Finally on February 17 our chance came - a break in the weather with some northerlies forecast! We bid adieu by sailing past both Carbon Neutral and the James Craig - plenty of waves and well wishes shouted out as we sail away past a navy ship (no waves!) then out beyond Point Perpendicular and Bowen Island.

We have 25-25 knots of wind off our port quarter and we fly along at over 6 knots, but by the following morning the wind gets light and fluky so we motor sail, making water as we go. The wind picks up in the afternoon so we turn off the engine and enjoy a great sail. We especially enjoy the dark, sparkly night as a new moon is upon us.

We are out beyond the great continent, out into the shallow and infamously bad-tempered waters of the notorious Bass Strait. Thankfully we have an easy-peasy time of it the entire trip, with a great many albatrosses and shearwaters for company.

To keep our luck and with an eye on the forecast we opted to make straight for Tasmania rather than stop anywhere en route.

We are forced to motor sail in the rainy early morning hours of February 20. Isabel has to hand steer for a few hours on her watch as the autohelm is acting up. We have been hunting down metal items in the vicinity of its compass and removing them so as not to interfere with its functioning. Then we have to reset it, turn Sonsie 360 to get it to rights. We must have missed something down there, under the Quarterberth where it is housed, because again it decides to pack up! Jim eventually awakes and we sort it out together.

It is a very foggy morning with patches of sunlight sometimes shining through in a hazy way, brightening the sea. We use our fog horn for three hours, boooooonk every two minutes.

At noon the fog is lifting; we sight land!

At 1400 we hear a curious dispatch crackling over the VHF: "Turn off your engine and prepare to be boarded"! There are no boats in sight and we wonder where the drama is. The show we are fortunate to be watching is all seabirds, swooping flocks and skimming hordes of them, going about their business over the waves, along the swells. Fantastic.

The last few hours Sonsie gets slapped about somewhat on her port side by choppy waves, and the wind gets tiresome. Perhaps it is weariness, but the final few miles are a bit of a slog.

Finally our destination is at hand; Jim at the helm turns into Wineglass Bay while Isabel goes forward to prepare the foredeck for anchoring. The wind and waves now came from astern and the motion much more pleasant. Sonsie is more cheerful, effervescent. Does she have more allure? For Joy! dolphins, so many dolpins suddenly surround us, chase us, accompany us, splashing and leaping and showing off to welcome us to Tasmania! No better welcome could be orchestrated by the cleverest of tourist marketing agencies.

Thank you Nature for your freedom-loving creatures of the seas!