Year One
Date: 31/3/2008 11.00
Weather: sleet, rain, wind, blue sky any ones guess
Location: Coalbins Bay, Recherche 43'34S 146'54E
Author: Peter

Still yacht bound. On Friday we made our way further south to Recherche Bay (all the locals pronounce it "research"). The French explorer who discovered it described it as an isolated bay at the bottom of the world and not much seems to have changed. This bay is surrounded by heavily forested national park, its waters are clear but very cold. 11 degrees celsius according to our instruments so no doubt we are getting closer to Antarctica and swimming is not on the plans. Not even in a wetsuit, or two, or three, or as many as I've got even though we would love to go diving here in the giant kelp forests that seem to surround the bay and its entrances. A single road (the furthest road south in Australia) ashore leads to camping grounds (still full of people) along the western shore of the bay. Anything past here is only accessible by walkers or boats. For those Sydney-siders, Pigsties Bay, the northern arm of Recherche was the final resting place of the James Craig before its resurrection by the Sydney Maritime Museum.

A constant flow of lows has got Ocean Star and Jura awaiting a weather window before heading the 70 nm round to Port Davies. The wind in the Southern Ocean just outside the bay has been blowing a constant 35+knots with predictions today to get over 40 from the west, the direction we wish to go. I woke up this morning to a white yacht covered in sleet the size of rice grains. Since then we have had blue sky followed by rain followed by blue sky followed by more sleet. It just constantly changes. The wind with the sleet is just vicious.

Since arriving we got a quick trip ashore to view a life size sculpture of a three month old southern right whale.



We have spent an afternoon aboard Ocean Star, a 43ft perry cataraman, very very nice. Kylie has been painting (improving in leaps and bounds). I have been doing some odd jobs around the boat. We have been reading, and watching hero's from chapter one to the begging of chapter three. The cold is causing condensation on all the windows and hatches so i also get to spend time each day chamois them dry.

We hope the weather breaks soon so we can go for a walk out to the ruins on Fishers Point. However if we are still yacht bound in another 5 days time or we run out of easter eggs Port Davies may have to wait. I still don't like the cold and at this rate I'm going to run out of clothes quickly.

Mum and Dad fly out to the northern hemisphere tomorrow for a month break so we hope they have a great time.

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Year One
Date: 26/3/2008 13.00
Weather: Its raining its pouring, the old man is snoring(stayed in bed real late)
Location: Deep Hole South Port 43'27S 146'28E
Author: Peter

The cruising grounds of South Eastern Tasmania are huge and the scenery just keeps changing every place you stop. We have dropped anchor in a beautiful spot adjacent to the end of a light gauge railway that used to carry limestone from Ida Bay to barges on a wharf wear we are now stopped. The railway now operates as a tourist spot so we get to hear the little engine every two to three hours. The waters have become crystal clear again, the sand pure white, with the beginnings of sub tropical rain forest meeting the water. The train travels through this for almost an hour so it must be a magnificent ride.






The fishing has become ridiculously easy. If you don't catch something in the first two minutes there is something wrong, and you will catch Kylie at some point in the day chucking some fish she has caught back into the water. Yesterday afternoon we got a chance to explore the fore shore area before the rain set in. We had a great time playing around with the track switches and finding old ruined carriages in the undergrowth of ferns.



We are currently boat bound and will be tomorrow as well but this is only the second time on the journey so far so you don't really notice it. It gives us time to catch up on any little jobs we need to do and gives Kylie time to practice her painting. When the weather clears we are hoping to walk a three hour return track that we have found at the end of the railway that will take us to Southport Lagoon.
A rough and treacherous coast along our walk back from Southport Lagoon

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Year One
Date: 25/3/2008 12.00
Location: on the move in the Channel
Author: Peter
Happy Easter everybody.

We have been very slack (busy) again so we need to do a big catch up.
We left Cygnet on the 18th and had a very slow sail back into the Huon River where we spent the night at Surges bay(43 12S, 146 59E). The Huon river is slightly brown in colour stained by the tannins of the surrounding trees. It is deep all the way to the edge, surrounded by steeply sloped hills. The river itself is full of fish farms and the shore seems to contain orchards of different types. We have not found a Huon pine on the banks of the Huon much to our disappointment, and I have been searching through the shore, full of drift wood for any nice pieces to carve, but it is all full of toredo worm.

