Happy New Year! I cannot believe how fast this year is going and how long it is since our last blog!
We had a very laid back and extremely enjoyable Christmas with Margie and Andy. We ate like kings, with delights such as home made halloumi, home made tortellini (which we all helped to make), filled with left over duck (from our Peking duck night) and home made ricotta and a huge seafood paella on Christmas Day. The weather was very mixed – from hot sunshine, to evenings around the fire. We had a good walk on Mt Wellington on Christmas day, but the cloud was down and so the views weren’t spectacular, meaning we’ll just have to go up again another day. We borrowed Andy and Margie’s car one day and went to Mt Field National Park, where we had a fantastic walk. It was 8 degrees in the car park and was sleeting when we left, but the sun came out and we remembered how much we enjoy being in the mountains. We headed back to the boat on 27th and had a day sail out on 28th to watch the first boats coming in from the Sydney Hobart Race. We tacked out and joined hundreds of others as Wild Oats came in to take her 8th line honours. It was quite exciting as we maneuvered around, avoiding not only Wild Oats, but mainly the hundreds of spectator boats following her. We had to cross the procession and ended up dipping the bowsprit and taking a wave the length of the boat from all the wakes! A wind shift saw us tacking back in and we could see second placed Commanche sailing down, with only a few boats in support.
We stayed in the marina and did some work on the coach roof, sanding and priming and masking all the windows.
Leaving Kettering, we sailed out to a calm bay called the Duck Pond on Bruny Island. Here we walked to the Bruny Island Smokehouse and whisky-tasting bar. It turns out that Tasmania is producing some pretty good single malts. Fortunately for us, Andy has a good selection as they are fearsomely expensive. You can get a bottle of Cragganmore for around $70 and the Tassie ones start at around $130 and go up over $250! We bought a little piece of smoked salmon and a small piece of smoked cheddar. We met Mike and Larissa and their two boys, who live on a similar boat to ours (an Eric) called Erik. They are great fun and came over for a drink in the evening. On the move again the next day, we had a good sail down to Rabbit Island in Port Esperance, where we spent an uneventful Hogmany, with a dram and an early night!
We came back to Kettering and anchored for one night before coming alongside the visitor’s berth so we could pick Andy and Margie up to come for an overnight sail to Little Taylor’s Bay. We had a really lovely sail down, with Margie on the helm and all our sails up. Tuarangi was feeling very sluggish, as we continued to carry our hull eco-system around. Haul out is much needed. We anchored off a beautiful little beach and went ashore hunting and gathering. Margie donned her wetsuit and soon had a monster abalone (paua) and we could pick a load of oysters off the rocks. Suddenly the wind shifted, putting us on a lee shore, so we headed back to the boat to re-anchor. While this was going on, Margie started to shuck the oysters and accidentally sliced her finger with the knife. To cut a long story short, we decided it needed professional treatment and so we motor sailed back to Kettering, arriving just ahead of a huge thunderstorm. Margie and Andy spent the rest of Saturday evening in ED and 9 stitches later, were allowed home! The next day we finished all the topside painting and Andy and Margie came for dinner.
Then, finally, it was haulout. On a beautiful calm morning, Simon reversed the boat onto the slings and Tuarangi was hoisted from the water. With 4 slings, she wasn’t too squashed and it all went very smoothly. We could instantly see why we had been going so slowly, but after Simon had a go with the water blaster and then sanding, the hull didn’t look too bad. Andy and Margie came to help on day 2 and by the end of that day we made great progress and had all the antifouling on, and the topsides prepped for painting. We did that yesterday, along with replacing the anodes, painting the tiki and one or two other things. She looks a million times better. We had to wait to get the prop done with propgold today and will go back in early tomorrow. Andy’s neighbour Ian kindly let us stay in his house and Andy fed us royally, hosting dinner parties almost every night. We have also got the use of their friend’s car for 3 weeks. We cannot thank them enough for their generosity. Everyone we have met has been incredibly friendly and helpful, and we have been offered houses, beds, cars, meals, tools, laundry options, moorings and even cups of tea. The staff at Oyster Cove marina couldn’t have been more accommodating and it has been a really great place to stay. Off tomorrow to Cygnet Folk Festival for the weekend! Watch this space for what happens there.