Tuesday 1^st May

I am aware that since I have been back I have been excessively fulsome in my praise of Tasmania.  It is all so beautiful!  Hobart is so clean, sparkly, glorious!  The air twinkles with beauty!

So now I am going to complain, quite bitterly.

About shops.  I love shops.  No I’m not a shop-till-you-drop type, but I do love looking in shops.  Book shops and pharmacies in particular.  Bookshops for obvious reasons – they are full of books and all of the associated pleasures!  And pharmacies because they are so neat, clean, orderly, and full of thrilling options – so much shampooo!  Moisturiser!  Different nail care products!  Not to mention cough syrup, pain killers, fizzy stuff to drink when you are (ahem) indisposed…Everything neatly and prettily arranged in a sane and logical manner.

So imagine my distress when I wandered into a new pharmacy near the Lindisfarne bus stop on Friday night.  I was after some very exciting additions to Pete’s birthday present (tobacco coloured ugg boots…)  I planned to put little treats in each boot – a new toothbrush, shaving cream, maybe even a celebratory packet of quickeze – I know how to be extremely thoughtful and generous!!  I hadn’t gone far into the shop when I started to twitch nervously.  I was being shouted at!  By lurid PINK sticky notes!  Interspersed with even brighter YELLOW ones informing me I would RECIEVE something or another if I did something or another.  I was too alarmed at the spelling of RECEIVE to pay any attention.  And I couldn’t find anything I wanted; it was all too shouty and vibrant.  A nice shop assistant came to my rescue and indicated another arm of the shop, where I might find toothbrushes.  The shop went on and on - where was I?  In the hellmouth!!  It really was indescribably ghastly and unpleasant; I didn’t even stop and gaze, entranced, at the many shades of nail polish on offer, which is usually such a reliable pleasure.  Suddenly it dawned on me…oh no…I was in the shell of the old OBM shop, later taken over by Angus and Robertson.  A lovely shop, going, in L shape, from Elizabeth through to Collins Street.  It used to be full of books, jigsaw puzzles, maps, games, and I have spent many happy hours and many happy $$s on these premises.  And now…it is a cheapetycheap hyperpharmacy…

In fact many of the bookshops in Hobart have closed down, as have the pharmacies.  The latter have amalgamated into cheap & nasty variations on the theme.  How can any calm and elegant pharmacy compete??

My rant is over but…the sadness remans!

Monday 30^th April

We have had our last night on the boat…the bed is stripped, there’s no going back!  Well not for a while.  Pete seems very sad to be leaving our cosy nest on the water but I think it is fine.  It is time, really – if we were still on holiday, it would be wonderful, living on the marina at Lindisfarne.  But I was happy back in West Hobart last night, staying in Pete’s lovely warm house, cooking in a BIG kitchen.

Just a few teensy glitches, for example…I found the coffee machine carefully stored behind a small heap of less-than-lovely pillows but there is one bit missing.  Just a tiny little insert for the thingummyjig which filters the coffee.  Small but essential.  It is totally missing in action… So I left poor Pete in a coffee-less house.

I really enjoyed being able to walk to work again.  The bus was fine, speedy and efficient, but…a nice long walk in the crisp wintery air is better.

Yesterday we talked to some people who are very experienced sailors.  Glenys and David had been very interested in our plans, last year, but I think that secretly they didn’t believe we would make it all the way, all 9,000-odd nautical miles up through the islands.  They told us that they tried to sail in that direction eighteen years ago, when their daughter was ten.  Their plan was to go to New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji, but they turned back in shocking wind and weather conditions. 

In Townsville they met some people who were leaving for the Louisiades, so they decided to tag along.  They had two months in this beautiful archipelago and had a most wonderful time.  Sadly they arrived at a time of severe drought in the region.  People were really suffering.  I showed Glenys photos of the beautiful red tomatoes Monica traded with us, on Bagaman Island, and she couldn’t believe it – they were having trouble growing so much as a few clumps of taro when she was there.  When we were in the islands, the locals were happily trading their tomatoes, bananas, crayfish for luxury items.  Well, staples like rice and soap, but they also wanted clothes, playing cards, magazines.  In drought time…what they wanted was water… The yachts with water makers filled containers for the poor wretched villagers, happy just to get a few extra drinks for their families.

Glenys if we had met Gulo (Jif Gulo!) on Bagaman and she was very happy to hear of their current prosperity.  Moses would have been about five years old, and he is now a family man of 23, busily trying to develop a little shop in his village.

Glenys and David’s beloved daughter, Anna, loved her sailing time as a young girl so much that as soon as she was old enough, she travelled the world, working on luxury yachts.  She is now based on a huge cruising yacht in the Mediterranean and Glenys, I think, wishes that they had encouraged her to work in a bank, or some other solid land-based enterprise, in Hobart…

Friday 27 April

No blogwriting for ages.

Two reasons – too busy, too tired!

