Tassie By Sea, Part 2
Friday, March 14th – We wave farewell to Allusive as she leaves Recherche Bay to head around South East Cape. For the next several weeks, John and Di plan to cruise in Port Davie on the remote southwest side of Tasmania.
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The other half of our Tasmanian guides, Chris and Rodney Smart, are still with us on Avante. During the next several days, the four of us plan to do some cruising in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel as we work our way north to Hobart. The Smarts normally berth their sailboat in Hobart, so these are their home waters, and we are delighted to have them on board.
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This morning, we are all going ashore to take a hike. It will be 16km to South Cape Bay and back.
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As we near the bay, the rumbling roar of heavy surf breaking on the shoreline can be heard. We arrive at an abrupt ledge overlooking the beach, but it feels more like we are nearing the end of the earth.
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It is a wild place and a place to tread with care.
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Looking down on the beach and spanning our eyes from one end of this crescent-shaped bay to the other, South Cape Bay is impressive. From where we stand, there is nothing but ocean, wild ocean, between us and Antarctica. Looking west in the photo, we see South Cape.
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Swinging our eyes to the left, we see South East Cape, the southernmost part of Australia. It is also one of the Five Great Capes which consist of the five southernmost capes in the world.
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Sitting on the rocks, we enjoy our picnic lunch relishing the wildness of this spot. Of course, this calls for a photo before we start the return hike.
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Later that afternoon, we raise anchor and sail Avante 12nm north from Recherche Bay to Southport.
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Saturday, March 15th – Today is election day in Australia, and our first priority is to get Chris and Rodney somewhere where they can vote. Voting is compulsory in Australia, but citizens are not restricted to their home city. They can vote anywhere in the country. We motor further north along the coast and into the Huon River, heading for the town of Cygnet.
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We anchor off a mooring field then take the dinghy to the nearby sailing club. It’s not a long walk into town, and we easily find the polling place. Chris and Rodney head to it and within 15 minutes, they have voted and are back with us.
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After walking around Cygnet, we have lunch in a quaint, little cafe before going back to the boat.
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That afternoon, we motor back down the Huon River and anchor for the night in Randalls Bay.
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One of the advantages of going into town was being able to buy a fair share of famous, fresh Bruny Island Oysters for the evening. Another feast with champagne! Such a life!
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Sunday, March 16th – We are sailing in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel which lies between the mainland of Tasmania and Bruny Island. It is a lovely area to cruise in with fairly protected water and lots of coves and bays to anchor in.
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Chris and Rodney know it well, and for lunch, we all head to the Peppermint Bay Restaurant. It’s located right on the water with moorings for guest’s boats.
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After lunch, we sail north to Sykes Cove where we find a giant mooring. It belongs to a yacht club in Hobart, but since it is empty on a Sunday afternoon, we tie up to it.
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Rodney and Chris take us ashore to what appears to be some kind of ramshackle shelter.
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However, this was built by yachties, and after gathering some firewood, we soon have a fire burning under the barbie.
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Rodney is our chef for the evening, and he is preparing a classic Aussie Barbecue. Sausages with an occasional bath of beer, grilled onions, corn on the cob and a fried egg to top it off. Another feast!
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While dinner is being cooked, Avante rests peacefully in the cove. Gorgeous pink Belladonna Lilies are in the foreground and Mt. Wellington rises behind Avante. The Captain and The First Mate reflect on how lucky we are to have had our Tasmanian friends with us on this cruise around Tassie. Without the Smarts, we would never have known about Peppermint Bay Restaurant or this fine place to have a barbecue.
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Monday, March 17th – All good things must come to an end, and today, we will finish cruising in this great area and head into a marina in Hobart. After breakfast, we cast off our mooring and motor out of Sykes Cove. Raising the jib, we sail north in D’Entrecasteaux Channel heading for Hobart.
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By late morning, we are in the Derwent River and can see Mt Wellington in the distance. The wind is quite variable here, and we sympathize with the Sydney to Hobart sailboat racers who sometimes struggle to sail the last few miles up the river to Hobart. However, we have no restrictions regarding motoring, so we drop our sails and motor.
