Sign of the times

Here is a sign we'd never seen before.

Kangaroo Island has made a name for being a pristine environment and in keeping with this ethos it has implemented an electric car hire scheme complete with 'refueling' stations. Spotting one of the refueling stations next to the boat ramp alerted us to the existence of this novel scheme.

Bowser with a difference

 

Since the range for the cars is only 120km and Kangaroo Island is 155km end to end, this 2 vehicle concept project would not be suitable for all tourists. It takes about 7 hours to fully recharge the vehicle and proportionally less for a partial recharge. Hopefully, there is research associated with this to determine both viability and effectiveness as the 'carbon offset' for the airport relative to the $500,000 public spend.

Blue Poles

When you mention Blue Poles, the 1952 Jackson Pollock painting of that name, controversially purchased by the Whitlam government in 1973 for AUD1.3m, is usually what springs to mind.

Lots of people denigrate this art piece.

I've seen it hanging in the ANG, Canberra. It's a fabulous large canvass of  4.9 x 2.1m and it's very exciting and energetic and now recognised as a terrific investment!

We had a Blue Pole experience of a different sort this morning. We followed a tourist walk along Pelican Lagoon created and maintained by the American River Progress Association. The trail is marked out by blue topped poles and punctuated by look-outs and memorials. It was as exciting and energetic as the painting but far prettier and the view was priceless!

Heck.... a 7.5km round trip. It's boot camp again!

 The first thing we encountered was the Remembrance Reserve

There were plaques to commemorate all the major conflicts in which residents had participated.

This included Vietnam but not any Middle East conflicts.

 Going well so far

 Are we nearly there yet?

 Black Swans and Oystercatchers

 Phew! ...and now for the walk back. We took the road and saw different things.

The cairn at the end of the trail commemorating the building of the schooner 'Independence' by American Sealers in 1804. Hence the locality name -American River

American River is not really a river. 

It's an inlet with a narrow mouth giving the impression of a river with a strong tidal stream.

 Roadside bird life alert

A local has gone one step further and marked a Swan Crossing preceded by this plea to motorists

 Bayview Cottage Circa 1936

 Alternative architecture for a holiday shack

This holiday place appears to be a series of rooms inspired by a rainwater tank

Even Big Ships Tack

Somehow we imagined that only small vessels like yachts tack or heave to. We had visions of merchant mariners ploughing ever onwards regardless of the weather, making only the smallest of course changes to allow for the likes of major events such as cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons etc... I still recall my journey to Australia by ship as a child. The Bay of Biscay and the Cape Town 'Rollers' gave the MV Oriana a hell of a pounding. Force 7 or 8 gales on ferry trips across the English Channel  are also vivid memories. Fair weather or foul, the ships keep on going.

We had a couple of big fronts come through while we waited for a good spell to ride a pressure bus down to Kangaroo Island. To amuse himself while we were kept below, the Bloke followed the movements of shipping on the Marine Traffic AIS site. We are now better educated as to what the big ships do in view of the wave heights that were recorded recently at the Cape du Coudedic lighthouse on the South West corner of Kangaroo Island on Friday 1st August, 2014. Yup, 10-14 metres!!!

The screen shots below are examples of what the big ships are forced to do.

 

1st August, 2014

Westward track for a container ship just south of Portland, Victoria that had left Melbourne

1st August, 2014

This container ship left Adelaide, heading West.

It turned back and anchored off Kingscote, Kangaroo Island for 24 hours before continuing

Leg 25 - Wirrina Cove to American River, Kangaroo Island

Satisfied that all the weather forecasts were aligned and pointing to several good days ahead, today was confirmed as the day we'd head for Kangaroo Island, Australia's third largest Island. It's 155Km from East to West to give you a sense of it's size. We'd already spoken to Carol from the American River VMR (VHF 21) to get advice about her patch. Armed with this, we set off just after 10:00. No point leaving too soon; we wanted to arrive with a rising tide. We were headed for an estuarine anchorage.

We were escorted past Rapid Head by a pod of large dolphins who set a happy mood for this short 25Nm hop down the coast.

Part of the wind farm at Cape Jervis at the foot of the Fleurieu Peninsula

The Cape Jervis Lighthouse with Kangaroo Island Ferry (R) that will take you 13.5Km across Backstairs Passage to Penneshaw.

Conditions were so pleasant along the way we didn't stick to the 5 knot speed target, allowing ourselves a more leisurely pace. In the end we had to get a tickle on to get there while we still had light. Low tide was around 13:00 so our arrival time around 16:00 was with the incoming tide but with fading light.

 This was the target mooring

Our Dock-Sticks allowed us to lasso the mooring

 before dropping the dinghy and attaching proper mooring leads.

Notice the current!

 The jetty at American River

Moored boats lining up in the 4-5Kn incoming tide.

