We went walking the other day and ran across this...
What??
59 catapillers in a row all following the leader. One of the odd things we see here. Later we had afternoon tea out in the bush near the Gascoyne river.
Phil and Chris
Saturday, 29 June 2013
One last comment form Carnarvon...
Well...we hope this is our last post from Carnarvon.
We went walking the other day and ran across this...
Before departing Carnarvon we've completed a variety of jobs on Basanti. Chris looks after the winches, taking care not to drop parts overboard. No way would anything every be found at the bottom of the murky boat harbour here. Phil installed a dual fuel filter system and now we're ready to go north.
We went walking the other day and ran across this...
Plantation visit
We thought we'd seen everything there was to see in Carnarvon, but yesterday we had a real treat. Dean and Sue invited us out to see their plantation. Dean keeps his fishing boat in the boat harbour where we are currently moored, thus we are temporary neighbors and Phil struck up a conversation with him. Dean came and collected the four of us from the boat harbour and we drove out across the Gascoyne River and out to his farm. They raise Capsicum (Peppers), and our mouths watered at the sight of so many beautiful vegetables growing on the vines. You have to see it to believe it.
After a good tour of all the crops we enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea and then we filled boxes with capsicum, chillis, tomatos, citrus fruits, avacados, custard apples and more. Both of our boats are overflowing with fresh fruits and vegetables, just in time for our departure. A huge thank you to Dean and Sue.
On both Basanti and Tigress Too, stuffed peppers have featured on the menu. Yum...delish.
After a good tour of all the crops we enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea and then we filled boxes with capsicum, chillis, tomatos, citrus fruits, avacados, custard apples and more. Both of our boats are overflowing with fresh fruits and vegetables, just in time for our departure. A huge thank you to Dean and Sue.
Some folks you just can't take anywhere...
Once we got everything home we had plenty to do. Most of the fruits and veggies were washed in a disinfecting solution to retard spoilage...obviously refrigeration on the boats is a bit limited. Chillies were strung up for drying and peppers were slices and roasted for preserving in jars.
Thursday, 20 June 2013
Photos from Shark Bay
Limited internet and phone access at Steep Point prevented loading photos, so while we are in Carnarvon I'm loading a few.
One day the crews of Basanti and Tigress Too decided a walk to the lighthouse was in order. Got us all off boats and exercising. There are plenty of sand tracks to walk along, and we went up and down for hours before finally reaching the lighthouse. What a disappointing little lighthouse...what a lonely little thing.
After the storms and big winds, we headed to Denham (written about in previous posts) and caught some fish! Go Phil...yum!
Chris has to deal with the killing and filleting once Phil catches one.
Once in Carnarvon is was time to relax.
The weather is looking good next week for us to sail further along to the north. We'll keep you posted. Is anyone out there actually reading this??
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Shark Bay
We finally have some phone coverage! No fancy internet connection, but at least I can write a little update.
From Two Rocks we had two full days of sailing, including an overnight stop in Lancelin, to Jurien Bay which was another nice little town on the WA coast. The humans explored the town a little and I kept track of things at the marina.
After a few days we had a window of reasonable weather for our sail up to Shark Bay. Tuesday night we had a nice roast chicken dinner on board and we departed on a Wednesday morning after breakfast. The conditions weren't too bad although there was consistently more wind than forecast. We didn't carry too much sail as we didn't want to go around Steep Point in the dark, so slowing ourselves down was the trick...quite a different mentality to racing.
About 48 hours of sailing brought us to Steep Point and once across the little bar we were pretty happy sailors to see the beautiful flat blue waters in Shark Bay. The only trouble we had on the trip up was a little encounter with a cray pot.
We really enjoyed relaxing for a few days. The time we spent preparing Basanti in Fremantle was so busy and stressful. Never seemed to be enough time to get everything done (and we didn't!) or see everyone we wanted to see before our departure. We have actually managed to get a lot of the little jobs done on our trip north and test out all our new equipment. So far, we have greatly appreciated all the changes we made to Basanti...the water maker is a real treat, but so is having all the wind and solar power to run everything with, and I could go on about the wonderful extras to the boat, but I won't. Suffice to say, getting all that salt and stuff out of my fur is much easier than I'd anticipated.
Shark Bay is a pretty remote place. We were anchored near a national park where folks come and set up a fishing camp for a week or so on the beach. There is no power, water or rubbish disposal/collection. If you walk to the top of one of the hills, you can occasionally pick up some phone coverage with Telstra, so we were pretty out of touch for the 10 days we were there. Of course our friends on Tigress Too were anchored nearby and we hiked around the park to the lighthouse, the cliffs and up and down countless hills. We'd occasionally talk to the fishermen and try and glean some info about where to catch something good, and one day we went to the rangers house. Swimming didn't seem as popular with Chris as usual. One morning a sea snake popped up right behind Basanti, and then all those sharks...the only swimming that happened was right off the beach.
