King Island - Hunter Island - Three Hummock Island

I wrote the post below yesterday but we lost internet access, and I cant be bothered re-editing it! Just imagine I posted it yesterday ;o) Anyway, we are now anchored off Three Hummock Island, where we will probably stay for a day or two.

I'm writing from Shepherds Bay on Hunter Island, after (pretty much) completing our crossing of Bass Strait! We are only half a day from Mainland Tassie, and from here on in it should be a piece of cake - he he ;o)

We have no phone reception here, but have managed to get internet access by hoisting the wireless device to the top of the mast. This has allowed us to spend the afternoon listening to the JJJ Hottest 100 and having our own little Australia Day party!

As Michael said, we left Port Fairy on the evening of 17 January to cross the first half of the notorious Bass Strait. After an uncomfortable but otherwise uneventful 24 hours we anchored in the lee of New Year Island, before heading to Currie Harbour on King Island the following morning. We had so been looking forward to visiting this very remote place, with its promise of the best beef, famous cheeses, seafood and tragic maritime history. We got a rather “cool” welcome from the local fisherman as we made the tricky entrance into the harbour dotted with nasty reefs. Tourism is not the biggest export on King Island, and obviously yet another boatload of outsiders taking up space on their wharf was more of a nuisance than a welcome addition! The fishos directed us to raft up against one of the big steel cray boats, which was fine by us, it just meant clambering over their decks to get up on to the wharf.

We eagerly hiked up the hill to the town of Currie which was a great little town – really friendly and home to a fantastic supermarket, butcher and bakery – home of Michael’s dream $12 crayfish pies.

We decided to cough up the dollars and hire a car for the next two days which was definitely worth it as we were able to explore every corner of the island and get a real sense of the place. We visited “that” cheese factory, explored the Martian remnants of a 7000 year old calcified forest and learnt heaps about the tragic maritime history of the island. Michael went snorkeling in Currie Harbour and caught a beautiful abalone, but unfortunately the conditions were too rough to go diving for crayfish on the outside of the reefs. I had never really tried abalone – only once years ago when we caught one while cray diving. They are one of those seafoods that are so ridiculously expensive that “average” folks like us never really had the opportunity or desire to buy them. When you catch them yourself it’s a bit hard to see what the fuss is all about! They are lovely, but I bet they are even more delicious when you pay $50 per kilo! Tonight I cooked the abalone we caught here at Shepherds Bay with chill, heaps o garlic and olive oil, coriander, spaghetti and some real deal parmagiano-reggiano. Felt pretty proud of the result too!

Its so beautiful here. Its such a relief (particularly for our parents!) to know that we have completed our last offshore passage for a while. Only day-hops from here on in! Well, until we leave Tassie...

We have been invited over the radio to go and visit the caretakers of a homestead on nearby Three Hummock Island, so I think we will do that tomorrow morning if the weather is good. We hope to stay there for at least a few days because we've heard it has a lovely anchorage. From there we will head over to the Tassie mainland - our first port of call will be probably Stanley. Will be in touch soon!

Caitlin and Michael

PS I called it! Gotye won the Hottest 100. I love this song. Kimbra's vocal performance takes it to a whole other level. Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

Wharf at Currie Harbour, King Island

View from our boat across to Currie Lighthouse and "The Boathouse" - a restaurant without food or drinks - all BYO - the laziness of the concept is inspiring!!

Cray fishermen sorting their catch on the wharf

There are pheasants, peacocks and turkeys running wild all over King Island - they were introduced as sport/food and have thrived. Really strange to see.

This is typical of the cattle pastures in the North of the island.

Yes, that is supposed to be "Quarantine Bay". Michael made some rude comment about it being due to the fact that the only high school on King Island only goes up to Year 10. ;o/

We walked along this river down to Yellow Rock Beach on the North Coast to see the wreck of the Paddle Steamer the Shannon. What the hell was a Paddle Steamer doing out in Bass Strait??