The local pelicans roosting down for the night atop the lamp poles

The day was a brilliant one and even concluded in much hilarity once the dinghy had been lowered to attach the mooring lines. The Bloke was concentrating so hard on not being whisked away with the 4Kn racing tide (the swim ladder was pushed out horizontally on the top of the water) that he forgot to put the bung in the dinghy! Good thing there is two of us to check up on one another.

Sailing the South Australian Gulfs in winter

The Bloke here.

Sometimes, indeed almost always, the simplest advice is the best. While we were waiting to install the new furler onto the inner forestay at Port Lincoln I was told that to sail South Australia in the winter we should ".. wait for a high to develop in The Bight that has a centre pressure of 1030Hp or more and then go like hell, for as far as possible."  This advice has been invaluable in our passages over the past 4 weeks.

Tomorrow we set off for a short journey to American River at Kangaroo Island. It is a shame that we will not go further because the optimal conditions for sailing in winter, in this part of the world, are coming together. To explain this, I have attached the predicted synoptic charts for the next week.

Friday 2/8/2014

Saturday 3/8/2014

Sunday 4/8/2014

Monday 5/8/2014

Tuesday 6/8/2014

Wednesday 7/8/2014

Thursday 8/8/2014

As you can see, a massive high is developing in The Great Australian Bight, then slowly moving east. It is predicted to have a centre pressure in excess of 1030Hp and will sit over us for at least 3 days. This system is typical of those that we have moved with over the past 4 weeks and they have each delivered prefect sailing conditions.

So it is possible to have good cruising in the South of Australia in winter. What you require is good weather information, a safe and secure place to hide between systems and then just wait for a high to develop in The Great Australian Bight with a centre pressure of greater than 1030Hp and then go like hell!!

In all this, TIME is the factor and as our good friends and mentors, Andrew and Carolyn would say "... there is always another weather window. You just need to wait." So wait we will, fish and explore before catching the next 'pressure bus' that will take us further down the road of this adventure.

Getting the picture

Lunch with Artist - Beryl Martin.

Beryl Martin is a water colourist. She's quite modest because we have had to delve to discover the range and extent of her work of many years. There is an example of her art hung in the Australian National Gallery, Canberra - although she won't necessarily tell you. We know her work well because she is the mother of dear friends whose home is alive with her water colour depictions of flowers, still life and landscapes. We also own two lovely paintings of Beryl's that were sadly too large to bring on board Zofia.

Since Beryl lives in Adelaide, we were eager to catch up with her. It's been a couple of years since we'd last seen her. Now aged 89 she's less mobile so we were easily slotted into her social schedule and we had hired the 'bunkie' in large part to make this visit possible.

My photo's, complete with reflection of the flash (lol!) barely do justice to Beryl's work.

..... but you get the picture!

Only recently returned from a successful exhibition in Brisbane, Beryl was delighted when the Bloke asked if there might be any paintings that she'd consider selling to us. She zapped up the hallway with her walking frame at high speed, sniffing a sale.

It was not framed when we saw it but one of Beryl's depictions of Coffin Bay, where we had passed through only a few months ago, made our hearts sing. A quick call to her picture framer Murray around the corner, ensured that we would be able to protect and hang our new 'Beryl' with minimum delay.

A hearty lunch of Avgolemeno soup prepared by Beryl augmented by cheese, fresh bread and wine brought by us, was was enjoyed amid much mirth and story telling over a couple of hours before we had to tear ourselves away to meet up briefly with 'Marvelous Miles' and wife Steph at The Grange in Glenelg.

 We probably should have taken the photo BEFORE lunch!

Marvelous Miles had a new sausage roll for the Bloke to sample

The girls finished off the 'red' while the Bloke delivered Miles to his flight back to Port Lincoln.

A great day enjoyed by all and topped off with a two hour white knuckle drive, mostly through zigzagging hilly terrain, in the dark and pouring rain on the way back to the Marina. Phew, so glad we made it back in the bunkie!

Morning tea at Leonards Mill

In our haste to rendezvous with Team Midnight Blue in Victor Harbour we drove straight past a delightful touristic sight just a few kilometres down the Fleurieu Drive from the Marina St Vincent at Wirrina. The Bloke promised to return for a proper look. True to his word, we made a special trip in the direction of Second Inlet for a 'look see' and morning tea on a classic grey winters day.

Even on a gloomy day Leonards Mill is cute as a button

This historic old mill building and it's surrounds is very charming and includes a restaurant, little gallery of paintings, sculptures etc... for sale plus associated accommodation. They proudly hold a 2013 Gold Award of some sort, for tourism. It drips ambiance and the service is fantastic! When measured against the nearby Wirrina Resort it's not hard to see why the Resort is struggling. Resort management might need to rethink the 'Doof-doof' din (I recoil against calling it music) they pump into the empty bar area at 11am that wrecks any possible ambiance in the adjacent cafe area. How can staff cope with that day in day out, it was difficult enough while we killed time on laundry day! There are lessons to be learned.  On a positive note, the resort makes great scones.

The Bloke ponders over his own concealed 'six pack'

An easy drive from Adelaide, we bet this 'goes off' in the summer!