Sunday night we had visitors. How odd, to anchor in this remote location and actually run across folks you know. Actually, not so odd. Earlier this year was the Fremantle to Bali race and some of the boats are returning now to Fremantle, and some never quite got to Bali. Walk on the Wildside anchored just off our stern, so we invited Garth and the delivery crew over for a pasta dinner. They appreciated the hot food as much as we appreciated the news and gossip from Fremantle and our sailing community. Poor Wildside lost her mast on the way to Bali. Apparently the Longboat
We were thinking of going over to Dirk Hartog Island when the weather changed...we had thunderstorms for a couple of days and then the high winds set in for several more days. The wind was just relentless...we were making so much power on Basanti we ran our water maker just to use some of it some days. Finally, on Monday came a break in the wind and we were able to sail up to Denham. It was time to find a few fresh tomatoes and things, as in the three weeks since we left Fremantle we've used most of our fresh things up. On the way to Denham we were surprised to finally catch a nice big fish!! A mackerel. We had delicious fish burgers for lunch and Tuesday night had fish curry. Jean, on Tigress Too, also had some luck with the fishing and Monday night we all had freshly caught dinner aboard Tigress Too. Yum.
Not going to try and upload any photos now, so you'll have to wait for the photographic proof of the fish and of course of the cakes and things we've been making. Hope to be in touch a bit more now that we've move on from Steep Point.
From Two Rocks we had two full days of sailing, including an overnight stop in Lancelin, to Jurien Bay which was another nice little town on the WA coast. The humans explored the town a little and I kept track of things at the marina.
After a few days we had a window of reasonable weather for our sail up to Shark Bay. Tuesday night we had a nice roast chicken dinner on board and we departed on a Wednesday morning after breakfast. The conditions weren't too bad although there was consistently more wind than forecast. We didn't carry too much sail as we didn't want to go around Steep Point in the dark, so slowing ourselves down was the trick...quite a different mentality to racing.
About 48 hours of sailing brought us to Steep Point and once across the little bar we were pretty happy sailors to see the beautiful flat blue waters in Shark Bay. The only trouble we had on the trip up was a little encounter with a cray pot.
We really enjoyed relaxing for a few days. The time we spent preparing Basanti in Fremantle was so busy and stressful. Never seemed to be enough time to get everything done (and we didn't!) or see everyone we wanted to see before our departure. We have actually managed to get a lot of the little jobs done on our trip north and test out all our new equipment. So far, we have greatly appreciated all the changes we made to Basanti...the water maker is a real treat, but so is having all the wind and solar power to run everything with, and I could go on about the wonderful extras to the boat, but I won't. Suffice to say, getting all that salt and stuff out of my fur is much easier than I'd anticipated.
Shark Bay is a pretty remote place. We were anchored near a national park where folks come and set up a fishing camp for a week or so on the beach. There is no power, water or rubbish disposal/collection. If you walk to the top of one of the hills, you can occasionally pick up some phone coverage with Telstra, so we were pretty out of touch for the 10 days we were there. Of course our friends on Tigress Too were anchored nearby and we hiked around the park to the lighthouse, the cliffs and up and down countless hills. We'd occasionally talk to the fishermen and try and glean some info about where to catch something good, and one day we went to the rangers house. Swimming didn't seem as popular with Chris as usual. One morning a sea snake popped up right behind Basanti, and then all those sharks...the only swimming that happened was right off the beach.
Sunday night we had visitors. How odd, to anchor in this remote location and actually run across folks you know. Actually, not so odd. Earlier this year was the Fremantle to Bali race and some of the boats are returning now to Fremantle, and some never quite got to Bali. Walk on the Wildside anchored just off our stern, so we invited Garth and the delivery crew over for a pasta dinner. They appreciated the hot food as much as we appreciated the news and gossip from Fremantle and our sailing community. Poor Wildside lost her mast on the way to Bali. Apparently the Longboat
We were thinking of going over to Dirk Hartog Island when the weather changed...we had thunderstorms for a couple of days and then the high winds set in for several more days. The wind was just relentless...we were making so much power on Basanti we ran our water maker just to use some of it some days. Finally, on Monday came a break in the wind and we were able to sail up to Denham. It was time to find a few fresh tomatoes and things, as in the three weeks since we left Fremantle we've used most of our fresh things up. On the way to Denham we were surprised to finally catch a nice big fish!! A mackerel. We had delicious fish burgers for lunch and Tuesday night had fish curry. Jean, on Tigress Too, also had some luck with the fishing and Monday night we all had freshly caught dinner aboard Tigress Too. Yum.
