AFL Grand Final Day - 27th Sept 2014

By any measure today is a H U G E day in Australian sport. It's Grand Final Day!! Well, for the AFL (Australian Football League) anyway. Other football codes such as Soccer and Rugby League (NRL) do their 'thing' on another day. AFL Grand Final Day sucks the oxygen out of the social and sporting scene in the southern States, hands down. Even shops close knowing that there will be few left out of a spectator party somewhere. The frenzy is mostly centred on Melbourne where the final is played at the MCG. It's a world class arena and the atmosphere with 120,000-plus spectators is colossal. The game is broadcast worldwide to 249 territories for adoring enthusiasts - not all of them Aussies!

The 'Orgy' commences on Friday with a parade through Melbourne of the two teams and significant 'footie' identities. There are breakfasts in function centres throughout Melbourne as a prelude to attending the game at 'The G'. One TV station will have been broadcasting re-runs of past grand-finals end on end overnight. Radio stations are in a frenzy of commentary. People lucky enough to have secured tickets to the event will arrive early and be entertained by top class entertainers for hours ahead of the game.

We've never been to a GF and the Bloke is not really a fan of AFL. I had been a staunch West Coast Eagles supporter when the Bloke's dad was still alive. I used to attend home games with my footie-buddy brother Roger as well as the General and sister-in-law. One year Roger and I even flew to Melbourne for a match against arch-rivals Essendon, in a Finals series. Walking around Melbourne wearing your tribal scarf is barely 'adult' behaviour but quite normal for Melbourne. Everyone goes nuts. Melbourne is consumed with it all.

Last year, Brendan the father of our daughter-in-law Emma, turned 60 on Grand Final Day. He has been a lifelong Hawkes (Hawthorn) supporter. He had tickets to the match by way of a birthday present and witnessed HIS team win against the Fremantle Dockers on his 60th birthday. You couldn't script it could you? Once again Brendan and his son Jack are off to the GF to cheer their team in the hope of back-to-back premierships. The excitement is palpable!

Viv modelling a Hawkes scarf, shows solidarity with his in-laws in Melbourne on Friday.

Work colleagues modelling Sydney Swans jerseys for balance.

At our Port Fairy coffee shop this morning.

Win or loose, fan or not a fan - AFL Grand Final Day is a huge buzz!

Why are we waiting?

Waiting is what we seem to do a lot of. Normally it's waiting for the right winds. Not too much and not too little but just right. We sound like Goldilocks! Then there is the swell. We don't like that to be too high. We've mostly experienced it from the South West and we are traveling eastwards, so we are less worried by its direction but the height is definitely an issue. Big swells aren't always accompanied by strong winds. A growing swell is generally a precursor to bad weather coming. There is a saying that 'swell is indicative of wind elsewhere'. If we are going in to or out of an anchorage/port or through a narrow channel, the tide needs to be just right too. In summary we like winds to be less than 20 knots and swell to be under 3-4 metres. We hope to pass through constricted seas with the tide rather than against it and into shallow areas when the predicted water levels will be sufficient to keep us floating (over 1.6 metres) rather than standing on the bottom (or worse).

Evidence of a 'marching sea' beyond the calm offered by the groyne 

protecting the head of the Moyne River

If one waits long enough, a suitable 'weather window' generally presents and it's just a matter to being able to predict when that might be AND have everything in readiness to depart during that 'weather window'. We look intently at the weather forecasts and then the skies, sea state and barometer to confirm the forecasts. Once we have the general weather picture we assess the duration of our next passage (distance from where we are now to where we want to go, divided by a notional speed of 5knots) PLUS we check the tides that will allow safe departure and arrival. We want to arrive at a destination in daylight too. If necessary, we might plan to stand off at a safe distance before going inshore to anchor or into a port. We're not asking for much to align ....... are we?

All that said, we don't always make plans to depart a new location with the very first 'weather window' that presents itself. We might have yet other reasons for waiting. The duration of our stay here in Port Fairy is a prime example of 'other reasons' to linger. Firstly, the Bloke might not have exhausted his Sausage Roll research (bad news so far in Port Fairy), we may have more sights to experience, a postal delivery or even more importantly, more people to catch up with.

