Tasmania

John and I are now back in the UK with our passage booked on the ferry to take us back to Greece on the 22nd March.

                                                            Square Rigger in Hobart



We had a great time in both Australia and New Zealand. We loved Tasmania we spent just over a week there  and were grateful that we managed to travel around the island before it was gripped by horrendous forest fires. The beaches were spectacular and everyone was very friendly. One of the things that impressed us was the way so many people volunteered to work keeping museums and general services running. There are only half a million or so people there and without the volunteers life would be a little more difficult for everyone. We went on a square rigger out of Hobart and it was crewed entirely from volunteers. I tried my hand at the helm!!

Fortunately we only came across Tasmanian Devils in the safety of a very good wildlife park. Jaws of steel but apparently they mainly feed on carrion which surprised both of us!

We stayed for a couple of days at a lovely little bay called Strahan ... really enjoyed the place and it is a place we would both like to return to on Orion.

We went on a jet boat up the river and there is a steam train that leaves the town once a day. It also looked like it would be an interesting navigation to get there.

Winter plans

It has been a whie since our last post which I feel bad about.

We left Orion safely tucked up in the boatyardwhilst we drove back early October. We had one or two issues with the van which John managed to fix at the eleventh hour. It was a new experience for John fixing brake pads on the Van at 10.30pm with me holding the torch to help him see what he was doing!! It was then a dash to Igoumenitsa to catch the ferry to Venice which left at 7.00 am. It certainly makes for interesting times!
Once we docked at Venice we drove through Northern Italy, Austria and Germany before arriving in Rotterdam two days later for the ferry to Hull. All went to plan there and we drove along the M62 to Warrington to put the van in for its MOT confident that our plans were spot on..... that is until we got to the centre of Warrington and I could smell burning...John having no sense of smell was oblivious...but once alerted he discovered that our alternator had siezed solid and the smell was one of the belts melting!! Just as well that we were close to the car hire depot and the MOT garage was close enough for us just to make it! The next few days were spent sourcing an alternator then John poor thing had to fit it in the rain. After a week or so the car was MOT'd and running better than it has ever done!
Our plan was to spend most of the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere and we booked flights to Malaysia... to see a good friend Bill, Australia... to spend some more time in Sydney with John's garndchildren and then onto New Zealand where we have hired a campervan to drive around both South and North Island. Whilst we are going to sail here we figured that it could be a few years before we get here and next year we plan to move slowly out of the Med and cross the Atlantic late 2013 early 2014 so might be a while before we see these guys again!

We are currently in Sydney and are flying down to Tasmania for a week or so to do some touring there. We had a good time in Kuala Lumpar which was very hot and humid. We got a good deal with a hotel which was close to the railway into the centre of KL and we were able to negotiate around the busy city in no time.

I will post some pics once I have got better access to the net.
 

Weather change

Over the past few weeks the weather has been slowly changing. It has still been very hot but their have been a couple of occasions when the wind has really got up. A couple of weeks ago having checked the weather a blow was forecast and John decided that it would be best for us to make for Sivota and get bedded down for the night. The spot we managed to get was perfect .... the wind would be pushing us off the pontoon and we put out over 50 metres of anchor chain and bedded the anchor in bolt tight. It was a Monday and this means in the Ionian it is the first day out for many flotillas and from our safe haven on the pontoon we witnessed the carnage as flotilla boat after flotilla boat tried to moor in 40 knots of wind. I felt every sympathy with them as some of these yachts had to wait for over an hour for the flotilla crews to get everything ready for them to moor and they would have to wait heeled right over in the wind. There was one guy who obviously had a problem with his headsail and after a struggle he managed to get it down and rather than strap it in some way on the deck he lay on top of it to prevent it opening up for over 40 minutes whilst his wife struggled at the wheel. This blow was well forecast and I wonder who makes the decisions to take the flots out in such conditions... for some it would have been their first sailing experience and enough to have put them off for life!

At present we have been storm bound in Vlicho for the last two day with strong force 7/8 Southerlies that have bought over 10cms of rain in 24hrs. Nearly sank our dinghy! We have swung around on anchor with no problems though we did put a kedge anchor out to help us. Again around us have been a couple of charter boats who have had to leave today to get their boats back to base as they leave tomorrow it would have been a very wet bumpy sail back to Vounaki! John is currently playing a chill out mp3 file trying to get it to influence the weather with limited success however it is all meant to blow through by tomorrow. Yippee!!

We had hoped to sail to Galaxhidi but the weather has not been kind to us all blowing strong and the wrong way for the last 10 days or so so we bit the bullet and drove there instead. An amazing place and here are some of the photos to prove it

The treasury for the Athenians ..... The biggest treasury there for all the rich Athenians.

A view over the valley that gives you an idea of how up it is some stunning views and just what a wonderful feat of engineering it is

The finish line at the athletics stadium every bit as impressive as the current Olympic stadium. The athletes took part in the pentathalon wearing nothing but a helmet, spear and greaves (shin pads).... would have created a stir in 2012!!