Motoring�out of Barker Inlet�we nearly suffered an ignominous grounding in the cut, less than 1 Nm from home. ...not�a good look for the first day of a long cruise, so we�went the long way out around the old Black Pole.��
Down past Seacliff, we checked�with the binoculars to see if Gayle and Beau were on the beach but�they were not to be seen.�Further south we�found some wind, unfortunately from the SE. At Cape Jervis at dusk we�admired the windmills stark on the dry hills and then turned back to overnight at Wirrina marina. We timed our entry to Backstairs Passage the next day, but it was horrible despite our monitoring of weather channels and tide tables. The�sea continued to heave and lump as we dodged cray pots and lines along the coast, so after a night and a day we put in to Robe. We berthed in a crayboat's place in the little harbour, which seemed fitting, given all the trouble they cause us along this coast. We keep a very careful lookout to avoid the small buoys and floating lines�but even so�we sometimes come to a jerky halt and whoever feels best insulated�must go over the side to wrench lines off the rudder or prop.�
We celebrated New Years Eve at the pub on the Robe foreshore and fully experienced the party music from an anchorage off the main beach. Next day I discovered that the prescription sunglasses I left in the Robe library during our passage to Adelaide in 2003 were no longer there: perhaps I should have�enquired after them�earlier.�
This touristy little town has cappuccino and the hardware store provided fittings for whatever Will was maintaining at the time, and we waited there to organise to take Pauline, a good friend from my time working for Novita Children's Services in Adelaide, and her family, sailing. They seemed to enjoy themselves, altho the wind was so strong we were all nearly blown off the water. That was the last time I saw Pauline. A few months later she�died after a dive in Palau. I miss Pauline, her wry view of life, and the fun we could have had. I had planned to meet up with her many times in the years to come.
We sailed on to Portland on the 5th Jan in a SW, departing at 14:30 and overnighting with only the jib up. Next morning common dolphins rode with us, gannets dived and short tailed shearwaters and albatross floated above the swells. We raced across the stretch of flat water at Portland with a strong SW and met Ted Meissner at the fishing wharf. He and Carmel shared lots of cruising stories with us, lent us their car, took us bird watching and arranged for us to use a mooring in the harbour. Ted inspired us with the idea of cruising Europe in a canal barge.