We have had overnight guests in Ken and Colleen who we had last seen in Wirrina, SA. An 80th birthday brought them to Hamilton which is a regional centre not too far away. Port Fairy was only a small detour and the Bloke and Ken still had unfinished business to complete. Their earlier catch up after some 30 years had been aborted due to Ken acquiring a particularly nasty dose of the flu. Now back in general circulation, Ken and the Bloke solved of all the worlds problems with the insight that only the consumption of 4 bottles of red wine can give. That seemed to settle matters nicely.

Next an email from Perth friends, Kit and Renate, as to the possibility that we might be near Apollo Bay was resolved in the affirmative. Although we didn't have plans to be in Apollo Bay, we could best that with the assurance that we'd wait for them in Port Fairy if they'd make a small detour on their car trip from Mt Gambier to Apollo Bay. Mission accomplished and a fabulous meal was enjoyed by us all at The Stag restaurant. We had hoped to go to the oldest Inn in Victoria but sadly The Merrijig is closed on a Tuesday and Wednesday. Dinner was preceded with 5ers on board Zofia. Kit's brother Nick, from the UK was included in the touring party, so the fun just escalated.

The Stag Restaurant - 4 1/2 stars on Urbanspoon.

Renate about to enjoy her prosciutto wrapped chicken.

 Kit's brother Nick.

Just ignore the bottle - nothing to do with me!

 The Bloke with Kit and Renate the morning after.

Not sure if we needed a pill.

What next?

Well, we missed an exceptional weather window for traveling half way across Bass Straight to King Island this week. That's OK though, Kit and Renate were worth waiting for plus it means we'll be here waiting for the arrival of the Doctor duo of Jonathan and Wendy from Port Lincoln. No problemo.

After that though, we must be on our way south. Our friends the Sandow's, newly moved to Hobart, are waiting.  Zofia is booked for her annual 'lift' and I have a plane to catch from Hobart to Perth at the end of November. Another episode of waiting of an entirely different kind will be coming to an end... tick-tock, tick-tock .... the much anticipated wait for grandchild number 4.

Sausage Roll - Table of Fame

For those of you that do not carry an Australian passport, a sausage roll is just what it says. It is a roll of pastry covering sausage meat. This tasty delight comes in various forms; short, long, thick and thin. They are sometimes served with salad or sauces of various kinds or even in hygienically sealed plastic bags. These are not the Sausage Rolls I am talking about. No, the sausage roll, the only real sausage roll, comes in a simple paper bag. It is eaten with your hands, not on a plate with a knife and fork, and is not served with camouflaging sauces. It is naked in its purest form. Uncomplicated and not pretentious. It is eaten hot, as hot as you can stand, and can be eaten sitting down, while fending off jealous sea gulls, or on the run while walking to your next exciting discovery.

Sausage Rolls served by "Captain Jack Sparrow"

During out travels I have taken it upon my self to do a bit of a survey of these tasty little morsels and time has come to produce my first Sausage Roll - Table of Fame.  Although I am yet to purchase a sausage roll that was inedible,  some are better than others and some are simply fantastic. It goes without saying that my mother's sausage rolls are the best in the world, except for when the blog mistress (Eva) makes then on 'Zofia', then hers are the best in the world. So all other sausage rolls are ranked in comparison to the sausage rolls created by my mother and the blog mistress.

SAUSAGE ROLL TABLE OF FAME

Rank	Location	Description
1	Daci and Daci - Hobart	A classic example will be very hard to beat
2	Cottage Point Cafe	Up from number 17 what a performer!
3	Old Aldinga - Home Grain Bakery	Classic great filling  + great pastry
4	Tumby Bay bakery	Classic
5	Jackman and McRoss - Hobart	Just an outstanding example of the art
6	Judy of 'Hurtle Turtle' (A)	Just outstandng and may go higher IF I get the oppertunity to sample more HA! HA!
7	Hope Island Marina Deli	Queenslands best pork and fennel
8	Artisan bakery	A wide selection but can not go past the beef
9	Peter of 'Novae' (A)	Amateur with skill, pork based with a touch of chilli
10	The Galley at The BoatWorks	On the small side but VERY nice
11	Port Elliot bakery	Late and unexpected - highly recommended
12	Elisa of Harvey Bay (A)	Generous size this Italian parsley
13	Bussleton (Butcher)	Filling is sensational
14	King Island	Marie's little bundles of joy
15	Portland, "The Lido Larder"	Classic small but great filling  + great pastry
16	The Mews - Split Junction	Potential,needs herbs and pepper
17	Adelaide (Miles)	Handsome offering location a mystery
18	Mandurah absolute cafe	Old favourite home made
19	Yankalilla bakery	Surprising from a large bakery
20	Paynesville bakery	Good pastry average filling great value
21	Dunsborough bakery	Good and an old favourite
22	Hopetoun bakery	Quiet achiever from a very small bakery
23	Lakes Entrance	Too dry
24	Port Fairy	Exceptional quality, however too large
25	Robe bakery	Good pastry however carrots in filling
26	Streaky Bay bakery	Could improve pastry but very good filling
27	Port Lincoln bakery	Commercial offering acceptable
28	Bunbury bakery	Commercial, will sell but could be better
29	Port Vincent (Milesent) shop	Commercial, lacking flavour served HOT however
30	Albany bakery	Disappointing because pasties from here are great
31	Bremer Bay garage	Disappointing
32	Esperance bakery	Bakery has No Idea but their cakes are great
33	Normanville bakery	Disappointing because their coffee was very good
34	American River general store	Commercial, offering no flavour
35	Coffin Bay garage	Too salty
36	Victor Harbour bakery	Very disappointing, great aroma with no finish