I am at work right now so can’t really write but just want to say I still have lots of 2XS and (non-2XS…) stories…

And I will write them in due course, in the fullness of time etc etc to quote Sir Humphrey the Ultra Public servant.  (ie v soon...)

Wednesday 18^th April

Disadvantage of living on the marina…

Well we all know the advantages – absolute waterfront, beautiful Eastern Shore sunsets, lights sparkling on the water, boats twinkling by, the general cosiness and desirability of 2XS.

Disadvantages?  Well…as Katy says, “Enjoy your early morning poo walk, Mum.”  And – oh dear – on Sunday evening when all was dark…the toilet system broke down so that it wasn’t possible to do anything at all on the toilet, even an innocuous little tiny no-toiletpaper wee.

So when I strolled off to catch my punctual, speedy bus, poor Pete was dismantling the whole flushing system, with a weary look.  He has had to dismantle the toilet a few times on our trip, and has managed to MacGyuyver it into behaving, but this new event poses a different challenge.  He was expecting Greg on board around 8am, to help fix the HF radio, which has never worked properly, so I reckon his whole day would have involved scratching his head, swearing wearily every now and then, and attempting to solve Mysteries of The Boat.

Monday 23^rd April

It seems even harder this week, to get myself to town, motivated, sitting at my desk…trying to be efficient and competent.

Every now and then I drift back to my 2XS mode of being…just drifting through the days, how nice it was… But if I start feeling sorry for myself – well then I need a good sharp kick in the shins!  I am so lucky still to have a job, especially a pleasant one with civilised, kindly people around me.  Other people go back after a year off and they don’t whinge and whine!   Recently I had a nice chat with a lovely girl who is going back to work this year, after a year of maternity leave.  And she is NOT going back to a pleasant job with civilised, kindly people around her… She is going to work in a team of highly strung over-worked people with a most difficult client group, and as well as this she will be leaving her dear sweet little Sam in child care.  She said people keep telling her she will enjoy going back to work, to get a break from her onerous home duties.  Well no…she says, trying not to be offended that they think her dear little baby is more difficult than…well than the client group she works with; I am not going to disclose details but her work life is going to be stress to the max.  So when I start feeling all pathetic about my lot in life, I just have to bring poor dear Sophie and Sam to mind!

This morning I caught a bus from Lindisfarne to town.  I had calculated the amount of time it would take me to get from 2XS to the bus stop, and indeed it was perfect timing.  To my surprise… The timetable said a bus would arrive at the stop at 8.03 and I was there at 8.02, not expecting much.  I was about to sit down and play Words With Friends on my iPhone for twenty minutes or so but…around the corner in a puff of smoke was the hyperpunctual Metro bus!  I gave a startled squawk and climbed aboard.  We were at the GPO within a quarter of an hour, well done Tas Metro!

Sunday 22^nd April

We are still on the boat.  This is very pleasant, in a camping-without-much-stuff way.  Most of our things are either at Pete’s house, or at Katy and Jeff’s.  I do have enough toiletries here, after an emergency dash to the nearest pharmacy, but I am having to rinse out my clothes and wear them day after day.  With a bit of luck…nobody is really noticing…

The early morning walk to the bathroom facilities is OK because the weather is benign.  I don’t think I would enjoy it in freezing sleet or howling gales, before my first cup of tea of the day.

It is all very busy here in Lindisfarne, over the weekend..  Fishing, sailing, dragon boats, rowing.  And many codgers, old and young, working on their boats.  For Pete to get from the facilities back to 2XS takes a very long time because there are so many very pleasant boat-y conversations to be had.

Greg is still here, moored near the sailing club.  We invited him out to dinner with us on Saturday night, and, to our slight surprise, he turned us down quite vigorously.   His alternative and preferred occupation was to take to his bunk with a couple of bottles of beer and one of his 120 operas. Wagner, I think it is, this weekend.

I told you, lone sailors are a strange and different breed.

Pete also thought Greg should go to Salamanca Market.  When he told me, I said, “Nope.  Too many people.  He wouldn’t like it.”  Pete is so gregarious (unlike Non-Gregarious Greg…) he didn’t really believe me, but when Pete told Greg about his Saturday morning options, and my opinion re above, Greg laughed and said, “Women are very perceptive, aren’t they?”

So Greg had his WagnerTime while Pete and I had a lovely, and very social, weekend.

Firstly a fairy party for five year old Olivia, at beautiful Marlbrook, on the Midlands Highway.

Then a delightful dinner party on the Eastern shore – delicious food (paella, cheese, tiramisu,) with lots of fun and laughter with old friends plus a new friend or two.

And today lunch at Shippie’s with Dad and Fleur.

Back to work tomorrow… I am actually extremely tired and maybe will go to bed extremely early… Working life is not quite the same as Sailing2XS life…

Friday 20^th April

My brain is aching somewhat from all of the unaccustomed activity…

I am very much unused to sitting at a desk having to concentrate for long periods of time.  But…that is why they call it work, and not play….