Cape Wickham Lighthouse - the tallest lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere.

The road to disappointment....

Penny's Lagoon in Martha Lavinia State Park. Apparently one of only a handful of "suspended" lakes in the world. Can someone tell me what that actually means??? ;o)

Memorial at Grassy Mine, overlooking Grassy Harbour. Grassy was a very strange town. In the 1970's it was booming with thousands of mine workers and families. In 1990 the mine closed, and the population plummeted. Its now dotted with derelict, abandoned houses, and had a very strange vibe. It is the best harbour on King Island but we chose to stay at Currie because it has good facilities and the weather allowed us to safely do so.

We are now in the Roaring Forties...

King Island is the resting place of more shipwrecks than any other area in Australia. This is a memorial to one of the most tragic. The wrecking of the Cataraqui in 1845 remains Australia’s worst civil and maritime disaster: 400 emigrants drowned when the ship struck rocks just a hundred metres offshore on the west coast. Half of the victims were children. It was very emotional visiting this site and imagining the terrifying scenes. The vicious coastline was both dramatically beautiful and terrible.

 

Best name for a town ever!

This was an amazing place on the southern coast of the Island - a 7000 year old calcified forest, perched above the Southern Ocean. The features are actually the calcified root systems, not branches.

Our anchorage at Shepherds Bay, Hunter Island.

Arrived at King Island!

Well we finally got a suitable break in the weather to make our way to King Island. Leaving Tuesday night at about 7pm we arrived at New Year Island at about 3pm on Wednesday. The first part of the voyage was very calm but by 3AM the wind picked up to 20-25 knots and the seas followed. They weren't too big but they were all side on which made for a rolling boat motion - not too comfortable but definitely better with sails up to dampen the effect. We stayed the night at New Year Island which was very protected from the South Westerlies that were blowing all night and early in the morning we motored the three hours to Currie on the West side of the island about half way along. It's the furthest South both Caitlin and I have been. Today I had a Crayfish pie and although it cost $12 it was very nice. More to come soon.

Quick update...

Ive said it before... the best way to make God laugh? Make plans...

After all the fanfare we got up this morning, checked the weather and decided not to leave today! Its not as good out there as we'd hoped and we dont want to take any risks. So frustrating though. Oh well, we're not in a rush, and the weather is just getting better and better over the next few days.


So many false starts on this trip. Bear with us!
:-/

Departing Port Fairy

Just a quick note to let you know that we are planning to leave Port Fairy tomorrow morning as planned (unless the weather changes dramatically!) The trip is 140 nautical miles to destination Grassy on King Island's East coast, so we hope to arrive late on Saturday. In the meantime, here are some final photos from our lovely stay at Port Fairy.
Speak to you from Tasmania!

The other day there was an inter-faith Blessing of the Fleet right near where we are docked. Neither of us usually go in for these sort of things, but given we're about to cross Bass Strait we figured it couldn't hurt to have some of the good vibes rub off on us! The sentiment of the service was really nice, prayers for the safety of seafarers and such things, and plus it was fun to see all the local boys jump in the river after the cross, in the Greek Orthodox tradition.

This is a replica of a Spanish Caravel called Notorious which was handmade from reclaimed timber as a labour of love over 10 years. I have no idea how it would sail! Oh well, the world needs eccentrics! I immediately thought of our friends Kerry and Claudia (www.astrayspray.com) - and you think Astray looks like a pirate ship!!! Ha! ;o)

Port Fairy

Port Fairy is one of the oldest fishing ports in Australia, and still has an active fleet of fisherman that use the town's river-front wharf as their base. It is also one of the prettiest and welcoming little villages Ive ever been to. Seriously, its almost too cute! It reminds me bit of Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula - all coffee shops and designer gift shops/boutiques - except even cuter and more family-oriented with colourful riverside holiday homes and kids running around everywhere taking surfing lessons and riding their bikes.

