With the battery problem apparently under control, we decided to stick to our plan for the year which was to go up the Meleleuca Inlet to the Meleleuca settlement. After reading the cruising guide we were a little apprehensive about this as our boat would have just enough water under it to make it through some sections of the inlet. However, it turned out to be no problem, although we did get down to 0.4 metres under the keel at the shallowest section. It was a gorgeous day and lovely to see some sunshine again after the last few days. We motored up as far as advisable for yachts and secured the boat by rafting up to another which was tied up to the "jetty", then took the dinghy the rest of the way. The settlement consists of walkers huts, toilets, national park station, information sheds, a bird watching hide, and an airstrip. The airstrip was quite busy today with three planes in and out. We saw more people today in a very remote part of tassie than we have seen since Port Cygnet. The settlement is also near the tin mines and family homes of the King and Wilson families. Deni King was a legend in the area, mining tin and raising a family in this very remote area. We think we saw a orange bellied parrot which are endangered, and come here in the summer months to breed. We also saw a white sea eagle near our anchorage this morning. We are spending the night up here and then go back to Bathurst Harbour tomorrow.
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There has been a bit of a gap to the blog updating as we went up the Gordon River for a few days, and again had no Internet access. Back in Strahan now so continuing with the updates. Photos will go up in the next couple of days.
Today we invented a new weather gauge - the length of Lesley's knitting - with the measure for today being 12 cm. Following a somewhat windy night, we have had more rain today which has confined us to the boat, with the exception of a brief sojourn in the dinghy to explore this little bay. It is quite scenic - more than we thought when we got here yesterday. The entrance is narrow, with bushes on each side and it forms a frame for the channel and mountains beyond. We had a quiet day engaged in the usual wet weather activities until mid afternoon when Phil discovered the the house battery had gone completely flat, despite us running the engine daily. This resulted in a flurry of activity while we tried to figure out the problem. The battery charged up ok after we ran the motor for 1.5 hours but was discharging at a faster rate that it should have been. By a process of elimination, Phil deduced that the only remaining possibility was the the diode in the solar cell had stopped working which means that the current was draining out through the solar cell when there was insufficient sunlight to generate electricity. As we have had several,very cloudy days, this seemed plausible. So Phil disconnected the solar cell, and hey presto the battery held its charge.
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03/29/2012, Casilda cove, Bathurst channel
Port Davey and Bathurst channel are not short of mountains. There is very
Little flat ground and all the walks involve up hill and down dale trekking. It was a rainy morning, so we entertained ourselves playing scrabble until there as a break in the weather which allowed us to make a start on the climb up balmoral hill. Our neighbours on Rosinante were clearly thinking along similar lines, and we all ended up at the start of the walk around the same time. This was a relatively easy walk but on this occasion the break in the weather did not last long enough, so most of the walk was done in constant rain. The views made the wet clothes very worthwhile. We could see most of the Bathurst channel and through to the entrance to Bathurst harbour. The challenge for the rest of the day was juggling the wet clothes and shoes around to try to get them dry. Phil made some bread which we took over to share with Jeremy and Penny on Rosinante. They are clearly smitten with this part of the world and are a great source of local knowledge. They have cruised for many years mostly in southern climates, including South America. Their photos were spectacular - imagine sailing close to glaciers and ice bergs! After visiting them, we moved on to the next bay and settled in for the night.