We are still on 2XS.  Pete has vacuumed the floor so it is all very spick and span.  There was a thick carpet of corn chip crumbs stretching from one end of the boat to the other after our welcome home on Sunday.  Well what we can see of the carpet is spick and span…it is actually covered with a thick entwining of power cords, leading from one electrical appliance to another, like a nest of orange and white serpents.  This morning I caught my foot in one of the loops and nearly caused myself a serious injury on the way downstairs – how ignominious, to survive all of those months at sea and then break an ankle when neatly tied up in a Hobart marina!!

Pete has been busily doing this and that (weaving power cords around the floor, apart from anything else…) and has included Greg, the Canadian sailor from Alcidae II in his activities.  Greg is mightily impressed with Hobart – it is SO pretty, SO clean, SO shiny.  But…he can’t understand anybody, and doesn’t really believe we are speaking English.  Pete, with his broad accent, Greg can understand, because Pete speaks loudly and clearly.  I tried to tell him, gently, that everyone has an accent, himself included.  But this is a strange concept, isn’t it?  We all think our very own accent is the pure one, the correct one, and that everyone else is speaking comically, or wrongly. 

Greg also is horrified by how expensive everything is.  The truth is that he hasn’t been home for over six years and doesn’t know how prices have increased all over the world, Canada included.  This morning he asked Pete to take him to the yacht club in Sandy Bay, where there is a lone sailor from England.  I think he wanted to compare war wounds with this woman!

Thursday 19^th April

Nearly at the end of my first week back at work…

Everyone asks me what it’s like, being back, not being on the boat, not being in tropical waters, or the Southern Ocean.

Well…it’s fine…

This is, after all, my real life.

It is a given that I am happy to see my family, my friends, my familiar haunts.

And, once again, I am constantly reminded by how very beautiful it is here, in Tasmania.  Hobart is a particularly lovely little city. The air sparkles; everything is so very clear, bright, shiny.  I do love it.  (And…I will soon get used to sitting at a desk for most of my daylight hours…)

Wednesday 18^th April

So how was my unexpected night back on 2XS?  Well it was, really, just like coming home.  The boat was warm and cosy, if a bit chaotic because we have dismantled and packed and removed so much stuff.

Pete somehow managed to produce a perfectly delicious, if strange, meal involving two leftover cooked sausages, some potatoes and some eggs.  Oh and maybe a few leftover veggies made their way into the mix.

But I suppose the most extraordinary thing was…how very beautiful it is, back in the MYCT in Lindisfarne.  2XS is berthed on the outer arm of the marina, so we look from the deck straight out at the Tasman Bridge, and Mount Wellington.  The river was calm and the lights reflected brilliantly in the dark water; the air so clear and fresh it was took our breath away.  Just glorious!

Greg, on Alicidae III, has, by coincidence found an anchorage very closer to 2XS, in the same sheltered little bay.  Pete says that Greg is overwhelmed by how helpful and kind people have been – not just Pete, but Quarantine, Immigration, Customs!  Nice to know, isn’t it?

Tuesday 17th April

On our last night, in Recherche Bay, we came across a very battered looking yacht, Alcidae III.  On board was a very battered Canadian sailor, Greg, with his beautiful un-battered tabby cat, which came on board in Chile. 

Greg had meant to go to New Caledonia but ended up in Tasmania, in Recherche Bay.  As you do, on your way back from the Kerguelen Islands… He is a very experienced round-the-world sailor but says the Southern Ocean is not for him.  His yacht has sustained considerable damage, as have his poor jammed fingers.

Pete took a great interest in Greg and was very keen to help him out, as so many people have helped us, along the way.  Today he took Greg to the supermarket, and no doubt is plying him with beer and food.
The Southern Ocean is indeed awe-inspiring, even at the altitude we went to (only 43 degrees south.)  Greg went to 50…while Paul and Caroline, the Dutch people we met at Clayton’s Corner, went right into the Antarctic ice, as well as into the Arctic Circle.

On our wildest day at sea in this very forbidding ocean, as we came around the very bottom of Tasmania, we had winds up to 60 knots and huge swells.  It was absolutely amazing.  The sea was silvery grey, with occasional white caps and flurries of spray.  It was so very beautiful, and, to our great good fortune, not particularly cold because the wind, for once, was coming from the north.  I am looking forward to hearing some of Greg’s stories.  I don’t think his experience was quite as benign…

I am actually back on board tonight...don't ask...Pete needed a ride home from the Tasmanian CLub, where he had been having a long long lunch with three Salmons - Peter, Graeme, Don.

Monday 16^th April

Very strange to be back at work… At two in the afternoon yesterday I was going lalala in my head and idly gazing at a sleeping seal in the Derwent.  And today…I was gazing at legal documents, trying to dredge up a bit of brainpower.

