun comes out it is nice and warm. But we have certainly had plenty of wind recently. 35 gusting nearly 50 the other day and we seem to have had quite a few days when we didn't feel happy leaving the boat because of the strong winds. The scenery too is very reminiscent of Canada.

Stayed in Lady Baron until last Wed, mostly on board as the holding wasn't very good and we dragged twice in high winds. Then had a very slow trip to Tasmania proper. Little wind, wrong direction, a fair bit of tacking and motoring until finally the wind shifted round behind, came up to 25 knots, and we had to reef, surfing down the waves at 11 knots at times. Found a good little anchorage on the Freycinet Penninsular (42 15.444 S and 148 16.705 E) which is all national park, and actually managed to have a good walk along a deserted beach.

On Saturday morning we did the fairly short trip to Triabunna (42 31 286 snf 147 55 040) where we picked up B and B. Lots of dolphins playing around the boat, and dozens of very large brown and white jellyfish which were not so nice to look at. On Sunday sailed out to Maria Island, what should have been a 2 hr trip. Again strong winds, mostly head winds, so it was lunch time by the time we got there. Still they enjoyed the novelty of the sail so we weren't in a hurry. A lovely long beach walk in the afternoon, a much needed bit of exercise as we seem to have spent a lot of time on board recently. Great fun was had by all and sundry in the late afternoon as a fishing line dropped overboard produced a fish in no time (in fact they were multi-hooked lines, so caught a couple at once sometimes) including several very ugly looking gurnard which fanned out large spiky fins and had huge mouths in large heads. B phoned a friend to find out about edibility and they evidently are, but we didn't fancy them! Plenty of fish for dinner anyway.

In fact we ate very well because B has just bought a pressure cooker and had been experimenting with various casseroles which she brought along. Also lots of fruit and veg from her allotment and Bob's sister's garden. Delicious greengages which are evidently dropping off the trees so we hope to do some jam making when we finally arrive in Hobart. At new year they left us a large bag of macadamia nuts off their tree. They have extremely hard shells, so we had to go to a rocky beach armed with hammers to crack them. The trick is to wedge them in a rock because the shell is as spherical as a large marble and just shoots all over the place, the hammer then hitting fingers instead.

Are quite looking forward to Hobart and a safe harbour and a bit of time in one place where we don't have to worry about the anchor all the time. However for the next 4 days there are storm warnings and southerly winds, so we have to be patient. We were up and off at 5am this morning back to Triabunna to drop B and B off as B had to get back to work, but they are planning to come up again by bus to sail the last bit to Hobart with us.