From Bron’s delicious Ploughman’s Lunch in Wombat Cove – Through Hell’s Gate to Strahan An early start brought us back to Wombat Cove on our way out of Bathurst Harbour and during the scenic journey, so reminiscent of the Highlands of Scotland, Bron was busy pummelling the life out of a pile of dough so …

The Leaving of Hobart down the Derwent River – And time to reflect At last we were off and Zoonie was back on track with Nichola, a yacht with an interesting heritage. Designed by renowned, prolific and versatile Australian designer and draftsman Joe Adams back in the 1970’s she is 32’ long, has a double …

Christmas Day Tassie Style You can see the joy on Rob’s face as he unwraps the ram, the amazement as Bron and Ken read about their bee hotel we bought in Coffs Harbour, my surprise and delight with Ken’s marine-scape acrylic painting of the hidden rising sun spreading its rays in a stormy sky with …

Necessity is the Mother of Invention With no gas cooker and no mains electric for the microwave we warmed our pre-cooked lasagne by placing portions into a plastic punnet and sitting it on the hot surface of the engine as soon as it was turned off and making ‘just hot’ black coffee using water from …

South to Bass Strait and Tasmania On the 3rd December Zoonie sailed out of Newcastle heading south, ducking into two bays to escape an unfavourable wind direction on route to the Bass Strait. The first anchorage was Jervis Bay, still on the NSW coast; a beautiful expanse of water that included some naval ships and …

Coffs Harbour Gardens – Native and Newcomer The smoke hanging over the hills to the west was all too visible the next morning as we made our way ashore for a wander. At the beach a teacher was unloading his Heron dinghies for a friendly potter around the harbour. They are a very popular class …

Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), Queensland Museum and the Library Culture in excess if that is possible I am not going to attempt to separate by location the topics I found interesting at these four cultural buildings because there is little point and they are but a miniscule part of the …

Mooching Around Mooloolaba It is not only humans who enjoy this Australian East Coast Seaside Resort; we awaken on Zoonie in the mornings to the sound of the local mynah birdsong, paddle-tailed bush turkeys pick over the tinder dry undergrowth for grubs and ospreys nest happily on the top of poles within easy reach of …

Let’s Get Things Strait – Zoonie heads for The Great Sandy Strait 25:13.93S 152:59.64E The shags on the fairway Navigation Marker were still either asleep or yawning as we passed by and shortly afterwards Zoonie was under full sail and heading directly for the northern entrance to the Great Sandy Strait at 5.1 knots in …

Bounding Forth to Bundy 22:31.64S 166:17.89E In the far distance we could see the slim tower of Amadee Lighthouse, for which we were heading as it marked the Boulari Passe and our safe passage between two reefs, Recif To and Recif Sournois. At the Maritime Museum I noted the lighthouse was built in Paris and …