We had a wonderful homecoming.  It was very beautiful, coming up the Channel in the drizzle. 

When we got to Blackmans Bay we had semaphore messages from a trickily positioned mirror – Stuart, welcoming us as he had farewelled us, with Claire, Jemima, Felix, and also Hamish and Angus cheering him on.

As we went past Taroona, Rudi and Diane waved teatowels at us from the veranda.  We didn’t actually see them…we were a bit too far out.  But it was the thought which counted!

We went right up close to the CSIRO wharf, because Katy had said the family would be there.  And indeed they were, Jeff, Katy, Leo, Eva, Zoe, and Rose in her marsupial pouch, leaping about waving and cheering as we swooped towards them and then jibed and fled in the opposite direction.

Just after we had gone under the bridge, Pete noticed people waving energetically from the shore – round the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran!!  Dad and Fleur, our final welcoming committee! 

By the time we manoeuvred into the berth, everyone was on the dock, with bottles of champagne and happy smiles.  So wonderful to see them all again!

We had our last night on board, eating leftovers and finishing off a bottle of red wine.  There is still quite a lot to write so I’m not closing off this blog just yet…am still attached to it…

It is the last day of our trip…Sunday the 15^th of April.  We have left Recherche Bay and are making good way up the Channel – should be in Lindisfarne around 3pm.  This time tomorrow I will be sitting at my desk… hard to believe.  Below are the blogposts I wrote on Thursday and Friday, when we were out of range.  Will do some more later.

Thursday 12^th April

Tonight we are anchored in a nice little bay just outside Bathurst Harbour.  The wind is howling in the trees and we could see, as we came toward our destination, that there were gusts of 35 knots or more.  But…here we sit, rocking gently, our tummies full of very nice food – nothing more comforting than a big plate of hot food on a cold autumn evening.

Last night we anchored in Clayton’s Corner, which is within the Harbour.  Right next to us was – a yacht!  Giebateau, from Holland.  I have put exclamation marks because this is such a remote part of the world, and this harbour is so very VERY big.

This morning we walked up to the bushwalkers hut, and found Paul and Caroline in there, having a bit of R & R away from Giebteau.  Very nice people, and full of information about sailing the oceans blue.  They have been sailing for six years – they worked hard, saved money, then sold everything so they could realise their dream and just sail way.  Not sure how old they are; quite a lot younger than Pete and me…(No children.)  They have had amazing adventures on their beautiful yacht – all the way up to the Arctic Circle, down to the Antarctic, around Cape Horn, around the Cape of Good Hope.

Caroline said, sadly, that they could no longer live in Holland.  It is all so very dangerous. Kids used to fight, when Paul and Caroline were schoolchildren, but in those days they would just punch each other a bit, maybe score a bleeding nose or two, then become friends again.  Now, she said, sighing deeply, the combatants have KNIVES.  And GUNS.  She said she really didn’t mind the huge influx of refugees from war-torn countries, and in fact was glad, at first, to welcome them.  What she, and Paul, find difficult is that a big majority of the newcomers don’t want to learn Dutch, don’t want to obey the law, want a separate education system.

All a bit too sad, too discouraging.

Our trip down from Pilot’s Bay yesterday was great.  It was very cold and those of us who weren’t wearing thermal underwear suffered more than…well, more than I did… We got out through Hells Gates in the dark, with no difficulty at all.  Thank goodness!  I can’t imagine how ghastly it would be in high wind and big ocean swell!

We were accompanied nearly all the way by four large albatross, wheeling gracefully around the boat.  At one stage Pete was having a snooze on the couch while I sat, a bit dopily (we got up at 4.30…) at the helm.  I suddenly saw, in between the 3 metre high waves,a black object – OH NO!  A rock!  Danger danger!  Then the rock stuck its head up again to look at me – a darling seal, not a dangerous rock!

The wind and the waves were with us all the way down to Port Davey, and we were able to continue up to Bathurst Harbour with a reasonable amount of daylight.  It is so very beautiful here.  Clayton’s Corner was a very nice, safe anchorage, and there was even a nice solid jetty where we could tie up the tender when we went for our walk up to the hut.  We ate our leftover chicken curry, then, with hardly any discussion, went off to our cosy bunk a bit before 8… Pete read about two and a half pages and then starting a session of gentle, rhythmic snoring.  I read a bit longer but soon was in Sleepyboboland as well.  It is so tiring, being at sea – not sure why…there is a lot of sitting and quite a lot of lying-on-the-couch… So did we wake up bright and early after such a long sleep time?  Well, no…

We took the tender up a bit further and went for a walks around Melaleuca at midday.  It was overcast and cold but I was very happy to see Deny King’s fabled house, and to experience the quietness, remoteness and sheer beauty of this part of the world.  We spent a bit of time in a birdwatching hide, all very comfy but…not a single bird flew by.  As we were walking back to the tender, we saw a beautiful little green parrot.  Pete thought it was a ground parrot; I thought it was an orange-bellied one.  My main reason was that I thought ground parrots couldn’t fly – why, after all, are they called GROUND parrots?  Well I looked in my bird book and Pete was right – ground parrots are terrestrial but they do flutter and fly when alarmed by large clomping human feet.  And, so wonderful, there have been a few sea eagles, flying overhead to welcome us.

