WINEGLASS BAY
After the hairy arrival at Wineglass Bay we were all happy to chill out for a while (think we managed to scare the crap out of Valerie on 
her first sail day … oops). It was still quite windy so ventured ashore the next day for a hike up to the lookout. We walked along the beach and towards (copious amounts of tourists) up to the lookout, great view, took about an hour then down again. 
Valerie was brave enough to hop in the water off the beach (crazy lady) it is so cold and windy for us so far in Tasmania and taking a while to acclimatize from the hot QLD weather, wouldn’t catch me in that cold water. Stayed one more night to let the wild weather settle down and headed for Triabunna.
TRIABUNNA
After crossing the bay and tucking ourselves up the bay to Triabunna we found ourselves on the wrong side of the tide to venture for fuel and water fill up so anchored in the bay and took the dingy ashore for (hopefully) dinner and wander around. Cute little place with lots of fishing boats and small 
marina that could not accommodate MAD, so after eating fabulous fish and chips we decided to come into jetty wharf in the morning for fuel, water and much needed laundry. Yet another shallow adventure to get MAD along side the public wharf but managed a wash down, fill up of water (desperately low and too lazy to start the water maker) and a full tank of fuel. We headed back out to pick up $10 mooring buoy that we had been advised by the local harbour master was available and continued with the 8 loads of laundry that had piled up since our very smokey, ashy trip down the NSW coast. We had a comfortable sleep in the bay, clean and refreshed for the next day trip to the Denison Canal aaaahhhhh.
DENISON CANAL
The next day was a transit through the Denison Canal, about a 28nm trek. Researching the canal approach again proved quite 
shallow and I recorded 2.6m at the lowest point. Luckily we had another (local) boat transiting in front of us so he led the way and I watched very closely his preferred path, I even tried to hail him on the radio to say “hey let me follow you in”, but no answer and he was a little too fast for us, thank god for AIS and being able to see his exact route. Turns out he had to wait at the entrance for us as the operator (whom we had called in advance and told him we where behind Kala Venturer) asked them to wait and he would open for both of us yachts. 
The swing bridge when opened for us proved to have quite the current running through but managed to keep her heading through without any problems. Definitely a bit nerve racking! The final part of the channel was narrow and shallow but once we went through were in deeper water again … phew! We decided to push through another 25nm to Bruny Island as we spotted a pretty sweet 
protected anchorage and were going to venture out for some touristy site seeing the next day.
BRUNY ISLAND
First tourist stop was Bruny Island Whiskey Distillery – no buses or form of transport for us to take so we 
moved MAD to the closest anchorage and ventured ashore with the dingy for a look at the distillery. We all bowed out of the whiskey tasting ($45) and settled on the purchase of cream liqueur (for the overland track pick me up) and Valerie nicely purchased us a whiskey BBQ sauce. Valerie decided to run to the next tourist stop. The Bruny Island Cheese Factory (12 km away) so Noel and I headed back to MAD to move to the anchorage closest to the Cheese stop. 
(Val ended up getting a ride from a local as it was a little further and quite hot for her). We met Val there hanging out on the bean bag as she waiting for our relocation. A quick cheese tasting and beer, of course, then headed back to relocate for the night to Oyster Bay Cove (Kettering).
KETTERING – OYSTER BAY COVE
Came alongside and tied up on the outer marina arm (for visitors). Gotta love a $30/ night charge (versus the $140 at Hamilton Island). 
We opted to stay for two nights 🙂 Warm showers, laundry (oh wait already did that). Ran into our rigging guy from Port Douglas who is going to undertake a re-rig of MAD in May. Small world!
Time to start training for the Overland Track that we will undertake on Feb 4-10 with my sister and brother in law. Noel and I broke out the hiking boots and with Val headed to the D’Meure track. It was planned to be a 6km maybe an hour hike, ended up 3 hrs and 12 km and some interesting site seeing including kangaroos ordered up just for Valerie, I will let you peruse the photos yourselves. I will say that it feels like you have stepped back in time (about 100 years) and I love it…… no frills, heritage buildings, simple living …. sometimes I think this world is going in such a fast past that we forget to reflect on times gone by, Tasmania enables this reflection ….
Next stop Hobart.
Sounds like a wonderful spot there for hiking and boating perhaps not swimming. Glad you’re away from the fires!
It’s been snowing and we cancelled the girls trip to Whistler and sleep over at Frances’s place. Will try again in spring. Today was sunny, would have been a good trip Oh well. Forecast for big rain on the weekend so flooded streets around the corner ?
Next week is the PCO. I had to drop out due to shoulder pain but will help out with reffing. Bonnie is now with Jamie sonego and Chris both div 1.