Day 33 34

In spite of our enthusiastic enjoyment of the previous night's festivities we woke early and were cheered to be greeted by a marvellous rainbow.
We tore ourselves away from the search for the "pot o gold" to sail up channel to Cygnet to explore the artisan village with it's gallery town hall and multiple coffee shops and cafes.
Cygnet tried to outdo Dover in the hospitality stakes with great food, drink and welcoming atmosphere. They have a much more modern spacious facility overall including bathrooms with multiple shower stalls and a bigger bar and kitchen area but comparisons are a little odious and the hospitality from both clubs were among the high points of the cruise.
Some of the late evening was spent in luxurious hospitality aboard "Adagio"- a 75 ft Expedition motor cruiser. Such a fine capable craft it is.
Our day 34 had us making an early start out of Cygnet and passing the "Iron Pot" to officially finish our circumnavigation of Tasmania around midday.
An uneventful passage had us safely back in "Fargo's" pen at the RYCT by around 2 pm.
It was good to be back in home port and after a few days of clean up we had "Fargo" back in shape.
Jeremy's book launch was a great evening and I commend "Round the world with Rosinante" as a great read.

I was soon to be flying back across the Bass Strait in the dawn watching a colourful dual moonrise and sunrise. Thanks for reading. Maybe you will come along on our next adventure wherever that may be.

Day 32

After a breezy start to Friday it was a very calm start to our Saturday in Recherche Bay but that allowed a smooth quick dry dinghy run to the beach to help Tony catch his lift to Hobart.
I had a good chance for a phone catchup with my dear wife in a patch of good reception sitting in the dinghy in the middle of the bay.
After breakfast a plan was laid to head up the D'entrecasteaux Channel past Southport to Dover.
We saw a few gusts belting across the treetops but didn't pay too much attention. Perhaps we should have been more attentive as shortly after we fully hoisted mainsail we were slammed with gusts to 40 knots making Fargo dangerously overpowered.
Some of the heavier gusts shook the mainsail so heavily we lost a batten or two and had "Fargo" rounding up to windward and taking us on a heading towards some of the nearby reefs in these confined inshore waters.
Skipper did a great job at the helm in spite of his inexperienced foredeck crew(myself) making a basic error or two. We dropped the mainsail completely and sailed on under headsail alone at a brisk 8 knots for nearly 2 hours before the wind died completely.
The rest of the run up to Dover had us motor-sailing past some big fish farms in benign conditions.
The Port Esperance Sailing Club was a very popular venue as boats off-loaded 10 days of refuse into nearby skips and took patient turns in the solitary but very hot and welcome shower. Some fleet topped up water and fuel at the newly refurbished jetty. This activity had the crews engaged in some verbal jousting with feisty and somewhat officious locals over who could tie up alongside and for how long.
A timely and eloquent tribute was paid to the ladies of the VDLC fleet so a group photo was called for. The club put on a fantastic BBQ dinner in their basic but cosy pavilion overlooking the bay. The fireplace was popular focus second only to the bar. A great time was had by all but some of our number may have hazy memories of the latter part of the evening.
Perhaps it was the heavy overnight rain that helped us sleep so well and not the generous helpings of food and wine.

Day 31

"Fargo" made an early start today in the grey pre-dawn light heading south across the mouth of Port Davey to the west of Big Caroline and down to Southwest Cape. We had a moment of fishing excitement in passing Stephen's Bay when the water all round us erupted with feeding tuna but by the time I put a lure in the water we were well past the action.

Weather looks ominous but conditions make for quite fair sailing.

The fleet was fairly tightly bunched as we rounded South West Cape with most skippers taking advantage of this fair weather window to make the run around to Recherche.
The cloud was high for most of the day and the wind around 20 -25 knots swinging from W - SW - NW then later in the day and dropping out altogether as we passed South Cape Bay and Whale Head nearing the shelter of Recherche Bay.