Just a few more easy steps around the coastline until we arrive in Hobart…

Friday 13^th April

No Friday 13^th is not a sad or inauspicious day on 2XS.

We are safely anchored in New Harbour, right on schedule.  We left Schooners Cove at a civilised hour – two cups of tea at the beginning of the day improved me enormously.

And then the trip to Muttonbird Island was breathtaking.  Such a wild, rugged coastline.  And here we are, in the Southern Ocean, which is just as one would expect – a huge, rolling sea, silvery grey, rolling and tumbling towards the land.  On one side, great cliffs, clefts, caves, mountains rising straight from the sea.  And on the other side – the wide, wild expanse of the ocean.  Absolutely captivating. 

Pete left me guarding the boat at Muttonbird Island.  We were anchored in amongst a giant kelp forest and someone needed to keep a sharp watch for rugged rocks and anchor drifting.  As well as these reasons for me to stay aboard 2XS – my unspoken abhorrence for Pete’s trip ashore…(Well I might have said something negative – ahem – once…)  He was off to slaughter some muttonbirds.  I love these birds, and have reveled in being able to see huge rafts of them bobbing on the water, or flying off across the sea.  Pete loves them too, but he, nonetheless, wants to eat them.  (He has a licence, for putting out the net, and also for watching muttonbirds, so he is not breaking the law, in case you are wondering…)

So I sat on the deck, watching to see if we were about to crash into the steep, rocky cliffs, or the jagged reefs close by.  I made a cup of coffee and read my book but with minimal concentration – what would I need to do, if Pete didn’t return??  Other than weep and wail??  2XS is too large to drive into the narrow inlet where Pete had gone with the tender.  And the water is too wild for swimming on a rescue mission, towing a lifesaver buoy between my teeth.  Fortunately…he returned, with the little dinghy bobbing about, at times totally vanishing between the big waves.  I was VERY happy and relieved.

It took another hour or so to get to New Harbour, where we are presently anchored.  I enjoyed this bit of the coast.  Not just enjoyed, I LOVED it.  Maybe not so much fun for Pete, who had to steer 2XS through a wild, high sea, with winds up to 60 knots…We were surrounded by beautiful scenery and magical seabirds – gannets, gulls, albatross.  And some lovely little birds which Pete had christended CrazyBirds.  They would dive, swoop and then tumble across the waves.  TrickyBirds!  I found them in my bird book – storm petrels.  Along the top of the cliffs we saw about four sea eagles as well, all of them being pursued and harassed by smaller birds – forest ravens, and I’m not sure what else.  The poor eagles don’t get a moments peace from their tormentors.

Tomorrow – Recherche Bay; nearly home!!

Tuesday 10^th April

No time for a long blogpost today…we are under way, heading for Hell’s Gates.  It is just on 5.30pm and getting dark.  We hope to anchor in Pilot’s Bay, just near the entrance to the harbour, so we can make a speedy and efficient start early (4am….) tomorrow.

Sad to say goodbye to beautiful Strahan and the amazing people and scenery…but ready for the last leg of the trip.

All things being equal we will be comin’ round the mountain singing yi yi yippy yippy etc sometime on Sunday.  So look out for us somewhere on the Derwent.

By the way –it is calm and millpond-ish on Macquarie Harbour right now, so…all so well

(In case I am unable to make contact over the next few days…happy birthday Pauline, happy birthday Stuart!)

Monday 9^th April

We are back on 2Xs, in Strahan, tied up to Petuna, the big blue fishing boat, on the wharf at Strahan.  It is VERY cold.  There was snow on the mountains as we came down from Launceston, all very beautiful, but…brrrr…

By the way if you are ever driving in that area, go to the Round Hill Café, just near the turn-off to Lake Barrington.  It is wonderful!  Cosy and warm with fresh homemade food.  We had a cup of (strong, hot, flavoursome,) coffee and shared a raspberry/coconut slice which was so delicious I wish we hadn’t shared it and that I had had a whole one, and maybe even a second one, all for myself.  Round Hill Café – go there!

We arrived back in Strahan and I dropped off Pete at the dinghy to bring 2XS back to the harbor.  BRRRRR!!!  I took the ute up the hill and filled it lovingly with diesel, with the help of a fat young mechanic – I had no idea how to unscrew the fuel cap…FAIL!!  Then I spent a happy half hour going round and round and under and over with the car wash hose. BRRR BRRR!!!!   But worth it!  All the squashed insects down the gurgler…all the mud and dust – down the gurgler!  Very satisfying.