(A) denotes amateur, that is not for sale made for private consumption

 Blog Mistress's Sausage Rolls

The Gals at 'Rotto'

During the week a group of highly spirited ladies walked along the Port Fairy riverbank walkway chatting and giggling excitedly. We asked them if they were a Book Club. No, they were Golfers escaping their men for a few days and 'living it large' in a house overlooking the Moyne River with 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. You can do that here in Port Fairy!

This reminded me that I'll be missing my annual Book Club week-end on Rottnest Island with The Gals this week-end. The first one I'll miss after 15 years, I think. Just 20 minutes on a high speed ferry from Fremantle and you can be transported to another world and your luggage delivered to you accommodation. No hold-ups like security checks, passport, immigration etc... you can be in holiday mode from the minute you arrive at the ferry terminal. The weather, once you're on the island can be quite different from the mainland; in the winter it's usually warmer due to the warm Leeuwin Current. Even in the teeth of winter it is possible to swim in the clear azure water accented by the whitest of quartz sand. With its rugged naturalness and lack of traffic (there are no vehicles save a few buses and service vehicles) the modes of transport are chiefly foot and bicycle. Once the ferries depart with the day visitors, the Island settles to a gentle rhythm. Kicking back with a glass of wine watching the moon rise over Perth city 20nm away and in the company of dear, dear friends is a guilty pleasure.

Goofing around on the wharf with Marg, Mary and Jen

We love Rottnest and it's still the yardstick the Bloke and I use to gauge all the places we've been. It's  a Boaters heaven with lots of anchorages big and small, most with moorings.We've visited and stayed onshore and we've sailed there lots of times too.

 North facing chalets overlooking Geordie Bay

 Thompsons Bay can get pretty busy in summer and anything 'holiday'.

Dusk settling over Geordie Bay

 Cyn demonstrating some of the laughter shared  over a coffee

Joy and Kathy ready for a ride to West End? (Vlamingh Point)

Have a fabulous week-end Gals! I'll be with you in spirit and the Bloke will be glad that he has me in another seaside location all to himself!

The Classic Couta Boats

We are rather interested and taken by the form and romanticism associated with the iconic Australian wooden  'Couta Boat'. 'The General', the Bloke's brother, has a reproduction fibreglass version (the Janet Anne) and with the Bloke raced her in Geographe Race Week. As it turned out there wasn't another boat remotely similar participating in this event which is mostly dominated by 35'+ cruisers and racers that descend on Busselton for this annual festival of sailing from as far away as Perth and Esperance. The Janet Anne was hopelessly outclassed and on a number of occasions barely made it past all the race buoys before organisers were retrieving them! Couta boats were designed as a fishing boat to sail out to sea on a morning breeze and return later in the day with an afternoon wind and they perform less well upwind. The Janet Anne was quite competitive on the downwind legs of the course but really struggled upwind. The boys concluded that the sail cut, which wasn't fully faithful to the original didn't help. As it turned out, the General and the Bloke's valiant efforts during Race Week did not go unnoticed and they were awarded the Spirit of the Regatta trophy. This is considerably better than the ubiquitous wooden spoon which was theirs for the asking!