Not going to try and upload any photos now, so you'll have to wait for the photographic proof of the fish and of course of the cakes and things we've been making. Hope to be in touch a bit more now that we've move on from Steep Point.
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Looking for the weather windows along the coast
Those photos in the previous post surely turned out weird. If Phil and Chris take me somewhere with a good internet connection perhaps I can fix them. Today I won't try to deal with photos...just a little update.
Two Rocks was an enjoyable stop, but we had a little window of sailing weather so we departed Two Rocks on Friday morning and had a fairly uncomfortable sail up to Lancelin. We anchored just behind the little island at Lancelin for the night and it was so rolly we were happy to depart early Saturday and sail north. We arrived in the little marina at Jurien Bay in the late afternoon on Saturday...just in time to catch a lift into the pub for dinner with our friends from Tigress Too.
Sunday was sunny and very pleasant...the calm before the storm and we got a number of jobs done on the boat before the winds and rain arrived that night. Monday was a rainy day but we intrepid yachties walked into town for fish and chips and a couple of errands. Today, Tuesday, the weather was sunny and warm again, so we'll head out and continue north again tomorrow. We plan to make the approximately 260 mile sail up to Steep Point. Sadly, we'll miss catching some fish at the Abrolhos Islands, but we've been told to throw a lure in the water north of Geraldton. Hopefully in my next post I can sort out the photography problems AND post a photo of a recently landed fish. Talk to you later...Buster.
Two Rocks was an enjoyable stop, but we had a little window of sailing weather so we departed Two Rocks on Friday morning and had a fairly uncomfortable sail up to Lancelin. We anchored just behind the little island at Lancelin for the night and it was so rolly we were happy to depart early Saturday and sail north. We arrived in the little marina at Jurien Bay in the late afternoon on Saturday...just in time to catch a lift into the pub for dinner with our friends from Tigress Too.
Sunday was sunny and very pleasant...the calm before the storm and we got a number of jobs done on the boat before the winds and rain arrived that night. Monday was a rainy day but we intrepid yachties walked into town for fish and chips and a couple of errands. Today, Tuesday, the weather was sunny and warm again, so we'll head out and continue north again tomorrow. We plan to make the approximately 260 mile sail up to Steep Point. Sadly, we'll miss catching some fish at the Abrolhos Islands, but we've been told to throw a lure in the water north of Geraldton. Hopefully in my next post I can sort out the photography problems AND post a photo of a recently landed fish. Talk to you later...Buster.
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Underway...cruising begins
The months of preparations finally culminated in a quiet departure from Fremantle Sailing Club on Sunday afternoon and a leisurely motor sail up to Hillarys Marina. We took a few photos for the archives and started to work out some of the new electronic goodies on board.
Tuesday morning the weather was perfect for a sail. We departed HYC and sailed up to Two Rocks Marina in perfect conditions. Once again the crews of Basanti and Tigress Too explored the little town for a couple of days while we wait for the weather to take us north. Boat jobs keep us busy for part of the days, walks and reading occupy a bit more and we've enjoyed happy hours, cards and a few meals with our friends from Tigress Too.
Note: I'm having some problems with the photo uploads and will check again (another day) to see if they are here. Be patient...Buster is out of practice.
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Preparations for our next adventure
Hello again! Phil and Chris have been keen for me to do some work on the blog, but life has been very busy and chaotic lately. New cruising equipment has been added to Basanti, the boat has been out of the water for new bottom paint and a few thru hull fittings and things were really stressful for a while.
Lots and lots of work has been done on the boat, the crew are all fairly exhausted and ready to sail away. Last week the weather was terrible...not at all suitable for cruising, so we had a few extra days to do some last minute jobs and shopping. We still probably don't have everything, but Basanti is full. Today we have a break in the weather and plan to sail up to another marina north of the city for tonight.
We hope to ease ourselves into the cruising lifestyle with some daysails up the coast, but the weather has to cooperate and we'll try and let everyone know where we are when we can get internet.
Ready or not...here we go.
Chris painted the propeller and polished the hull.
Phil doing some wiring for our wind generator.
We hope to ease ourselves into the cruising lifestyle with some daysails up the coast, but the weather has to cooperate and we'll try and let everyone know where we are when we can get internet.
Ready or not...here we go.
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