We visited Errol and Dot at the Grampians for a few days. They were surprised, but luckily had no guests so we could enjoy their company for a couple of days. They took us�walking up a private path to a dramatic view point,�Dot bravely climbing on her post-fracture ankle.�We shared red wine and warm company before Errol left on fire duty and we drove back to Portland through the drifting smoke from fires on the Eyre Peninsula.
Finally the wind turned and we sailed to Port Fairy with a forecast 15 knot northerly. A bit of drama: when we dropped sail and started the motor just outside the entrance we found we had no power. An over-the-side job again for me: unwinding weed from the prop.�Well, the�harbour is so attractive and the sea was still rough so we�stayed a few nights; the commodore of the Yacht club�hosted us to tea, and�invited us to use the showers, and we enjoyed Port Fairy's cappucino's, art galleries and sheepdog trials. I would like to attend another folk festival here.
We surveyed�the heavy surf on walks around the island and it calmed enough over a couple of days for us to head out on the 17th and across to Apollo Bay for a slightly hairy entrance broadside to�the line of the surf and a calm night inside the breakwater. Next day, down around Cape Otway and up to Queenscliff with a moderate SW, aiming to arrive at the heads at 4pm or later for the flood tide. The entrance was easy and�my close attention to the land profile and all the marks�was unnecessary.� I have spent hours studying the entrance, it's channels and marks, and favour the western channel as it is not used by ships. The lights and marks on the headland must be correctly aligned�as you enter or you risk drifting into a surf break close on the west side or a shipping channel on the east; the boat slides around in swirls of current as the depths change abruptly, and ships loom rapidly nearer.� However, as on every previous occasion�we experienced benign, gently heaving water and good viz.�We tied up to a Nat Parks buoy at Queenscliff at 5:50 pm and Jenny and�Brendan and his friend�Hugh came down to the boat for�Brendan's birthday dinner; we�sailed out to Pope's Eye to look at the seals and the gannets, returning into a brilliant sunset.