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03/29/2012, Wombat cove, Bathurst Channel
We started to gain an appreciation of just how magnificent this place is from the top (almost in Lesley's case) of Mount Misery, the destination of our morning walk. There are no words to describe the feeling of looking out over the start of the Bathurst Channel which connects Port Davey to Bathurst Harbour, and the pictures can't capture it either. This whole area is all national park, and the only way to get here is to sail, walk, or take a light plane. There are no facilities, no shops, no power, and no phone or Internet reception. It would have to be one of the most peaceful places either of us has ever been. There was one island that I could see from our vantage point that was completely covered with green trees right down to the short rocky foreshore. In between the edge of the vegetation and the brown rocks is a line of limestone or marble all the way around the island, so it looks like someone has drawn a white line around it. Amazing. After lunch, we motored a bit further down the channel to Casilda Cove, an enchanting anchorage nestled in a small cove with trees right down to the water line. It turned out that we were sharing the cove with Jeremy Firth and his wife Penny on their boat Rosinante). Jeremy was responsible for writing much of the Tasmanian Anchorage Guide, which is one of the books that we have been making good use of. We hosted Penny and Jeremy for afternoon tea (David and Jenny - we cracked open uour lovely fruit cake for this occasion) and got some further inside information about good anchorages in Bathurst Harbour and Macquarie Harbour (further north). We went for a short row, and discovered a little brook up with we were able to guide the dinghy to the foot of a small waterfall. The brook at this point was only just wider than the dinghy so we were nestled in there. No doubt this place is just full of these little nooks waiting to be discovered. A perfect start to our Davey/Bathurst Harbour stay.
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03/29/2012, Wombat Cove, Bathurst Channel
It has been a long gap between Internet availability, so here we are in Strahan after having spent two weeks in Bathurst Harbour. We wrote our blogs every day- you will see that the weather was not very conducive to being out and about- so I will gradually upload them over the next couple of days.
With another early morning start (3.30am), we slid out of Recherché Bay and were on our way around the bottom of Tassie to Port Davey and Bathurst Harbour. We have had a few of these "night" sails on this trip. it is a lovely time of the day to be out there sailing in the right wind. It usually means that we are on our way to a new place and there is anticipation about what the next destination holds. The air is clear, stars are out , and if you are lucky there is some moonlight also. The water is dark around the boat and the phosphorescent creatures sparkle in the water. With a GPS the navigation is relatively easy, especially if you save the track that you took in to an anchorage, as you can follow the track knowing that, as long as you take tide into account, it is a safe route out. At 5.30am, we rounded South East Cape and we could just see some mist around the land. By 11am, there was sufficient wind to put the sails up -finally. By lunchtime we rounded South West Cape, and what a magnificent scene that was. Rugged rocky cape, a 3 metre swell (not as bad as it sounds), loads of birds calling,circling and diving, and a single fishing boat laying and picking up crayfish pots. Unfortunately, the only fish that Phil managed to catch were more barracoutta. He did have what was probably a tuna on the line at one point but all that we got out of that was bent hooks on the lure, and a tear in Phil's gloves where the line burnt through in his attempt to land the fish before the line ran out and snapped. We made our way up the west coast, realising that we were now facing north towards home. This particular section of the west coast is just spectacular - very rocky with lots of rocky islands scattered all over the place. The entry into Port Davey was quite easy, with the swell and wind dying down the further in we went. Before too much longer we were anchored in Wombat Cove, and having lovely warm showers before dinner.
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03/13/2012, Recherche Bay
Today started with a beautiful morning and continued in that vein. We had a gentle down wind sail to Recherché Bay under sunny skies, arriving just before lunch, to find a really beautiful bay. This is a relatively major camping area but with limited facilities - water and toilet only - and so we are sharing the area with a number of campers. Cockle Creek is just delightful - a sandy bottom creek with lovely clear pale green water. There is a sign just near Cockle Creek that claims the road in as the southernmost street in Australia. We went on a very interesting walk this afternoon to Fisher's Point which took us along the beach, over some rocks and through a mossy cool forest. Time now for a shower, and preparation for tomorrow when we will leave here at 4am for the 70 nautical mile trip "around the corner" to Port Davey. At some point tomorrow we will turn our faces north towards home, although we have a lot more holiday to go. We are very much looking forward to the two west coast destinations and hope that the promise of all the crushing guides holds true. No more photos until I can get the laptop charged up again which will be at least 5 days away.
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