The Janet Anne: Geographe Race Week 2013

Couta Boats are peculiar to Victoria and were originally used between 1870 and 1930's in the fishing industry centered around Queenscliff and Sorernto at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay. Fishermen needed a seaworthy boat to get through the notoriously dangerous 'Rip' at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay when heading out to sea and fish for Barracouta, a snake mackerel also sometimes known as a Snoek and fast enough to race them back to the markets to gain the best prices. These boats derive their name from the Barracouta fish and have a distinctive gaff rig and bowsprit. Some were of a clinker construction but most were smooth. One thing is for sure, the fishermen were v e r y adept sailors.

In the 1970's, long after the 'Couta Boat' fleet had all but vanished, a small group of Melbournians became captivated with these vessels and the maritime history that they represented. Extensive searches were undertaken to locate the whereabouts of the disused hulls. One by one boats were recovered as far away as from Robe and Portland and began to be lovingly restored. Gradually a revived fleet of these boats would gather in Sorrento in the summer and then races arranged purely for Couta Boats. Imagine 100 or so of these boats! Learn more

The Bloke and 'Ariel'

The story of 'Ariel'

So how does all this connect with our journey? On our first trip down the jetty at Portland and close to the Portland Maritime Discovery Centre we found 'Arial' in pride if place and with this explanatory plaque. We took the photo especially for the General. She is owned by a local fisherman called Garry Kerr who has a passion for Maritime history. His interest has led him to produce a series of DVD's including one focused on the Couta Boat. 

 

The gift that will keep giving. Thank you Noel!

Within a day of arriving in Portland we met Noel Waugh on the jetty with his video camera and it turns out that Noel is responsible for much of the camera footage on the Garry Kerr DVD series. This we learned over a couple of cuppas aboard Zofia and during our road trip with Noel out to Bridgewater Bay and Cape Nelson. Outstandingly generous, Noel gave us copies of several of these DVD's which are fabulous and give further meaning to all the little Ports that we have been visiting. Our understanding of their maritime and commercial context over the past 200 years has been enriched. I doubt that Noel could have found more excited and appreciative recipients.

  The Bloke and Noel

This is 'Tuna'. A Port Fairy example of the brand.

Usually under a boom tent, I was lucky to be passing 'Tuna' during some maintenance.

They are hugely popular now and a newly built timber one will set you back $120,000 including sails. We found this out because there is a timber boat workshop adjacent to our dock here in Port Fairy. Legend is Garry the boat builder's boat and by coincidence, it's just in front of us!

'Legend'

'Legend' in front of 'Zofia'.

Sharing the Port Fairy Postcard

One of our first activities when we arrive in a new town along our trip is to buy a handful of postcards to send to the most junior and most senior members of our family. Our Mums will have had a lifetime of sending and receiving postcards but for the youngsters, this is something new and probably a bit quixotic. Our little nephews and grandchildren will most likely not receive much in the way of physical mail in coming years seeing how everything is going electronic. There is nothing quite as exciting as retrieving something from the letterbox - unless of course it's a bill.

Selecting postcards is less easy than you'd think. It is for me anyway. Town after town we see racks of generic pictures of pelicans, dolphins and whales. Obviously they qualify on the basis that they might be a bit exotic. You generally don't see such creatures if you live in a big city but they are hardly unique to a particular location and slapping a place name in a fancy font does not make them so. Aerial shots of a place are seldom really captivating. To me, a postcard needs to be a bit of distilled visual magic... something of the 'Don't you wish you could be here'. A postcard should sell the sizzle and not the sausage!

Finding ourselves in some of the more historic locations in the country has meant that we are starting to see some of the more classic styles of letter boxes and 'pillar boxes'. I've fallen for them and you're likely to see a few more pictures in coming posts. Sending postcards is becoming fun and a thing of whimsy.

The Bloke helping to hold up an old letter box in Portland. 

This one is no longer in use.

Having a night to sleep on it didn't dispel our disbelief at how cute Port Fairy is and that arriving here was like stepping into an actual 'postcard'. With something in the order of 50 buildings listed by the National Trust there is of course and old world charm to it but the star of the show is the mouth of the Moyne River which is flanked by rows of evenly spaced Norfolk Island Pines, and timber walkway jetties with white painted rails giving form to the boat harbour. The rows of moored boats add to the charisma of this gorgeous place. Every vista seems to sing.... aren't you glad you are HERE!

Holiday cottages and summer homes are in abundance.

If you can have your own little dock and sun deck... why not?

The iconic Oscars Waterfront Boutique Hotel.

We'll try to be good neighbours for a couple of weeks.

 

 Zofia on left.

