We have a big decision to make....

Monday, March 17, 2008

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.