Port Fairy Wharf

We secured our lines to the wharf on January 2nd, and would you believe it, stumbled right into the town's annual Moyneyana festival! 6 weeks of community based events all over town. This has meant a plethora of free and cheap activities, live music, a nightly carnival, fairs and markets... the list goes on. We even took ukulele lessons!

We've really loved our stay here, and as far as facilities for sailors go, it really cant be beaten except that it costs to moor at the wharf - there are no free anchorages. For your $26 per night you get a prime position in easy walk from the centre of town and free electricity, water, a fully equipped (free!) laundry, shower and kitchen facilities. Certainly a small price to pay if you're just passing by for a night or two. Its getting a bit pricey now that we've been here over a week, but there is not much choice given the weather out in Bass Strait right now. And we're forgiving the expense by making the most of the free facilities and activities around town including the unbelievably evil Scottish Malt Bread from the local bakery (so full of golden syrup that they cant use the bakery bread slicer to cut it for you!) We also took a day trip by bus into Warrnambool, which didn't have the same appeal but did give us the opportunity to buy a few things we'd been looking out for - good quality headphones so we can listen to music on night-watch without waking the other person etc...

Bass Voyager dock-side, surrounded by fishing and charter boats

Beautiful Moyne River at sunset

Markets in the park adjacent the wharf

Being right in the centre of town definitely has its advantages, but it does mean very little privacy - we are constantly on display to the hundreds of tourists that walk past each day.  Kitty has become the star attraction - particularly for little kids... "Daddy! Look - there's a cat on that boat!!"
The other morning Michael and I could hardly contain our giggles as we awoke to a lady squealing "ooooh! look at the pretty little kitty!!!!" People don't seem to make the connection that if there is a cat on the boat, there are quite possibly people on it too!

Kitty in her regular spot

Its been fun meeting people and the location is great, but we're definitely in need of a more secluded anchorage. Its time to leave. We would have left this past weekend, except that there are some ferocious winds and swell and waves in the Strait at the moment - up to 14 metres at the extreme! I can't even imagine that... we had 30+ kt winds this morning and it's impact on the seas in the bay was dramatic.

South Beach Port Fairy

 

Thankfully the winds have already dropped, and the swell will follow of over the next few days which will give us the perfect opportunity for an overnight sail across to King Island, and then Tassie. This wasn't our original plan, but it was hard to resist when we realised that it was less than half the distance that we've already travelled, and the winds will be easier to sail (touch wood!) Less traffic and oil rigs down this end of the Strait too.

So today and tomorrow we are preparing the boat, consoling Kitty (who was convinced we had finally decided to stay somewhere forever!) and checking the charts in readiness for an AM Friday departure. I'll keep you posted!

KI to Port Fairy, Victoria

Hi everyone
Happy 2012!
Sorry it's taken so long to post our progress - so much has happened in the last 10 days that every time I think "I should update our blog" I think "ah, its too hard - there is just so much to say!" Yes, I am very lazy...
Hopefully no one thought we were lost at sea, given our last post was at Christmas Cove on Kangaroo Island! I'll do my best to catch you up now, and hopefully you'll forgive the very long posting!

So where were we... ah yes...

At dawn on New Years Eve we motored out of Christmas Cove in Penneshaw. As expected it was glassy-calm, no wind, warm and gorgeous. The nervous excitement was enormous as we headed into our first offshore passage.

On a clear, calm day at sea level the horizon is only 7 or 8 nautical miles away, which is about 13 kilometres.  By late morning we were completely out of sight of land. We had resigned ourselves to motor-sailing if necessary, and unsurprisingly the winds were dead South-East and on the nose. Not to worry, the winds were light and the swell was long and very comfortable. We had many visits from dolphins along the whole route, but none so wonderful as on that first morning when we were joined by at least 20 (that I counted) as we were motoring along. We could hear them chattering and squeaking to each other, calling their mates over to hitch a ride along with this crazy little boat out in the middle of nowhere. Here is some video...