The morning turned quite social as we sailed past Maatsuyker Island when the radio crackled into life. Tony Kjar's niece had just arrived by helicopter to Maatsuyker in her role as head of the Island Conservation group. Spotting the fleet in tight formation a call was put out to "Fargo" to have a radio chat with Uncle Tony while we had morning coffee. The geography of the steep sided island precludes a more proximate get together.
We passed large flocks of shearwaters near the Maatsuyker group of islands but no Prions this time. There was a pod of dolphins near Maatsuyker and a young seal gave us a fright by chasing our trolled lure in dramatic porpoising fashion but no fish took a significant interest in our lures in spite of the time spent changing from one lure to another and regularly making sure they were free of floating seaweed.
The days travel was relatively free of excitement as we made good time in the favourable sailing conditions moderate in both wind and wave. We dropped anchor on the clean white sands of sheltered Cockle Bay in warm mid afternoon sunshine and I was soon in the water for a brief but refreshing dip. Tony went ashore to make transport arrangements for an early return to Hobart and with that done we made the short trip over to the chosen anchorage at Coalbins. The local dolphin pod gave us a personal escort all the way.

Day 30

A hearty bacon and eggs breakfast is always a good way to start the day and so it was we were suitably fueled and primed as we made our way down the channel past Mount Rugby out of Bathurst Harbour heading for the outer reaches of Port Davey.
Our plan was a little vague in the early parts of the day and was going to be as in all things yachting very weather dependant. Spain Bay was interesting option with its walk across the headland to Stephens Beach, a ramble we did as a crew in 2013. Schooner Cove was a simple but crowded option with many of the fleet already at anchor there as we motored past.Schooner Cove had few attractions for exploration ashore.
We had heard in previous days of a group of 4 historic graves near Bramble Cove which would prove an interest and a variety to our previous exploration of this part of the Port.
“Fargo” made steady progress under power into a brisk headwind down the channel to Bramble Cove on the north side of the entrance. With such a stiff breeze blowing we elected to stay in the sheltered waters of the cove and explore there rather than chance our arm in the more exposed run across the port to Spain Bay. In the fickle weather one of the frequent squalls caught us mid exercise in lashing the dinghy to the deck and several of us got a thorough freshwater soaking.
We anchored with no other yachts for company snug under the protection of Milner’s Hill just in time for a mid morning coffee.

With the weather clearing intermittently 4 of us elected to go for a walk up Milner’s Hill with a plan to briefly explore for the aforementioned graves. Barrie chose to stay on board and do some engine checks before our planned run to Recherché. Our departure timing was captive to the anticipated weather change.

View south across Breaksea Island Spain Bay towards SW Cape.
The walk up the hill was a curious mix of warm sunshine, cool shadows, steep incline and strenuous scramble with the strong chill wind quickly cooling us after our exertions. We walked prepared for bad weather and we were blessed with four seasons in a few hours.

The view from the top was really worth the effort with our outlook to the northwest showing us our planned anchorage at Whale Cove.
Returning to the “Fargo” for lunch of Duncan’s legendary soups I found I was alone in my interest to further explore the cove for the graves as described previously and apparently marked by Berne Cuthbertson on one of his expeditions.

Heading out in the dinghy to the shore I found a very established camp apparently used by the kayaking fraternity complete with running water camp tables and separate latrine areas.

Returning to Fargo mid afternoon we were soon underway to Whale Bay on the Northern side of Port Davey ready for the morning escape. Whale Bay was a safe but somewhat unsettled anchorage given to feeling the surge of the great southern ocean swell.

Day 29

At anchor we had a calm night until about 4.00 am when the boom tent was threatening to sail away. Barrie and Tony rallied in the predawn to roll it up and stow it safely on the foredeck before retiring for a little more shuteye.
We had a late breakfast after a sleep in til 8.00am.
We had no impetus to rise early as the weather was predicted to deteriorate with winds to 25-30 knots and squally showers.
Sarah from "Aurora 3" brightened our day when on her return from her morning kayak paddle she invited us to join she and Rob for scones and coffee aboard"Aurora 3".
So a great social morning commenced with crews from Pretty Woman,Mojo,Fargo all met aboard Aurora 3 sharing lively conversation and sheltiing from blustery winds to 35 knots.Topics of conversation were varied between yachting, history of the local area, birdlife, climbing, bushwalking and swimming.
The afternoon was spent attending to to some domestic chores of washing ,reading and waiting out the weather with rain hail and wind gusting to 36 knots.

The afternoon cleared a little to treat us to a colourful sunset.

