Finally back Home (2nd December)

Well we did make it to Eden in time to buy a few provisions, have a shower and also make it to the Fisho's club for dinner.  We had a bit of company for dinner which was nice.  We met Gus from Holland who is sailing around the world but in all the wrong latitudes and the wrong way.  In his travels to Australia from Europe he has been down as far south as the Kerguelen Islands  which we found out is also known as the Desolation Islands - Hmmmmm  sounds inviting..... NOT.  They are a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean and are among the most isolated places on earth  as they are more than 3,300km away from the nearest populated location and to make it even more appealing they are down at around 50S.... every cruisers dream location.  His travels have not been totally without incident as he recanted tales of washing ashore at Kerguelen Island during a severe storm and then rolling the boat in a Southern Ocean Storm before making it into Perth for some much needed boat repairs.  Gus is a very intrepid sailor and his enthusiasm not easily blunted so after his few issues too date and not ruled out rounding Cape Horn and a quick trip down to visit Antarctica as he continues his travels around the globe.



Arriving at Refuge - Not Happy!

After our excellent evening at Eden we are up and on our way at 4am for the Paddock Crossing to Refuge Cove.  We had a great trip across and as usual enjoyed sailing our way through the oil rigs although it was duly noted that the conditions are getting much colder on board which is not very popular amongst the crew.  All was going well until we got to about 10NM from Refuge Cove.  The weather forecast is quite volatile at the moment and there had been SOME mention from time to time that a trough MAY pass through Bass Strait at some stage late on Thursday - well we found the trough which meant our arrival into the prom wasn't quite as we had hoped as we had to battle in around 30-40knt head winds for the last couple of hours however, it did make our arrival and anchor down beers (an old Dilligaf tradition) even more enjoyable.

We had hoped to spend maybe a day or two at the prom however, as mentioned earlier, the volatile weather forecasts meant that the weather windows on offer are just a little too short for our comfort levels as meeting a front in Bass Strait is just not on so we figured why not hang out and enjoy some quality time at Refuge Cove which was not that hard a decision as it is a pretty neat place to spend a few days. 

We filled in our days doing lots of walks including hikes to both Sealers Cove and Waterloo Bay.  We also updated our Mustang Sally board which is proudly mounted with the many others in the Yachties section at Refuge.  We even managed to go for a very quick swim on one of the warmer days which was very brave as the water really is quite cold especially when you are used to swimming in water that is normally over 24C.  There was also plenty of excitement with the Ambulance Helicopter dropping in one morning to evacuate a sick walker.  There were also a few other boats hanging out in Refuge so we had plenty of company.

View of Waterloo Bay

Our afternoon guest!



Wilson's Prom Light

Eventually a weather window did present itself and all the boats heading West departed on Thursday morning (27th November).  Again we had a lovely crossing back to the heads and managed to sail most of the way with 10-15knt Southerly Winds which was very comfy.  We were closely followed by a Seawind 1250 called Lauren Maree which was quite keen to follow us in through the Heads as this was to be there first night time entry.    We were amazed at the amount of shipping heading up the bay.  There were two ships that crossed through the heads as we were entering and we then had another 3 to 4 ships pass us on our way up the South Channel....  Busy Busy Busy!

We made it back into the pond of Port Phillip Bay at around 2.30 on Friday morning and were tied up in our berth at Martha Cove by 5.30am where will be for a while before heading off our on next adventure - hopefully Fiji!

Now most people think that we spend most of the time with just the two of us on board however, we do have a small crew that help us out.  They are a pretty quiet bunch that we have collected on our travels to date and if nothing else give us a laugh from time to time.  We have included a photo of them below and the members from left to right are: Brian (crayfish), Colleen (gecko), Squirt (turtle) Juddy (no explanation required), Stephen (prawn), Nemo (nemo).

The Crew

Some information from our travels up the coast. 
Time on board:  33weeks
Distance travelled:  Approx. 3,700NM
Visitors on board:  Barry & Ros (Mackay - Hamilton Island)
                               Amanda (Hamilton Island - Townsville)
                               Leapy Lynda (Cairns to Lizard Island)
                               Wayne & Helen (Lizard Island)
                                Brian & Kathy (Southport to Sydney)