We spent a busy 1 ½ weeks in Hobart picking tomatoes, weeding, and celebrating a significant birthday and then, when we saw a nice big weather window approaching, took the bus back to Beauty Point. 

We left Rusalka in RBYC for a week while visiting family and friends, all the while keeping an eye on the weather for opportunities to continue eastward on our circumnavigation of Bass Strait.

Apollo Bay is a pleasant beach town, with lots of families strolling the streets, fishing, playing in the waves, and generally enjoying the weekend.

After less than 24 hrs on the mooring we noticed some chafing of our line where it was sliding back and forth on the bow roller. 

Devonport was enjoyable despite the fuel spill from the sunken tugs wafting past us with each turn of the tide.  Our Devonport friends, Mark and Russell, were super hospitable as ever, bringing us home grown produce, home baked sourdough crumpets (YUM!), and home made jam and taking us on a Sunday drive to Wynyard for a fish and chips lunch and to check out the berthing possibilities there.

The next day we pressed on toward the Tamar River.  We’d been in contact with Cocomarje, another Hallberg Rassy 40 from West Australia, and wanted to meet them and see their boat before they left Beauty Point.

Saturday there was a window to get through the canal and although it meant motoring into 15-20kts of wind and 1.5-2.5m swell we took the opportunity to finally leave Orford!

We had a lovely sail up to Schouten Island and anchored in Crockett’s Bay, next to Argos of Sydney. 

Four nights and three days… We got back to Kettering on Thursday afternoon and Anna, our housesitter, drove us home so that we could pick up our car. 

Pedra Branca is one of 3 rocky outcrops south of Tasmania.

On Saturday morning we headed toward the Dennison Canal, accompanied by a joyous mob of dolphins.

It was a relatively short run (32nm) from Bridport to Foster Inlet.  We arrived around 4pm in a 15kt SW, which was rolling strongly into the bay. 

We were assured that the berth that we were in had enough water for our 2 metre draft.  It was interesting then, to see the depth gauge reading 0 metres below the keel well before low tide.

We’ve had a few days here at the Mersey Yacht Club, catching up on chores and enjoying the delights of Devonport.

Sommers Bay is a lovely anchorage for northerly winds, but it is exposed to the south and gets a nasty chop in any sort of southerly.  Just as I was beating the eggs for breakfast we heard the wind pick up from the south, a bit earlier than we expected! 

We have a full cockpit tent that we use when at anchor on rainy days, but it is too restrictive to use while sailing.

The weather has been quite benign, with light winds and comfortable temperatures, so we don’t feel in any rush to go home!  We left Wineglass Bay and motored south into Mercury Passage, passing Ile de Phoques, with it’s huge seal colonies. 

We enjoyed our stay at the Tamar Yacht Club, sleeping in and eating out.  I thought I might get a bit of exercise and ride my folding bike (that we’ve been lugging across Bass Strait and back) to the shops to get some cheese to go with the champagne we’d planned to have in the evening. 

The wind at Oberon Bay howled all night at 25 kts, gusting to 30, but we managed a reasonable sleep.  We got up at 5:15 and set off in the dawn light with the intention of stopping at San Remo, on the eastern side of Westernport Bay. 

Binalong Bay turned out to be a horribly rolly anchorage, with the swell coming in on our quarter and slapping the hull outside our aft cabin.  At midnight we couldn’t take the noise any more and decamped for berths further forward! 

We were enjoying breakfast this morning while the winds blew moderately from the north.  Suddenly the anchor alarm went off and we could see from the track on the chart plotter that we were indeed slowly moving southward.

We joined in on the Parade of Sail, along with hundreds of other boats, to welcome the tall ships and other wooden boats to Hobart for the Australian Wooden Boat festival. 

After one or two false starts we set off from Kettering on Saturday, the 22^nd Dec.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a gentle motor-sail across Storm Bay.

Warning - this post is a long one! I decided to tell the whole story of our trip to Denmark in one post.

It was a long, but easy ride down from Jervis Bay to Bryan’s Corner on Frecyinet Peninsula.  Seventy-five hours of mostly motor-sailing, through easy seas with light or no winds. 