Day 28

After a quiet night at Casilda Cove we slipped our moorings early and motored upstream.
We passed many other coves and bays and inlets on the way including the intriguing Iola Bay and Frogs Hollow in the shadow of Mount Rugby.
A White Bellied Sea Eagle kept us company on patrol around the bays.
On a previous VDLC the climb had attracted the crew's attention but today with heavy rain threatening and low cloud obvious we left that challenge to others and opted for a sheltered anchorage in Clayton's Corner and the less ambitious Mt.Beattie which none of us had walked before.

At 276 m Mt Beattie provides spectacular views all over Bathurst Harbour to the north and east as well as south past Melaleuca, Cox's Bight and to the offshore islands including Maatsuyker De Witt and Flat Witch Island.
Whilst at the top of Beattie the peak of Rugby to the northwest was briefly exposed through a gap in the cloud for 15 minutes or so. Whilst very wet underfoot in places the rain stayed away for most of our climb. Our return to the forest had us enjoying some wild flowers and calling Yellow Tail Black Cockatoos as well as a multitude of small brown birds too quick and quiet for me to identify.

Taking "Fargo" upstream to Melaleuca we visited Denny King's home and the Bird Hide for the Orange Bellied Parrot. We chatted to a wildlife volunteer form Florida and an ambitious Canadian pair of hikers planning to walk all round the south coast from Strahan to Cockle Creek.
The weather was far cooler than our visit here in 2013 and the forecast had the weather closing in so we beat a hasty retreat to Kings Point to the north of Clayton's Corner and anchored up in a secure position near to "Aurora 3".

Day 27

It was a quiet morning in Schooner Cove with a final tally of 18 craft at anchor in the moonlight overnight aiming to shelter and rest after the run down from Macquarie Harbour.
Skipper wanted to attend to some minor mechanical and rigging issues that had become evident on the previous days run.

With these minor issues attended to we shifted anchorage Cassilda Cove in company with 4 others. Having previously(2013) anchored here skipper knew to tuck right into the corner and after dropping anchor in the appropriate spot we put out a stern-line to "the obvious tree".

With a break in the weather we took the short walk up Balmoral Hill on the eastern side of the cove.
The exposed heathland over the top of the hill provides little protection from the weather but fortunately the conditions did not deteriorate too badly and we enjoyed a brisk walk and to take in the sights and orientate ourselves in the Bathurst Harbour.
This landscape did not provide a lot of habitat for the local birdlife and indeed it was a quiet day for birdlife with only a few Silver Gulls Currawongs and Cormorants.
Duncan provided us with a tasty dinner of Beef Pie and veges.

Day 26

Our evening down harbour run had been uneventful and unworthy of photographs in the dreary overcast at times foggy evening. Indeed spotting the leads was quite a challenge through the showers.
We had anchored up with several others of the fleet just before dark and were immediately spoiled by chef Duncan to a curry and rice and freshly made chutney.
With the forecast wind change arriving on time in the small hours of the morning skipper had us underway at 2.30 am in a quiet procession with most of the others sharing that sheltered bay.
Motor-sailing through the early morning was uneventful with each of us taking turns at the helm through the grey day.
We had no exceptional wildlife encounters but there were always large flocks of a variety of seabirds busily making a living on this wild stretch of open ocean down to Port Davey.
Try as we might we could not encourage any fish species to take a liking to our lures.

Grey cool conditions had us rugged up and looking forward to the shelter of Port Davey.


The optical illusion that is the entrance from Port Davey into the inner sanctum of the Bathurst Channel enchanted me yet again as we made our way through to Schooner Cove finding a dozen or more of the fleet snug in this bay on the southern side of the channel.
We were made welcome by a chattering family of White Bellied Sea Eagles soaring along the tree line sounding more like farmyard ducks than majestic raptors.
The funereal call of the Yellowtail Black cockatoo echoed from the historic camping grove at the head of the cove.