The next morning we drifted up river, and were passed by tugs slowly pulling fish farms up to Port Huon(43 09S, 146 58E) for processing. Why they don't have a processing ship seems a little strange as each day there was a constant procession of the slowly moving farms. We stopped for lunch at Riseley Bay (43 08S, 146 58E)having run out of time to make it all the way to Franklin, where we enjoyed the warmth of the afternoon and Kylie did a spot of fishing before slowly drifting back to Port Huon. We had planned to spend the night here having a bbq on the shore in the picnic grounds but the nice anchorages were all taken up with fish farms (which are huge) so after dropping off a flathead to some very grateful fishermen of Port Huon Yacht Club wharf we motored back to Surges Bay. That evening after a walk around the tracks ashore Kylie gave me a hair cut. I think she was getting sick of some of my cool wild hair do's. It took a little longer than normal with big chunks of blond hair flying out the back of the boat but Kylie was happy, so it must be good because she is allot more fussy than I am and later Darren did not even notice.

Surges Bay




Prior to the haircut

Thursday morning finally saw some breeze and we scooted along under headsail only back down to Cygnet passing another alloy cruising boat from France (not that i am competitive). We walked back into town, did some shopping and picked up another bag of fresh apples from a farms roadside stall. My gosh these are so nice. The big supermarkets have made us all forget how good real fruit can taste. I don't normally eat apples but these are so good its like eating a lolly. Soon after arriving back from shopping Ron paddled over from Beagle 3 to borrow some tools. We must have the only descent tool box around as we have now helped out a few boats. It makes me worry about what tools I am missing and who will help us out when we need something?? Just as it started to rain The Eggins family arrived for their weekend on the boat. They brought with them KFC for dinner. Mmmmmm, how good rubbish food tastes when you have not had it for a while. It's funny but we now crave things that we can't have, bad things, like hot chips occasionally.

The next morning after a breakfast of Eggs Benedict we set sail for Isthmus Bay and Bruny Island Neck Game Reserve(43 15S, 147 20E).



We also farewelled Beagle 3, they were off to Queensland and then round the top to Darwin. Hope we catch up with them in Queensland. As the breeze was once again light it took a fair portion of the day to get to Isthmus Bay, including having lunch on the move, but Josh and Darren still had fun steering the boat. On our arrival I gave Josh a very quick fishing lesson as he had been dieing to have a go all day and within 20 seconds of having lowered his line into the water he had something> although no one believed him. Kylie then took Josh and Caitlyn in the duck fishing while Helen read a book in the hammock on the bow and Darren getting jealous of the fun his kids were having dropped a line in off the stern. Once we had enough legal size flathead we stopped for an early dinner, but not before I cleared the cockpit cleaning the three fish we had kept. Sorry Darren I did not mean to lose your fish (the biggest and most slippery)over the back, especially after having done all the hard work cleaning it.

After dinner we all headed to shore. A very long ducky ride over the shallows. Dinner was early so we could walk up to the lookout and watch the penguins come to shore. Even though it was now overcast, it was still a beautiful view, the channel on one side and the southern ocean on the other.
The Eggins Family




The surf was perfect, peeling for a left hander into a barrel not quite big enough to stand in over a small bank with no one on it. I am starting to wish a brought my surfboard. The penguins were a little sneaky that night not coming ashore near the viewing platform but Josh found them already in the scrub moving up to their burrows. They were so cute, even the really really fat one we saw right next to the path. Mutton birds also nest in the same area, so around sunset before the penguins they started to come in. Hundreds of them, and one swooping so close to Helen's head she could feel the air move around its wings. Being in an exposed spot off the neck we moved the yacht into Simpsons Bay off Aikens Point (43 15S, 147 18E) before going to sleep well after the children's bed times.