Pete with 2XS met up with me, the ute and a tray full of groceries in time to tie up to Rodney the Elder’s Petuna – all the fishing boats are in and there is no room on the wharf.  We got all stowed away and tied up and a big squall blew in – not thunderbolts and lightning, but very very frightening nonetheless!  The boat rocked and rolled and Phil, a brand new friend from a smaller yacht in the harbor, Sandpiper (a North Shore 33) scampered off back to his boat, to make sure it was safe.

Our plan had been to get back to Strahan in time to take Ron and his wife Laura out to dinner, to thank them for lending us the wonderful clean shiny ute.  Unfortunately they couldn’t come – family responsibilities.  We still had our booking, so Phil (from Sandpiper) came, with his wife Lesley.  They have been sailing around Tasmania for two months and are due back at work in Melbourne on Monday.  We had a delicious dinner at Risby Cove, not far from the wharf.  A kind local had lent Phil and Lesley a beautiful luxurious car – people in Strahan are AMAZING!! – so we went with them in case another strong squally blizzard blew up.  (It didn’t.)  The restaurant was warm and cosy and jam packed full of people – I told you Strahan is amazing!

We will stay here tomorrow, gazing anxiously at the weather maps and BOM warnings…With a bit of luck we can leave and zoom off on Wednesday…Till then, all is well, we are safe, the heater is on, the boat is safe, we are happy.

Allan M – if you are reading this, we went THROUGH Tullah, the place of your birth, then went INTO Tullah off the highway and spent a very happy half hour or so driving up and down and around the streets.  What a beautiful place, gorgeous lake, splendid mountains.  But…BRRRR…and the real estate prices made us stretch our eyes!  $220,000 for a house!!  $120,000 for a prefab cabin!

Sunday 8^th April

Happy Easter to one and all. 

We are in Launceston and it is, at the moment, a beautiful sunny blue sky day.  But…the black cockatoos have been warning us that there is likely to be a big rain and thunder storm very soon.  The sea has been very violent recently, with wild wind, many boating misadventures, deaths.  The Three Peaks Race has been halted, with some boats run aground.  2XS, we know, will be safe and sound in Mill Bay on its strong Morrison mooring.  We will be back in Strahan tomorrow, with the idea of leaving on Tuesday, all things being equal…Then down around the bottom of Tasmania, into Port Davey for a quick day or so, then HOME.  I should be firmly seated at my office desk at 8.45 on Monday 16^th.  (This is a bold statement…usually at 8.45 I am having my first cup of tea of the day…barely out of bed…)

Our Morrison ute is amazing.  Ron’s son Deke brought it down to us at the wharf.  It is not a particularly new vehicle but it is SO clean we could lend it to paramedics along the way to conduct emergency appendectomies.  If called upon so to do… All of the Morrison vehicles are neat, tidy and surgically clean.  You wouldn’t know they fished or even trod upon the decks.  We have only had the ute for a day and a half and already it is bespattered with dead insects, dust, rain drops.  We will have to get scrubbing before we return it!

Friday was a beautiful day.  We left Strahan reasonably early and got to Launceston a bit after two.  The road up through the mountains was breathtaking, awe-inspiring.  We only had one brief stop, in Sheffield, to avail ourselves of the facilities and to look at what Fleur’s mother would have called the “muriels.”  I was mildly desperate for a cup of coffee.  Sheffield was busybusy but…no coffee to be had!  The pub advertised food, wine, coffee, etc but…the cheery barmaid said, “Oh dear, we’ve run out of coffee.  Go to the bakery opposite.”  The bakery opposite was shrouded in newspaper…the cafe next door was mysterious and dark.  Someone suggested going to the IGA supermarket - they, surprisingly, sell espresso coffee.  Or so they say… I hopefully asked for a double shot long black- VERY VERY strong, hoping to get something with a tiny bit of coffee flavour and savour.  Oh dear…I got a pale weak concoction in a cardboard cup.  Win some lose some; in the meantime Pete bought about five books, $1 each – mostly spy thrillers from the 60s and 70s, so he was happy.

Our apartment in Launceston, the Lido, was just lovely.  All 1930s, big spacious rooms, all the comforts of home.  I took off all of my travel clothes and put them straight in the washer-dryer, then had a shower and pranced around in a fluffy white robe for a while.  It then occurred to me that we had an apartment – weehee, time to entertain family!  My sisters were (very inconsiderately) otherwise occupied – what’s the matter with them; I gave them ten minutes notice!!  But Mum and Marcel were able to drop everything and come, so we had a lovely visit in our elegant Art Deco apartment.

Nicole’s party began at five and we managed to get there more or less in time.  It was a beautiful party, very elegant, lots of fun.  All of the men were in black tie and they looked very splendid.  The women looked gorgeous and TALL TALL TALL!!  As the evening wore on, around midnight, they started to get shorter as they finally, regretfully, discarded their extreme high heels.