VDLC 2015 Day 25

Rafting on the King River
Mark B & I were up early to meet Michele from King River Rafting.
Our pick up was at the dockside and our host kept us entertained with lots of cheery chatter on our way to the old mining town of Queenstown. The good folk of Queenstown and Tasmania in general are doing their level best to reinvent/refresh themselves as a major tourist destination. To this end one of the motels in town has turned over their carpark to King River Rafting as a part time rendezvous and the kitchen supplies provisions for the day.
Here we had our briefing and geared up into wet suits and safety gear and packed lunch and morning tea into secure stowage.
Climbing back into the bus we then made our way to the King River Bridge just below town.
Here we piled into our raft and were soon heading down stream with a coach in the aft of our raft.
Paul-one of the kayak staff was paddling as photographer and safety observer.
We soon passed the junction with the Queen River that sadly is still adding silt and mine runoff to the system though far less than it used to. Some of these first sections were quite wild. With large rocks to avoid and some to collide with in our inexperience or lack of paddler coordination and enthusiasm. The end result of which was a second corner capsize leaving one of our number (Mark B) floating downstream feet first as directed and found bedraggled and dejectedly thumbing a lift. We took pity on him and picked him up.
Further downstream we came upon some other pristine tributaries entering from the high country to the southeast. Leaving Mark and I to contemplate the wild serenity of this amazing river system complete with metres of annual rainfall and streams lined with majestic forests of Huon Pine and a myriad of other species, collapsed railway bridges and tailings banks of mine waste littered with old truck tyres. Lunch stop was at a railway siding called lower landing that we visited a few days earlier on the train.
Cold and wet we struggled to warm up but still enjoyed a hearty picnic lunch in the shelter of the train station while the rain poured down relentlessly. The lower stretches saw us paddling more as the flow slowed and the valley opened out to meet Macquarie Harbour.
We bussed back to Strahan and needed hot showers to finally thaw out.
Over coffee plans were laid for departure towards Port Davey entailing an afternoon run down harbour to Pilot Bay just outside Hell's Gates then further southward as the wind changed some time thru the next day.

VDLC 2015 Day 22 23 24

Fargo was first to the jetty at St John Falls in the mid morning of the previous day so now we spent the night rafted up with Nicstar, Pretty Woman and Joule outside us with just enough room for any float plane to moor at the pontoon attached on the downstream side. It was a quiet morning with the weather taking a turn for the worse being blustery with occasional showers keeping the float planes away.
Mark B and I took the opportunity for a second walk down to the barracks finding our lone kayaker had moved on in the early morning after making the most of the dry camp spot. While the barracks are clean and dry they will not stay that way if they don’t get some much needed maintenance to doors and windows.
Mid morning we headed downstream trying in vain to spot former sites of Lime Kiln structures . The forest is doing a good job of overwhelming man’s endeavours. At Eagle Creek several of us put ashore to inspect the camp site and the start of the walk. Suffice it to say the 4 kayakers there before us looked thoroughly wet and miserable camping a bare 5-10 cms above the water table in dark dripping forest . Their pathetic attempt at a camp fire had been hastily covered over lest we be rangers bringing the full force of the law down on their bedraggled selves.
The walk into the hinterland would have been more of a wade as the creeks had a good flow and the log bridges were less than sturdy.
We beat a hasty and somewhat awkward retreat back to “Fargo” as it became obvious her anchor was not holding and the blustery swirling breeze and driving squalls made life difficult for the dinghy crew trying to rendezvous mid stream.
We timed our journey to arrive at “Heritage Landing” after the day's cruise boats had been and gone. With difficulty made ourselves fast to their jetty. The structure of which is custom designed to suit the big high sided catamarans not our low profile sloop. Nonetheless we had a pleasant walk around the boardwalk admiring the forest giants both standing and decaying and were overloaded with botanical information which is interesting but I must admit I struggle to remember.
The next part of the journey was truly memorable as we motored the final part of the Gordon to meet the harbour just in time to greet a fresh breeze from the North West.
This wind shift gave us a romp of a sail on a beam reach up to our next anchorage at Farm Cove. Truly one of the best big boat sails I have had. With the wind constant between 24 and 32 knots we were reaching a maximum boat speed of 8.2 knots, averaging 7 knots. The accompanying rain kept the rest of the crew below deck most of the time but I was exhilarated to be truly sailing at good speed in fresh conditions with “Fargo” well balanced and light at the helm.
We anchored in company with “Great Sandy” at Farm Cove - an all weather anchorage with a small dingy jetty at the head of the cove. Duncan fed us a fine repast of salmon chips and peas as we settled down for the evening.
Day 23 or March 5th
Morning found us emptying our rain filled dinghy while “ Great Sandy” left our quiet anchorage for the delights of Strahan. Tony and Duncan went for a brief beach walk to the beach on the Macquarie Harbour - a short walk thru the forest at the head of our bay. They collected more rope and debris discarded from the fish farms. A monumental issue in these parts as it seems our fish farms when it comes to discarded items are not the model corporate citizens their marketing would have us believe.
We headed south to Birch’s Inlet in the cold and rain with a midday temp of only 12 C - a far cry from the 30 C experienced at this same stage of VDLC 2012.
Anchoring for lunch at Hawk’s Nest Cove we enjoyed another of Duncan’s famous soups with bread lovingly prepared by Mark B. With the weather forecast precluding a trip further down the inlet the skipper elected to motor up the “Harbour” to double Cove. This proved to be a quiet anchorage but the entry way is a bit of a concern as the depth sounder was gyrating from 7 m to 11m then to 0m in the space of a slowly traversed boat length. We did not touch or scrape and “Fargo” made it into the depths of the bay to a reliable 2.5m of anchorage near another “locals” jetty at the site of an old forestry camp.
Through the evening wind and rain rattled the tall trees around the bay while over head bare zephys making it thru the rigging tucked deep as we were in the snug cove.
I became a bit frustrated here as my computer failed and I am trying to write this blog some months later from diary notes. Day 24 March 6
Rain stopped early in the morning leaving us in patchy sunshine to explore the tall E. regnans (Mountain Ash) to the west . The rickety jetty lead us to an historic logging area similar to the St Johns Falls snigging tracks where once foresters and their heavy horses would have dragged the carcasses of forest giants to the bay for loading or rafting to mills at Strahan.
Tony and Duncan explored uphill in the hope of finding a track leading further west while Barrie and I took the dingy to the beach at the head of the bay and the obvious historic campsite there.
Babbling brooks at either end of the pretty sandy beach were feeding sites for the resident Azure Kingfishers which gave us fleeting glimpses of their bobbing and starting colour. I like to think they thanked us for removing some of the human rubbish from the beach but they declined to stay still enough for a photograph.
Our departure from this idyllic spot found us traversing deep water all the way out to the harbour proper with no sign of the previously encountered shallows although we could not have been more that a boat length away from our previous night’s track .
Lunch enroute to Strahan saw us get to anchor in time to attend to laundry and make a booking for an adventure with King River Rafting as well as nursing my laptop back to life long enough to upload 3 blog posts. Mark B, Barrie and I enjoyed a few celebratory beverages to wash down a gourmet pizza in a local cafe.