Saturday morning, Darrens birthday, started off beautifully with clear blue skies and the promise of a nice warm day. Don't know what happened next but it was soon overcast and cool with little to no breeze. We had planed to sail to Little Taylors Bay but the wind had other ideas. In the end I decided that Randalls Bay(43 14S, 147 07E) was a better option(a good decision in the end as the racing fleet out in the middle continued to go nowhere) and we dropped anchor mid afternoon. To give Darren a break I took the kids and Helen ashore to play Boules. What a great game in soft sand. Fun was had by all. While Darren slept Kylie baked and by our return she had a chocolate cake already on the cooling rack. Darren and I had a go of his birthday present, Electronic battle ship before I started the bbq dinner. Joking Darren started suggesting weird toppings for his cake thinking we would not have the ingredients but to his surprise we had all he asked for so after dinner we were all singing happy birthday over a chocolate sauced, hundred and thousand, cake with Darren blowing out our Nemo birthday candle. Hope you had a happy birthday Darren.

Easter morning. I have forgotten what it is like to have little kids around on days like easter. Josh was up early, very excited having found an easter bunny print on the window above his head. He and Caitlyn chit chatted away until Josh opened the hatch and the egg hunt was on. Soon we were all up and after chocolate rationing and breakfast we all went for a walk over to Mickeys beach. A cute little secluded beach 15 minutes away.



The day was so clear and warm so after another game of boules, kids vs parents vs us, we discovered it was lunch and headed back to the boat for a meal of this and that. A gentle sea breeze had now come in, so after lunch Caitlyn hand steered us back to Cygnet where we prepared to drop them off.

Helen's mother who lives five minutes away, rung us up and invited everyone around for roast dinner. After a real shower we then got shown around the property. Kylie and I both drooled. A big block, Massive vegy patch, Chicken pen, a creek across the back where the kids swim on a hot day and a platypus lives. Wild blackberry bushes full of fruit, and a cosy little house. Just perfect, except no workshop,YET. All this and we would have little to no mortgage. It really is starting to get me thinking. Dinner was perfect, Helen's mum is cool, and they sent us on our way with some home grown produce.

That night back on the boat we received a call from the Davis's, they were free Monday and were hoping to join us. No problems, we love company and we were still in a spot easy to pick up from so the next morning there they were ready to, and they had brought a really nice packed lunch. We worked back out of Cygnet under main and jib as the breeze was light, Peter D steering and enjoying a yacht that actually sailed unlike the ones they were used to hiring in the Whitsundays. Mathew and Katherine working the jib each tack. With the sea breeze starting to build Peter was looking forward to a spinnaker run home later that day. We stopped for lunch at Eggs And Bacon Bay (43 14S, 147 05E), a tiny little bay surrounded by a few holiday shacks. Although the beach was not pure white it was still pretty and after the extravagant, delicious lunch, we head to shore and played another game of boules. Kids vs parents vs us. The best day of the long weekend, warm and delightful, the day disappeared quickly, and soon it was time to set sail home. Karen now steered but the wind had swung back to the north killing the sea breeze, so we once again worked. Sorry pete no spinnaker. To our surprise Darren and Helen were back in the area so we all decided to go up to the pub for dinner. A lovely evening was had by all and thanks Peter and Karen for lunch and dinner.
The Davis Family


They even got to try out some of the puzzles I use on my school kids, and Peter showed me a new way to clean flathead which at the rate Kylie catches them will trialled not that far away.

Darren also happened to remind me it was states time, which yes I am missing. I do love to race so you had better watch out once we are back expect us soon. That gives you all a couple of years to practice.

And to work, sorry guys, but I am definitely not missing it. To think how slow it goes at work all the way up to easter and how fast it seems to have gone this year, we must be having a great time.

PS. looks like we are heading for QLD!

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Year One
Date: 17/3/2008 9.00pm
Weather: The warmest night we have had so far, could actually sit in the cockpit for dinner
Location: Cygnet 43'12S 147'05E
Author: Kylie

We have a big decision to make....
A few obstacles have been thrown in our way over the last few months and they seem to be making it very hard to get to New Zealand. Already we are running late, we had hoped to be leaving for New Zealand about now but with the hold up with the mainsail and now International Registration it looks like the earliest we can leave is the beginning of May. This might not sound that bad except that the later we leave the more chance there is of horrible weather whilst crossing from Tasmania to New Zealand. It would also mean that when we arrive in New Zealand we will need to leave almost immediately for the weather period to head north. So our other option is to go from Tasmania north to the Whitsundays and New Caledonia this year. We will make this decision in the next few days so stay tuned.