The food deserves a special mention.  It was just beautiful, both to eat and to gaze upon.  The canapés were all served in ingenious and attractive ways – on little wooden bowls, in nests of twigs and grass, on platters decorated with huge red chilli peppers.  Not only pretty but DELICIOUS.  The canapés kept on coming and I was very happy, nibbling on this one and that – it is one of my favourite ways of eating.  So maybe I ate too many…I wasn’t prepared for a main course to arrive, in elegant little bowls.  Angela Wood smiled at me encouragingly – “Come on, Marguerite, you can do it!”  So I did…and very yummy it all was.  Even if I did eat twice my own body weight…good thing it was such a long party, with lots of dancing and activity to burn off (some of) the food.

As for the party girl…well she looked absolutely gorgeous, like a film star, in her long black silk Colette Dinnigan dress.  Not only beautiful, but radiant as well.  She made an amazing speech, to the assembled 100 guests – “I love my life!” was the theme.  Nicole has been through some very hard times, and is very intelligent in her assessment of her current situation- beautiful children, good health, much-loved husband, wonderful house, friends, family.

There was live music for the first part of the party (Cam Tapp) and then a variety of DVD music.  Dancing until late in the night… Pete and I walked back to the Lido, with just a teensy gentle bit of argument over whether it would be better to walk on the footpath (my idea) or the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (Pete’s suggestion – so much more exciting, he said.)  He was quite disappointed as he snugged up in the comfy bed.  “It’s not really all that late, is it?”  Well.2.45 is late for a Harmsen if not for a Headlam…

Saturday we went off to Beauty Point to meet up with Leanne and Peter from Plan Four, and to watch the 2pm start of the Three Peaks race.  Oh golly and gosh…we were 24 hours too late.  Not too late to see Pete and Leanne, fortunately.  Lovely to catch up on their news, all of us back in Tasmania.

Today, Easter Sunday, has been a R & R day at the Darcey’s, with a big lunch of Atlantic Salmon, all the way from Birch’s Bay…

PS Pete has just looked at the forecast and…it is not good.  We probably won’t be able to leave Strahan till Wednesday, but then it should be fair winds and calm sea and reasonably easy going, down and around the bottom of Tasmania.

Tuesday 3^rd April

Snapshot:  I am having my usual G & T; it is 5.30.  Pete is having one as well, and he is sitting at the opposite end of the table bent over, not his computer, but his Nature Study.  He bought two beautiful glossy field guides at the Visitors Centre in Strahan, one called EucaFlip, the other TreeFlip.  Today on our walk to Sir John Falls he picked a few little (tiny weensy teeny…) leaves from a selection for trees and now he is happily and busily identifying them.  It is all bringing back long distant memories of field trips galloping along behind Prof Jackson, who operated at a fast clip, with his students racing behind him trying to take notes and pick specimens. 

We are tied up alongside Stormbreaker, the lovely, hardy big yacht which operates out of Strahan up the Gordon River.  Outside the sun is sinking and it is so beautiful out there.  The river has turned a deep golden colour and the dense, steep rainforest is still casting glorious reflections.  Our friends from Stormbreaker have gone fishing and will soon return for a friendly beer or two.

We left Strahan yesterday morning at almost exactly the same time as Stormbreaker, heading in the same direction.  I don’t know if you remember, but when we were in Honiara (oh bummer I am sounding like a wenneye…not sure in which book I have read this, but there is a vivid description of the teenage protagonists laughing wickedly about their parents’ friends, the wenneyes… When I was in Zimbabwe last spring… etc etc…) last year, we just happened upon James Butler, who was known to John Miedecke, but not to us.  James works for the Hydro (well, for Endura, an offshoot of the Hydro,) and he and Bruce Taylor were there for a few weeks doing a feasibility project.  They took Pete and John out into the hinterland of Guadalcanal for the day, while I, well…I got my hair cut – there was no room in the helicopter for me.  We spent a bit for time with James and Bruce and enjoyed their company very much.  So imagine our delight when there came a knock on the roof of 2XS – James!  About to go up the Gordon on Stormbreaker, for an Endura project, with his colleague, Ray.

So lucky!  Not only do we get to spend a bit more time with this very nice young bloke, and his equally nice young colleague, but…we get to tie up alongside Stormbreaker!  We are getting all of the inside knowledge about this very splendid part of the world.  This afternoon Pete and I went further up the river in the tender, way past the junction for the Franklin and Gordon rivers.  It was quite awe-inspiring, very steep densely forested river banks, deep brown water dotted with bright yellow rainforest leaves, a few jagged rocks causing the water to ripple in a menacing manner.  There was hardly a sign of life, although we have been assured there are many playtypus on the river banks.  Our only sighting was a very large white-bellied sea eagle, sitting high above us on a branch and not the least interested in our (slow...puttputtputt…) progress up the river.