VDLC 2015 Day 21

VDLC 2015 “Fargo” Day 21 We had a quiet night moored against the piles at Warners Landing sharing this historic site with “Namadgi” from the Canberra Ocean Racing Club a group of 26 owners who share the delights of this lovely vessel. After a slow start to the day we mounted a group walk along the old trail leading away from Warners Landing. The forest is doing its best to reclaim the site with the track wet and boggy in parts and overgrown in others with pioneer species getting a foothold in the quartzite road as it slopes away from the river into the distant hills . We walked for nearly 2 hours hoping to get to a spot with a clear view back over the valley but the track stayed hidden in the forest canopy. We enjoyed some early morning birdsong but mostly the forest was surprisingly quiet and we saw no wildlife although there was plenty of sign of the presence of wallabies and perhaps even Devils with tracks and scats along the trail. We got quite wet from the dripping foliage but thoroughly invigorated by the brisk scramble for 3 hours . We relocated our mooring to the pontoon at StJohn Landing when it became vacant and I freshened up with a brief swim in the 13.9 degree water . Late in the afternoon Mark B and I took the tender a short distance upstream to the site of the old jetty for the old Customs house and we walked up the winch track to the house site. For a time we followed the old logging track back into the forest where the heavy horses used to toil. At the old house site we marvelled at the hydrangeas that still bloom among remnant brickwork of the old fireplace and cottage with bricks from the old Pillinger site still to be found . After some overnight rain the St John Falls was a pretty sight . On exploring the old Police barracks we noted a down river kayaker had spent the night in the relative comfort of this hut now reborn as a campers shelter. With the relatively clear skies the float planes were making the most of the good flying conditions and the good crowds in Strahan by flying up river until late in the evening.