WE NEED YOUR HELP with an alteration to our boat name. The name "Jura" is already registered so we are thinking of adding a word in front of Jura. Jura means "sea" so it would be 'something sea' Any suggestions? anything... as silly as it may sound. The english word will be translated so even if it sounds funny in english may work well translated. Please, please please email us or reply at the bottom of this report.

I caught my first fish a few days ago. Actually I caught about 9-10 fish! They were just jumping on my line, I think it was cause they knew I wouldn't eat them!! (by the way I've never fished before) I rowed the rubber duck towards the shore, tossed the line in (Peter had given me some brief instructions) I felt a nibble almost immediately and slowly pulled some line in, suddenly my fishing rod tip bent over and I knew I had a fish. I reeled it in, screamed like a girl when I saw the flathead on my hook then rowed back to the yacht with the fish dragging in the water (sorry little fishy) so Peter could remove it from the hook. He was probably big enough to keep but we tossed him back anyway. My next attempt was much the same except this time I had a bucket in the rubber duck so I didn't drag the fish all the way back to the yacht.

Tasmania finally turned up the temperature - 37 degrees WOW. Peter thought it was even hot enough to go for a swim, albeit a short one. He got in, he swam straight back for the ladder, he got out.

We spent 4 nights in the Duckpond and then moved onto Woodbridge (43'09S 147'14E) for lunch and Missionary Bay (43'10S 147'19E) for the evening. Being the anti social people that we are we chose to anchor on the opposite side of the bay to the boats already enjoying the anchorage. We can count the number of people we know in Tasmania on our fingers and toes so it surprised us when a rubber duck came shooting across the bay towards us. It was John and David, we met them on the cruise in company to Flinders Island. We moved the boat across the bay and joined them for a bbq aboard Pandora along with Johns wife Helen and another vessel with 3 friends. Again the Tasmanians tried to make us enjoy their freshly caught fish. This time it was Atlantic Salmon.

The following day we had a bbq lunch on the beach before heading to Ford Bay (bit of a dud anchorage!) 43'12S 147'22E

We are now in Cygnet on a friends mooring. Tomorrow we will head up the Huon River.

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Year One
Date: 13/3/2008 12.00
Weather: Clear Sky, very little breeze, meant to get up to 24 degrees today!!
Location: Duck Pond 43'08S 147'21E
Author: Kylie

the quick rundown...
Left Little Fancy Bay last Wednesday and moved south west to Randalls Bay 43'14S 147'07E. Went for a pleasant walk through the bushland behind the beach. Thursday lunch time we sailed back north to Hobart in a beautiful south easterly. We spent the long weekend (their Labour Day weekend) in Hobart watching the Tasmanian NS14 State Titles. Tuesday morning we sailed south again and have spent the last few nights in "The Duckpond".

A bit more detailed...
Yes, we went back and forth a bit but it really isn't that far back to Hobart and we had a few good reasons for heading back there (not just to watch some racing!) See originally we had planned to borrow a mooring at Cygnet 43'12S 147'05E for the weekend(about half way through the channel) so we raced down that way last week but the mooring fell through and we decided to sail back instead.

We needed to get an upgrade for my computer so we could run i-tunes (i-pod the biggest saga ever...have owned the thing since before Christmas and have only just got it working). We needed to sort out some overseas insurance blah blah blah.

So Friday we caught up with Darren and he drove us around to a few shops and then Peter helped him fix his rudder box and made him new jib sheets and I went to watch Joshua play his first game of flipper ball (don't know about you but I'd never heard of it). It looked like allot of fun, a bit like the games we used to play in the pool as a kid but with an umpire and proper nets. They even wore the funny hats water polo players wear. Actually it was like a non aggressive version of water polo...2 teams with a net at either end, pass the ball between players and score in net. Josh scored the first goal of the game and his team won convincingly.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday we watched the racing and Peter wished he was out there racing too. It was quite obvious that Tasmania doesn't get light wind nearly as often as in NSW. They all looked allot more comfortable when they got 20knot winds on the final day. The winner was Nick and James in Hedgehog.