Around midday the wind picked up, still on the nose, and unfortunately in the opposite direction to the swell which made for more uncomfortable conditions that stayed that way for most of the rest of the trip.

Around 6pm I made the mistake of going below to cook dinner, which I didn't end up eating because I got really seasick! After the perfect conditions earlier in the day I had made the mistake of of not taking additional seasickness tablets. Big mistake! Michael tells me dinner was delicious though. Good boy ;o)

We settled into our 4-hours-on/4-hours-off watch routine which worked really well for us. It was enough time to get a decent amount of sleep, but not too long that the person on watch gets too tired or bored. Despite feeling ill, I did manage to snap a photo of the beautiful final sunset of 2011. I swear the conditions were rougher than the photo makes out! ;o) 

Sunset on 2011, about 25 nautical miles offshore of SA

I was asleep at midnight so there wasn't much of a NYE celebration, but Michael woke me for my second watch at 2am and we marvelled at the dramatic amounts of phosphorescent algae igniting in the boat's wake and washing down the decks as each wave crashed over the bow. Our own private fireworks display. We saw phosphorescence the second night too, but not nearly as bright or in such large amounts! If I hadn't been feeling so seasick I would have taken photos - next time I promise.

Michael went off to bed and I took up my graveyard shift. Stupidly I didn't take seasickness tablets again, and was sick on and off for the whole night. The hilarious thing was at one point I was leaning over the side of the boat being - a-hem - sick, while at the same moment admiring the glowing algae as it swept by in a luminescent streams along the deck in front of me. It was like: "blech! ooohh pretty! blech!" 

I think this is becoming quite a good analogy for our new life - 9 parts beauty and relaxation, 1 part extreme discomfort and terror!

hehehe... a good trade??

A few ships appeared on our AIS (Automatic Identification System), but none even came within radar range. Michael was particularly impressed when our AIS picked up a container ship 125 nautical miles away! We had chosen to go well offshore, and this certainly made things a lot less nerveracking at night when its harder to see and judge distances, particulalry of lights. In fact whenever I felt a bit nervous I just coached myself by saying "its OK, you are in the safest place you could be - there are no reefs, land or ships anywhere near you. The boat is strong, the equipment is showing exactly where you are, and the weather is only going to improve."

So we survived our first night at sea, and I learned my lesson and took a sea sickness tablet at the beginning of each watch from then on. Day two we continued our four hour watch pattern. The seas had not let up, but it was stubbornly consistent, so we were able to settle into the pattern and get comfortable. Kitty was definitely not enjoying the rougher conditions - we had waves of up to 3 metres because the wind was coming from the opposite direction to the swell -  but she was actually really good, just wanting the occasional cuddle and even eating a few mouthfuls of cat food. We made sure she had plenty of water (it was really hot out there!) by tipping a few drops on her paws so she would be forced to lap it up.

It was a good day. At one point we even had dolphins jumping alongside the boat under rainbows formed as waves crashed over the bow ... aaaawwwww!

When Michael woke me for my watch on the second night he said "you have to stick your head outside!" It was so balmy, the stars were so clear and bright, and there was phosphorescence sparkling in our wake. It made for a lovely night-shift and I didn't feel sick at all so I could read and even go online (amazing that we had phone and internet coverage for such a lot of the trip!)

When Michael woke me at around 10am the seas had dropped to a gentle swell and we were only a few hours from our destination at Port Fairy. As we rounded into the bay I snapped the photo below. Its not a great one (I was pretty tired!) but it is worthy of inclusion as a record of our first landfall outside SA. We motored into the pretty Moyne River, pulled up at the wharf in the middle of town, and stepped off the boat into the 42 degree Port Fairy day.

I'll post again shortly with some photos and experiences from our 10 days in Port Fairy!

Port Fairy approach, 2 January 2012