40:27.2s 144:50.7e

Well we have now covered the west coast of Tasmania and our lucky run with the weather held fairly well. We overnighted up from Strahan and the night was so calm I cooked steak on the barbie for dinner – 2 miles off the west coast of Tassie. As the night progressed a NEly of 15 knots came in and made it a little bumpy, especially for us softies who have had it so good so far. This morning soon after daybreak we were at Cape Grim the NW corner of Tassie. Huge wind farm all working flat out. We were cruising alongside Cathy & Ian in their cray boat Juliene and we all decided to head for Three Hummock Island as the NEly was due to stay in for the day. Our guide (Ian) decided to take the Hunter Passage around the bottom of Hunter Island. Sounded good till we got there and a 5 knot outgoing tide stopped us dead. We eventually covered the three mile passage in 90 mins. While this was going on, with huge tide races bubbling and churning, Hunter Island was on fire, flames leaping well above the trees. Fortunately there was only one hut nearby and it was ok when we passed. The rest of the day several fire bombing helicopters worked to put it out, rumour here is it was deliberately lit to help the men in the  mutton birding season.

We anchored at Three Hummock Island and after a quick nap, we went ashore and met the caretakers John and Beverly, two of the nicest people you could meet. They spent the whole afternoon showing us around, driving us to the lookout and then a cup of tea. Just awesome to meet such nice and sane people on an island this small, they have been here 4 years.

And that reminds me of what a strange place Tassie is. On the way up we passed the Pieman River and then a large area known as the Arthur Pieman reserve, obvious question to our Tassie mates ‘who and what did Arthur Pieman do?’ They told us he escaped from Sarah Island penal colony with several mates and proceeded to eat them all, and these guys name parks after him. Think I can feel Ku-ring- gai Chase soon to become the Obeid national park. (Editor’s note: looked Arthur Pieman up on Google to check and this is a common misconception in Tassie – no cannibals involved at all! The Pieman and Arthur Rivers were named after other people, and they border the park).

Early night tonight as we are all a bit tired. Ian baited a shark line and for a joke left it off the back of Hove Too as they paddled back to their boat. I have just battled with a 6ft gummy shark for 20mins, landed it and now what the bloody hell do I do?