Photo shows a galah, one of several species of cockatoos in Tasmania, this one in a southern suburb of Hobart with his (or her) mates.


We are camped in the village of Richmond, an oldy-worldy, arty-farty place, 25 km from Hobart where the middle class of Tasmania's capital like to spend the weekend, buying trinkets and jew jaws and eat and drink. Given a few more hundred years of history it could almost be an English village, although the screaming Aussie slang coming from the flocks of sulphur crested cockatoos flying overhead would give the game away.

We came back through Hobart after a diversion south east to Bruny Island, the long extended island that protects the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and have met up with, or are yet to meet up with, some old mates, both human and non-human.

Bruny Island is reached by a short ferry ride from Kettering, where there is a large marina. The island is almost cut in half, but just connected by the "Neck," a 5 km long isthmus between white sandy beaches. Along the way and in amongst the gum forests and coast we have seen and heard kookaburras, cockatoos, parrots, lorikeets, wallabies, pademelons and a few echidnas. Unfortunately, many of our old friends were squashed flat on the roads, a fate that falls to far too much Australian wildlife.



Bennett's wallabies at Adventure Bay, Bruny, many of which end up as road kill

Not so squashed flat were the human buddies. Most extraordinary was the sudden appearance of two people we haven't seen since Rebak marina in Malaysia, circa 2009. Gus and Gaby of SV Pampero hailed us as we were pedalling back to the ferry on Bruny. How they recognized us 2 old puffing fogeys on our overloaded $50 bikes in the middle of nowhere is a mystery!

We first met these two on the Arnhem Land Coast when Gus came over with a bottle of red wine after hearing us bleat on the radio that we couldn't find any alcohol in any of the remote Aboriginal settlements for Geoff's birthday.



"Hey, Saraoni": Gus and Gaby, SV Pampero: a surprising encounter at Great Bay, Bruny

We had already stayed a night at circumnavigator Kerry and her two kids' place in Mt Nelson, Hobart where they have swallowed the anchor, at least for a while.

We also met up with Jo and Arnold from Adelaide on a mission to replace their old boat "Just Jane", last seen with them in Finike, Turkey, in April 2011. Not coincidentally, Just Jane was also the name we gave to a charismatic two toed sloth that lived near the La Playita marina on the Balboa side of the Panama Canal. Jo and Arnie completed their circumnavigation quite quickly and are now looking for a smaller, more modern yacht, perhaps to sail into the Pacific again.

And then there are others in and around the Apple Isle: Tim and Nanette near Devonport, who sailed on two separate boats to SE Asia at the same time we did, Paddy and Carolyn on their way to Tasmania from Sydney on Kristianne, who completed their circumnavigation at the end of 2016.

From here we continue our hilly, windy route to the East Coast. Maria Island National Park, on the island of the same name, just off the town of Triabunna, apparently has hoards of wombats and a healthy population of Tasmanian Devils who are dying elsewhere from devil facial tumour disease, a nasty cancerous growth, which is passed from devil to devil when they bite each other.

Tasmanian drivers are pretty thick on the island's narrow roads, but have been very courteous, with only the odd bad tempered hoot. There are quite a few touring cyclists here and cycling generally is quite popular. Hobart has an excellent intra city cycling track and there are frequent signs to motorists to keep at least 1 metre away from cyclists on the highway when passing, not an easy task on these roads.

We're keeping an eye on cyclone development in the SW Pacific. The first cyclone of the season, TC Fehi, was born not far from Koumac on Grande Terre the very day we flew out of New Cal.(!), but stayed relatively tame until it hit NZ's South Island. TC Gita has just swept through the Samoas and no-one knows quite what it is going to do next apart from intensify. Here in Tasmania, the weather makes its cyclical temperate gyrations, from warm to hot northerlies before a cooling front. The East of Tasmania is surprisingly dry, but we have just had a thunderstorm roll through to deliver rain and cooler temperatures, good for cycling up all those steep Tassie hills.



Bruny Island beach near the Neck




Bruny's east coast



Fluted Cape, South Bruny National Park




Tassie's answer to the pohutukawa: a bloodwood tree in flower




The Neck and Mt Wellington on the Tasmanian mainland in the distance from Fluted Cape