Yes, it's true boat owners ARE obsessed with pictures of their own boat!

 Lots of timber 'Couta' style boats.

The 'General' will be particularly interested.

Outside the Port Fairy Post Office.

The sign under the slot confirms that it's still in operation. Phew!

A phone call last night from Port Lincoln friends, confirmed that we will wait here for a couple of weeks so we can see them again. Ken and Colleen are swinging past today on the way back to Wirrina from Hamilton and new contacts from Portland (only 45 minutes by car) promise to visit too. No, we are not lonely, even if we are missing YOU!

Leg 28 - Portland to Port Fairy

It was not without a tug on the heart strings that we pulled away from the jetty at 08:00 as planned. Tom from Ingenue was there to lend a hand with our leads. Leanne, his wife was already on duty on the radios at Coast Guard Portland and we logged on with her soon after. We'll be seeing them again in Hobart when they muster for the 2015 Van Diemen's Land rally. Hats off to them for that one. We won't be doing a lap of Tasmania our plans are more sedate. We'll be more than happy to just visit the East Coast. Tom and Leanne's Tassie experience will include the West Coast. Brave, brave, brave!

We had a closer view of the ship loading activities as we exited the harbour and a radio warning later in the day alerted mariners to watch out for logs.... whoops, sounds like somebody had a very, very bad day on the cranes!

We learned during our stay that the construction that we had photographed on the right as we were arriving, is affectionately known as 'The Corkscrew'. It's no longer accessible to the public since that wing of the breakwater is inside the 'now privatised' port.

Keen to film our departure, Noel was stationed at the end of the Lee Breakwater.

Mutual admiration

There were lots of 'last looks' at our civic backdrop of the last 2 weeks.

The church with the new spire with the Maritime Discovery Centre below.

A view of Bayview College. 

An absolutely classic example of Catholic Convent type architecture found nationwide

I forgot to mention earlier, that this school is included in the Saint Mary MacKillop trail.

One last look at Lawrence Rocks and we were off. A sedate 6 hour jaunt across to Port Fairy. The 3-4m swell was meant to be abating and the wind was forecast in the 10-15knot range. The sky was a blanket of mid level cloud all day. The absence of any rain made for a pleasant day and for once we were able to sail ALL DAY even out of the Portland Harbour.

We'd had brilliant news the day before. The Lobster Fishing season in Victoria is closing on Sunday. Even more excellent is that it's closing in Tasmania too. What a relief that we won't need to be quite so attentive for the floats of those pesky pots. We did spot and evade one cluster of pots but it's nice to know that they will soon be out of the equation.

We reached Lady Julia Percy Island by lunch time and remarked how quickly we passed it. Its a very straight sided island that just sits up like a hat box. Presumably it was once a part of the mainland but it's now being chewed up.

The western end of Lady Julia Percy Island

It's very flat on top

It's getting very carved up on the eastern side too.

A reminder that this is after all, Bass Straight!

It didn't seem long before we had the first glimpses of Port Fairy. 

A fizzing reef beneath the Port Fairy Lighthouse

The Bloke was hugely excited as he'd been Googling it for a few years.

Rollers pounding the seaward side of the point.

By contrast, total calm on the approach to the river mouth

From here on in it was like motoring into a postcard. We had been instructed to turn around near the refueling jetty. It is pretty narrow and the Bloke had the same look as when we are approaching the travel lift for Zofia's annual lift. Luckily the wind didn't change direction and lock his face into a perpetual grimace.

 It's very canal-like.

We tied up to the collector area where the jetty post have red tops. 

We were waiting for Max, the Port Fairy Harbour Master to arrive and give us more instructions about where he wanted to put us.

We'd been warned about depths and were comforted to see other yachts. 

If they can get in, it's likely that with our shoal keel of 1.6m that we'd be a good chance too.

Look Mum .... I made it!

And so here we finally are, a little further up the river and sitting behind a lovely wooden 'Couta boat'. The ocean must be VERY near as we can hear the surf raging. Tomorrow we'll post a photo of the guesthouse to our right of the promenade. If you Google 'Pictures of Port Fairy' there is an old white 2 storey building in nearly every 2nd image in the search result. Unbelievably, we're now parked right out the front of that very building. It's called Oscars Waterfront. It's a boutique hotel and appears to be so fully booked it's impossible to find out the nightly tariff. Like we said - we've just sailed into a postcard and the Bloke need dream no more - he's here. More news tomorrow.