Across the Bass Strait Wednesday, April 18, 2007

I remember when I paddled around Tasmania, I looked north from Little Musselroe Bay, up at mountainous island chain dissapearing over the horizon and thought 'one day, I'd really like to come back and paddle across there between Tassie & Australia. The islands were just close enough to make it exciting but feasible. And now Alun & I have done it! We landed at Little Musslerowe Bay yesterday about mid-day after a four and a half hour paddle from Clarke Island! It was good to be back in familiar territory for me, and to be able to share a small part of my Tassie trip with Alun.

We had a great 16 days paddling and looking around, met some great people, and enjoyed a spectacular part of the world. We were lucky with the weather most of the time, although our last crossing of the Banks Strait was an exciting conclusion. The wind was constant and faily strong from the East, hitting us on the left side as we made the 15mile journey. The waves were a couple of meters and breaking all around ( and sometimes on ) us, but we could just about surf them a little bit, making our trip a bit faster. I'll write more when I can and add more photos - just wanted to let you know we made it.

Jeff Jennings picked us up from Little Musselroe yesterday and it was great to see him again. We had a good meal last night with him in Bridport. Today we've taken the bus down to Hobart to catch up with Matt Watton & Paul Pritchard. We've not seen Paul yet, but it's really good to see Matt again ( I can't belive how many kayaks he has!!).

Thanks to everyone who helped us on the trip. Laurie Geoghean ( sorry Laurie, I can't pronounce or SPELL your last name and I can't check it from here!) & Pete Provis for lending us the Nagdee kayaks which we really enjoyed, Stu Trueman for lending us his HF radio so we could get marine weather forecasts every 4 hours, Dave Winkworth for the sat phone & the wonderful cake!, & everyone else who helped us. We've had a great adventure and I really reccomend this area of the world to keen seakayakers!