Monday evening we went for dinner at Paul and Ruths house along with the Davis' and Eggins. Paul is building a 45ft catamaran in a shed in his backyard. Like Peter, this isn't his first boat....crazy aren't they!!! Paul is building the boat with a mate so he owns a share in the boat. They are recording their hours spent working on the boat and will own a share depending on their time spent (or something like that). Peter was extremely jealous, Paul has two workshops, one is taken up with the boat the other one the size of our old house plus a bit has some woodworking equipment Peter can only dream of. And lets not even talk about the house, I could spend a whole paragraph describing the size and number of rooms, the spa, sauna, indoor pool, billiards room. Its so big it needs two kitchens!! Ruths famous architect father designed the house and Paul built it. They even had a flying fox for the kids. And it was about 5 minutes from Hobart city centre on a very large block of land. Dinner was very yummy too. Peter says Paul "is living my life". He also used to be a woodwork teacher.

Tuesday morning we sailed from Hobart down to the duck pond on Bruny Island and have been here for a few days. We were told this was a very sheltered bay in any conditions...well it is but it isn't what we expected. It is a very narrow bay and we both anticipated it being surrounded by high cliffs but it isn't there are just some rolly hills. We did quite a walk yesterday afternoon. We started by following a old dirt road track which was overgrown in many places which kind of skirted a hill and took us around to another bay. From here we went up a kangaroo/wallaby track that lead towards the peak of the hill. However the track petered away into nothing and we bush bashed back down the other side to the yacht.

Looking over Barnes Bay


The biting swan!!!

We have been doing a bit of boat maintenance and additions. Yesterday Peter went up the mast and we attached a saddle and block to one of the spreader arms so we can hoist a courtesy flag when in other countries. We have extended the combing down the back rest in the cockpit so that water will not flood the cockpit now and Peter is sewing some protective leather patches on the bottom of the jib to stop chaffing. See its not all just relaxing. The jobs just never end.

I can't remember if we have let you all know that, John Cronan has set up a blogsite with maps of where we have been www.juratrack.blogspot.com

We plan to spend a few more weeks around this area and are expecting Darren, Helen, Caityln and Josh to come and visit us over easter. By then we should know exactly where our new mainsail is up to and can start planning where too next.

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Year One
Date: 4/3/2008 21.00
Weather: Clear Sky, 10 knots S
Location: Little Fancy Bay 43'13S 147'21E
Author: Peter

We are currently anchored at Little Fancy Bay mid way through the D'entrecasteaux (pronounced Don-ca-strow we think)Channel. We are planning on spending the next month exploring the Channel and hope that during this time we get a weather window to get around to Port Davie. Tomorrow morning we look forward to exploring the rocks around the bay where we expect to find fossils.

Over the past week and a bit, we hauled the boat out at the Royal Tasmanian Yacht Club. We re-applied anti foul,one of the worst jobs in the world. Replaced all the windows with poly carbonate (almost as bad), and met many people while up on the hard. We are starting to think our boat is a little different. Hauling out in Hobart is so much cheaper than up in Sydney. In fact a week up and an entire tank of fuel is still cheaper than just getting removed from the water in Sydney. While out of the water we were once again put up for some of the nights at the Eggins household and would like to again say a big thank you to them all.

On Monday night we caught up with the crew of Endurance being invited to dinner and a lovely evening at Richards house. Kylie got to taste the most expensive red wine I've ever seen. Tuesday saw Jura go back into the water and a big day of cleaning up. Wednesday Graham took us for a behind the scenes look at the Maritime Museum where we got to look at all the models that don't make it onto display. Thanks Graham for a terrific morning. We then went shopping much to Kylie's pleasure before going back to the boat and moving up stream.

We anchored in Cornelian Bay (42 51S, 147 19E) hoping to get to the Botanical Gardens but o|ver the next two days Hobart finally got the rain the locals have been waiting a long time for. The weekend cleared up beautifully for us to sit in coach boats and work with NS14 sailors trying to help them to improve. The weekend including a meal with some of the participants at an excellent Indian restaurant in west Hobart. Darren's first Indian meal.

On Monday we re provisioned before getting away late and anchoring in The Spit (42 58S, 147 24E) for the night.

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