We’re on our way!  We left Newcastle at about 3pm on Wed., once the SE wind had eased, and motor-sailed through the night.

Just a short blog to say that Rusalka arrived in Newcastle at around 4 pm.  They made very good time yesterday and today with wind off the beam and a favourable current, reaching a maximum of 10.4kt over the ground!  More details tomorrow, but just a note to say all are well and enjoying a well earned whiskey.

Rusalka is still trudging on towards Newcastle.  While the wind is now favourable, they’ve battled a current of 2kts against them all day and so are only averaging around 4 – 4.5kts.  They are expecting the current to ease in the next few hours and are still hoping to make Newcastle on Saturday.

It was quite a wild night. The severe weather was a series of events beginning on Monday afternoon and finishing early Tuesday. The effect of storm meant we could not go on our planned course to Eden due to wind and wave strength and direction that persisted afterwards.

Alex sent in the text for today's blog. They're nearing the halfway mark and getting ready for tonight's bad weather.

The topic of the messages that went back and forth with Rusalka today was “Weather”! 

Here’s today’s report from Alex, with a few pictures:

I (Jackie) took the easy way home, by plane, on Easter Sunday.  Alex, David and Anne continued to prepare the boat and wait for the right weather to leave. 

Since we had decided not to take Rusalka further afield than Marlborough Sounds, we hired a car to do a short road trip to explore the South Island further. 

We woke up in Muzz’s Cove on Monday morning to heavy rain and low visibility, but decided to move on to another bay in Pelorus Sound. 

We booked the ferry to Wellington for Sunday for a short getaway, expecting to return on Wednesday.  Cyclone Gita was coming, but it was uncertain when, where or how hard it would hit NZ. 

Monday was a windy day with strong NW’s, but we decided to head up Endeavour Inlet to Furneaux Lodge.  Some of the resorts here have moorings that they allow visitors to use for free – with the expectation that you’ll have a coffee or meal in their restaurant.  They will even ferry you to and from your boat in their dinghy. 

Extra-tropical cyclone Fehi was heading our way and had been forecast to hit NZ several days in advance.  We came back from our mini-trip to the Abel Tasman NP and tied ourselves securely into our berth to await the storm.

Our original plan was to head off towards the Marlborough Sounds as soon as we were all settled on the boat, but there was an “extra-tropical cyclone” forecast for Thursday which sounded pretty nasty so we decided to be in the Nelson marina when that hit. 

Showers, beer, whisky, laundry, shopping, no watches.... we have arrived

I've had a phone call from Alex.  It looks like they arrived early this morning and cleared customs around 10:30am NZ time.  The photo is from Andrew Boon. I'll update when I hear more.

News flash! Rusalka can be seen passing Farewell Spit from the lighthouse webcam (just a dot on the left hand of the picture at 7:49pm): http://www.takeabreak.co.nz/webcams/126/farewell_spit_webcam

1230 Wednesday 24 January 2018

We are closing in on our distination. We will arrive on Friday 26 Jan. Customs has been advised of ETA 1400 on 26 Jan.

Sorry, no pictures from Alex today, but here is today's report from Rusalka:

ADDENDUM: 17:50 21 Jan. Ten minutes ago, just as the spaghetti bolognese was being served, we passed the halfway mark!!!

9am Fri. 19 Jan: Quite bumpy overnight. Winds 24-28kts, gusting into 30's as predicted. Seas mainly wind waves, not too bad, occasionally nasty.  Water in cockpit every now and then gets down below! 

The weather gods (Predictwind and MetBob) decided that there would be a good window to leave from this evening onward, so Alex and Bill brought the boat up to town from Kettering this morning, stopping to fuel up at the RYCT dock and to raise the CYCT burgee!

We'd made a long-standing promise to our friend Pam to watch the Hobart fireworks from the water with her nephew and his wife who are visiting from the US. 

After many weeks of maintenance chores and getting ready for summer cruising, we finally got away for a few days to make sure everything is still working and to remind ourselves how to sail! 

Back in Kettering after a relaxed 4 1/2 motor and sail from Kermandie.