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Rodney has contacted several of his friends, and he has managed to find an empty berth in Kings Pier Marina which is right in downtown Hobart. There is no easy way for transients to get a berth here. This marina is owned by the city, and the office is several blocks away in a downtown building. All the berths are rented on a 12-month basis, and there is no one to contact regarding a short term stay. The person who rents the berth that we will use is off sailing for a while, and we will leave money to pay for the berth with a friend of his.
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It’s a tight little marina, and our berth was designed for a smaller boat. The wind is blowing, and it takes some careful maneuvering to shoehorn Avante into it. It is nice to have extra hands onboard, so that we can get the boat tied up quickly.
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Shortly after our arrival in Hobart, Rodney and Chris head home to Launceston. They have been a lot of fun to have on the boat and have been terrific guides for us. Our cruising together had been a spur of the moment trip for them, and they have some things to do at home. Rodney has had a great time sailing a J/160, and he has agreed to sign on for the upcoming passage to New Zealand. He will be returning in about a week to join us again.
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Our downtown marina is most convenient, and we find some good restaurants, a food market and a ships chandlery all within easy walking distance.
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Our time in Hobart is not all a vacation. With an upcoming ocean passage, there is some maintenance to do, and this is the first time we have been at a dock since leaving Brisbane. Work on the heads is never The Captain’s favorite activity, but the aft vacuum head has not been turning off properly. This problem had occurred two years ago in Vanuatu, and he found a blocked discharge line and cleaned it. With a good chandlery nearby, he is able to completely replace the hose this time.
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While working to fix the head, he also did some preventative maintenance by replacing seals and duckbill valves. Of course many of the key components for the aft head are buried inside the sink cabinet making access difficult.
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The forward head components are underneath the forward berth and more readily accessible. (That is after we have removed all bedding and struggled to move the bulky mattress into the main cabin.) There had been some minor issues with this head, and The Captain decides to service it as well. With his recent experience on the aft head, replacing seals and the duckbill valves proves easy, but things become challenging when a plastic coupling ring cracks during reassembly. The chandlery cannot get this part anytime soon, so The Captain has to glue the ring with epoxy and improvise a metal bracket to hold it together until a replacement can be obtained.
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After The Captain has finished his two “shitty” maintenance jobs, we focus on a little touring and go to some of the more popular tourist attractions. We visit another prison – a woman’s prison this time, and join a walking tour through the area that depicts the life of a woman prisoner. Having already read several books about the lives of prisoners, both men and women, it was heart-breaking for The First Mate to watch.
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We visit the MONA museum. MONA stands for the Museum of Old and New Art and is the largest privately funded museum in the southern hemisphere. To say it is very eclectic is putting it mildly. Located on the river a few miles north of Hobart, and it has its own high speed ferry boats.
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We are told that a visit to this museum is a must. We buy our tickets and ride “Sheep Class” on the ferry.
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The museum is located in a winery, and much of the museum is underground with several levels of exhibits and walls built into the side of cliffs.
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We certainly enjoyed the architecture of the museum and its wonderful grounds. Many of the themes of the artwork centered on grotesque sex and macabre death scenes. This certainly was not a place to bring a young child. Some of the exhibits, however, we enjoyed for their sense of fun. A waterfall of droplets spelled out various words and then dripped down as another one formed.
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The Captain most remembers the “Fat Porsche” which had been designed to resemble some of its overweight drivers. We had a pleasant day there, but it certainly was not to our taste. We must be very old fashioned!
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Hobart is a perfect size for exploring by foot and that we do. We spend an afternoon strolling through historic Battery Point which dates back to the early 1800’s. What an interesting area it is with its winding streets and beautifully restored colonial homes!
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We found Hobart to be a nice little city, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here exploring the area. Our downtown marina location was perfect giving us easy access to the city as well as easy provisioning and access to repair supplies. We could not have asked for more on this our first visit here.
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We would love to go back out and do some more cruising in the D’Entrecasteaux area. However, it is getting near to the end of March, and we want to sail across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand before the weather gets too cold. The First Mate is not looking forward to this passage, but Avante is in great shape. We will have Rodney sailing with us. All we need now is a good weather window for crossing the notorious Tasman Sea.