We talked to James about the lovely time we have had recently, with our Boys on board – Michael, Jabba, James.  I said it was really easy having them for ten days because they weren’t very intrusive – one, two, or three of them would be peacefully asleep in their cabins for large chunks of the day.  James is much the same age (35) and he said, “Yes, ofcourse!  When I go away on my boat with my mates, we all sleep for three hour stretches, all the time!”  Aha! 

I forgot to say we stopped off at Sarah Island, and joined one of the tours when one of the big cruise boats came in.  It was warm and sunny, and all very beautiful and very interesting.  It rains A LOT in this region and it gets very cold and bleak.  So it would not always have been quite as picturesque and balmy as it was for us… Over 500 people lived there, in its heyday, and there was a lot of activity – ship-building, mainly.  Not to mention baking, veggie growing, flogging, hanging and incarceration of convicts…

Trevor Norton, the owner/skipper of Stormbreaker, is a very nice man.  He is talking to Pete at this very moment, about bilge pumps, if you really want to know… He has lots of info about the glory days of the Franklin dam rallies.  The two ferries which run cruises up the Gordon were in opposite camps.  One would ferry the protesters up the river, very happily.  The other would take them back, under police custody…

Stormbreaker takes people up the river on dinner/overnight cruises.  The boat also picks up whitewater rafters, fresh off the Franklin River.  He told us about a dear little old lady who booked for one of these cruises, once she heard they were picking up rafters.  “So where are they?” she asked, expectantly, when they got to Sir John Falls landing.  Trevor pointed to the recumbent bodies on the pontoon.  “No, I mean the RAFTERS!”  Poor old dear had though she was on an illicit wood gathering cruise… (It is forbidden to take timber out of the World Heritage Area now…)

Thursday 5^th April

Not quite G & T time… We are back in Strahan, on Ron Morrison’s mooring in Mill Bay.  We had a wonderful time up the Gordon River.  Two nights in the midst of the wilderness, then a night in Birch’s Bay, closer to Strahan but still very isolated.

Ron has lent us his ute so we are all set to go to Launceston tomorrow.  We are hoping to arrive with our arms full of enormous Atlantic salmon…our little net is out in the bay right now.  Yesterday was its maiden plunge into the sea.  We left it in for a few hours and went to get it, expecting nothing very much, in spite of our local fishing friends’ tales of 600 in one net.  The salmon regularly have mass break-outs from their farm cages.  Their cage life isn’t much fun, I am sure, but neither, really is their life once they have escaped.  A bit like the convicts escaping from Sarah Island into the South West Wilderness…They don’t survive very long in Macquarie Harbour.  So…we might as well catch a few to delight our friends and relations.  Imagine our astonishment when we pulled up our net at dusk and found a fish.  Yes only one but what a whopper!  Pete estimated it was around 8 kilos.  We are hoping for just a few more of this ilk, to pop into the ute tray tomorrow.

A message from PNG…

You may remember our time in the Louisiades, our friendship with Moses, Gulo, Sanity, Lilah… I’m not sure if I wrote that we had lent Moses some money ($222 each) and that I had been sending parcels of clothes for Moses to sell.  He wanted to open a little shop on Bagaman Island, and needed some starting capital.  We were a bit sad that we hadn’t heard anything at all…communication is so difficult from such a far-flung isolated community…

Hi there, this is an email from Mr. Moses - Bagaman Isl. in the Lousiades.

We had the pleasure to visit their place during the few days of bad weather.

We found a very nice and warm people, a very good last memory of our last stop in PNG.

Here is the text I got from them:

Hi Peter and Marguerite,

Friends, I want to let you know that the Bank workers dont want to send Kina out from the Bank so I have an idea to change Kina in to Australian Dollars with the rally yachts.

Then I will deposit two hundred dollars in to my account to transfer in to your account.

Anyway thank you for the two parcels bag of clothes, the people like them they bought them all but they want the clothes for man and women if you can send them some more.

P.S. Lilah would like Marguerite to buy her a leg machine (sawing machine?) with material and few machine cotton if possible.

And…I will send some adult clothing but…not a treadle sewing machine… It costs  fortune just to send a few t-shirts…

Sunday 1^st April

And no I’m not going to do an April Fool’s Day joke… Mainly because I can’t think of one clever enough, or witty enough.  So you are spared!

We have had a beautiful peaceful Strahan day.  We stayed on our solid mooring in Mill Bay until the rain had eased, around lunchtime, when we came and tied up to the wharf again – our position is still available, no fishing boats have come in.  So we have been involved with domestic tasks – washing and drying at the handy nearby laundromat, pootling up and down to the shop to buy a few necessities – Rodney the Elder gave us a lovely big fillet of flake, and it needed breadcrumbs.

Tomorrow we are thinking of going out to Sarah Island, and then up the Gordon on Tuesday, when the weather is supposed to be better.  A total tourist experience!