The weather was not the best for sailing down the west coast and had resigned ourselves to waiting for a good window to do so. We then met 5 gentlemen from NSW on a yacht named "Marion J" who were heading down the west coast and claimed there was a window the following day. My windows and others it seems vary significanlty. We did leave with them and had southerly winds for the first 12 hours with 3 to 4 metre swell and a sea running on top. We were lucky in the middle of the night when we ran over the floats of a craypot - 4 miles out to sea - unlit. Luckily the bouys passed along the hull without entangling the propellor. If that had happened I would have been one unhappy traveller. But it didn't.

We entered the gates of hell (actually Hells Gates) the entrance to Macquarie Harbour at dawn. Dead calm and very beautiful. Looking forward to spending a couple of weeks inside this magnificent waterway which includes the pristine Gordon River.