Progress report

It was a bit optimistic to rely on the weather forecast and anticipate a 6 knot average crossing! We have 54 miles to go and it is 8.30am Thur. The first night out had the worst night since Jamaica; huge confused seas and 35 gusting 40 with current against. The Bass Strait is renowned as a nasty bit of sea and it lived up to it. Both local radio forecasts and our downloaded computer-generated ones were way out. On Tues we were listening to a local forecast saying that we had SW winds, and we had N. Anyway boat and us are fine and we are chugging along with (forecast)northerly but light winds at the moment.

Position 37 56.303 and 148 51.671

hello from wineglass bay

We are anchored off one of the most photographed spots in Tasmania, Wineglass Bay. Came in after dark last night; thank goodness for radar as well as GPS, and were surprised to find 5 other boats in the anchorage. They must be waiting to get across the Bass Strait as we are I should imagine, as there is a French boat and an American cat as well as a boat from Sydney. Hope to talk to them later as we were planning to leave for Eden tomorrow, but were told this morning that any west in the wind causes very bad seas in the Strait. As we don't often get a few days in succession without any northerly in the winds we thought we were on to a good thing.

Anyway, even though it is raining at the moment this is a beautiful spot, and I'm sure if you Google in the name you will get a picture of it. It is in the Freycinet National Park, so no roads or buildings.around. It's on one of the long distance trails and this morning, in the rain, we have seen groups of laden and well covered walkers trudging along the beach from the 'wilderness' camp site nearbye. We are hoping the sky will clear later so that we can climb to a look-out which is supposed to have wonderful views. (The anchorage is at 42 10.389 and 148 18.458).

the convict trail

We have said our farewells to Hobart and are making our slow way back up the coast. Actually at the moment we are still south of Hobart as we have to get right round the Tasman Peninsula first. There is a canal through the neck at the north end of the peninsular, but it is very shallow and has shifting sand bars and several people have advised us not to attempt it even though in theory it could be done at high tide.

Had a very pleasant evening at a fish restaurant in the old dock area with B & B before leaving, and took a very excited dog for a walk around - so many seagulls and good food smells.

Got as far as Port Arthur last night (43 09.060 and 147 51.269). It is one of the best known places in Tasmania as it is the site of the Van Diemen's Land penitentiary where thousands of Brits (25% Irish) spent years doing hard labour. Convict labour built beautiful solid stone buildings, all the stone being hand hewn locally. Bush fires have destroyed all the floors and roofs, but the walls remain and the setting is superb. A grassy hillside looking over the bay.

The weather was perfect this morning, sunny and still; and by the time it clouded over and a breeze came up we had seen enough, so set sail to go about 20 miles further round the coast. It is very impressive bit of coast line, huge towering cliffs and pinnacles of vertical strata. Lots of albatrosses gliding on the thermals - not good for sailing of course as we just get downdraughts which can be extremely gusty or the wind is completely cut off.

Tonight we are in a sheltered little bay in the Tasman National Park, so hope to walk part of the coastal trail tomorrow. Position 43 07.617 and 147 59.290.

more tales of tasmania

We are in Dover (43 19.169 and 147 01.337) which doesn't have white cliffs but is a sleepy attractive little town (called Dozy Dover) on the sheltered Port Esperance. If you look up our position you will see that we are tied to the end of the fishing jetty, rafted up to a lobster fishing boat. (We were a little concerned to see a small tail disappearing under some rope on our boat, pretty sure it was a lizard but......) Another boat has been unloading a huge catch of abalone this morning, 2 days work involving diving to 100 ft. They mostly get exported to Japan and Asia, quite a valuable haul. Gale force winds are forecast for today so it is unlikely any fishing boats will be leaving and hopefully we can stay put. (A gust of 42 knots as I write)

We sailed here on Friday, and Bdrove down and joined us on Sat. morning. B couldn't come as he had been offered the stone from a couple of chimneys of a cottage that had burned down; but it had to be moved this weekend before the bulldozers moved in. The three of us sailed south to Recherche Bay, at the edge of the huge Southwest National Park. Cockle Creek where we anchored (43 34.775 and 146 53.774) is the end of the South Coast walking track. A tough a 6 - 7 day hike carrying all your own gear up steep slopes and through deep mud and water. There is a bus from Hobart to Cockle Creek, and a small plane takes you back to Hobart from the other end.

Luckily the first part of the trail is a pleasant 2 hour walk to a spectacular beach facing the southern ocean. The big long waves roll in straight from Antarctica. We were lucky to have a sunny day with clear blue skies and it all looked magnificent. The water is pretty cool even at the end of the summer, so a paddle was enough for us, though B felt she had to make the most of the sunny day and dipped in. Another 2 hrs back to the boat, and we were ready to sit on board and admire the view with a G and T.

Fishing was interesting if not very productive for eating though we did catch three large squid on the way back yesterday. Tried one cut into rings and fried and it was pretty good. Barbara took the other two back so that she could look up some recipes and instructions on the internet. We have never caught squid while trawling before.

From here we will make our wind-dependent way back to Hobart, and probably next week will begin to head north again.