Bermagui to Melbourne.

Track Bermagui to Melbourne

By a stroke of good fortune, when the lock-down of New South Wales was announced on 22 March and all recreational boating banned, we were still berthed in Bermagui. The plan had been to spend the period April to June in Melbourne in order to celebrate my 70th birthday with Vanessa, my daughter, who lives there; however, it ended up being a celebration with a very select group (i.e. the crew, including Christoph, just) and a pressure cooked meal onboard; fortunately with plenty of wine! Bermagui has the advantage of having an excellent supermarket and an even better bottle shop!

Bermagui harbour entrance and salt water pool (with shark net!)

The up side of being in Bermagui was that we ran little risk of encountering the dreaded virus. The number of cases in the whole of Bega Valley County was not much above single figures. The down side was that there was little to do here and very few facilities open. That said the local supermarket was well stocked, the bottle store excellent and best of all there is a really excellent Gelateria in the waterfront buildings of the marina, called the “Gelato Clinic”. The best ice cream I have tasted since leaving Italy!

Francesca from the Gelati Clinic

The down side was the number of sea birds that insisted on perching on the masts or other high structures ready to target the unaware beneath. As soon as we realised we were in for a prolonged stay I ordered a second folding bike for Kurukulla and using them we were able to take our daily exercise cycling around the local area including visiting some of the quieter local beaches and the seawater swimming pools.

One per mast!

Sadly the clamp down on all sporting activities, including fishing, meant that the sea birds were deprived of their usual diet of fish guts provided by the local fishermen. The pelicans in particular seemed to have lost the ability to feed themselves naturally and they were patently going hungry. I didn't see one dive for its prey normally, contrary to what we had witnessed throughout the Caribbean. The birds were not the only ones to have adapted to life around the human race; there were several very large rays that seemed to inhabit the harbour, unperturbed by the chains and structures of the marina, and at least one seal who would relish in playing in the hose discharge over the sides of the fishing boats; that was when he was not playing, in full sight, with the last octopus meal he had caught.

The old bike

All delightful to witness.

Not to be defeated in his efforts to get back to UK (his previous two flights having been cancelled) Christoph booked a third flight for the 6^th of April, this time from Sydney on Air Qatar, via Qatar, arriving London, Heathrow on the 8^th. Fortunately this time it worked; a bus journey all the way to the airport and a flight with no hitches! Phew..... Interestingly there were no health checks on arrival at Heathrow... very lax it would seem … !

Overall Australia seems to have come off very lightly in the virus stakes! After six weeks in Bermagui it was time to move on and, fortunately, I managed to achieve approval to move Kurukulla from Bermagui to Melbourne, some 350 miles, from the Australian Border Force, the Melbourne Marine Police and the Department of Health and Human Services; all three authorities had a say in our plan to move!

Camel Rock, north of Bermagui

In addition I had a berth pre-booked, at the Sandringham Yacht Club, for as long as I need it; only a few km from Vanessa's residence. All we were waiting for now was a suitable weather window; we were now entering the depths of winter down here. Eventually we set off on Tuesday, 5^th of May, with a plan to either sail direct or, if the weather set in from the west, to shelter in Refuge Cove for as many days as were necessary to see the weather system through..

Bermagui river at sunset

Having waited for a suitable weather window we were not intending to hang around. The 400 mile passage was not going to be easy if we didn't get decent weather. In the event, during the first two days, we were plagued by more calms than winds from any direction. On balance we sailed and motored in almost equal quantity. On day two we managed to come upon a survey vessel, doing a survey on the SE Australia oil field which resulted in us being warned off and escorted four miles back the way we had come to avoid the 4 mile long array she was towing!

Final swim at Bermagui

Sadly we didn't have the speed to make it around her bow where she wanted us to give her at least 2 miles clearance. All in a days sailing! We were also greeted by a pod of the largest and most friendly dolphins we have yet come across. They spent at least half an hour swimming under the bow, frequently swimming on their side to be able to look up and look you straight in the eye. They seem to have the same desire for human contact that you see in domestic dogs!

By 0700 on day three we were approaching Refuge Cove, a small but very sheltered anchorage on the eastern side of Cape Wellington. It was here that we had determined that we had to make the decision to either hold over whilst the next low pressure system went through or make a final dash for Melbourne. We entered the bay on an almost flat calm, settled for breakfast at anchor, and then lost patience!

Sunrise in Bass Strait

We opted for the dash! Three hours later we were to the west of Cape Wellington, bashing to windward in a lumpy sea and 30 knots of wind over the deck; … c'est la vie .. we were now committed and on our way. That night was cold and wet but at least by 0400 we were in reach of Port Philip entrance (the bay in which Melbourne resides), the only problem was that we needed to wait for 0900, or there abouts, before we could enter due to the strong currents and over-falls in the narrow entrance.

Oil drilling rig on the SE Australian field

We hove to and waited until 0700 when we got underway again. By 1000 we were through the entrance and heading up the western channel. As we reached the northern end of the channel we were intercepted by a Marine Police launch

Departing Refuge Cove

demanding to know why we were out “recreational” sailing in defiance of the lock-down. It was good to know that their information flow was just as bad as the ABF between Canberra and Sydney, we had had a similar problem on our initial arrival in Australia! Having accepted our explanation they departed again and three hours later we were berthed in the Sandringham Yacht Club marina, enjoying an early night and an opportunity to catch up on some lost sleep! I had had only four hours in the past 48 due to shipping and weather conditions.

Lighthouse on SE point of Wilson's Promontary, Victoria

The following day, having managed to sort out the administration arrangements of the marina, we were visited by Vanessa and her dog, Luna, who seemed to settle to life onboard a boat very quickly.

My birthday celebration with Vanessa

We were now allowed, under the virus restrictions, to visit Vanessa and her partner Craig at their apartment due to it being one of our two legitimate “places of residence” in Melbourne and hence we returned with her for a belated celebration of my 70^th birthday; a great pleasure and totally unexpected.

Yiorgos, my other crew member, was also programmed to return to Greece on the 5^th of May; however, that flight was also cancelled! Fortunately we have been able to transfer the booking to the 3^rd of June, with the same airline, allowing him to depart four days before his visa runs out!

Luna looking pleased to be onboard

It was the first flight we could, get direct to Greece, after the airline opened again for bookings. We wait with bated breath to see whether this flight actually goes and if so what quarantine restrictions there will be on arrival.

As far as future plans for Kurukulla and I are concerned nothing is fixed. In the original plan we were going to head up through Papua New Guinea and Indonesia before spending next Christmas in the Philippines but that now looks to be highly unlikely, that part of the world has yet to show any sign of getting on top of the virus and borders are likely to remain closed for some time yet, probably a year or so at least.

Sandringham Yacht Club and marina

That being the case I am looking at the prospect of keeping Kurukulla in Melbourne for the winter and then heading back to New Zealand for part of next summer, Dec/Jan. It looks as though Australia and New Zealand are likely to open up travel between the two much earlier than other destinations. After that who knows... Vanessa is suggesting I might even relocate permanently to Australia!

Sandringham Yacht Club with Melbourne CBD in background.

More when I know what is going to happen next ….......