Friday, 8th June 2018
Club member Peter Turrell presented a very informative night to about 50 members and guests on a recent trip to Tasmania.
The trip was set up early last year and three boats ventured down Tasmania’s rugged west coast to where the Franklin and Gordon rivers meet and they left early Feb 2018.
Turrell captured the groups attention with brilliant photos from start to finish with a very detailed description of the trip.
The boats included Rob Ungars, 88FT Princess ‘7th Heaven’ .Gary Axtons 45 ft Riviera ‘Allure’ and Phil Ridgeway aboard his 43ft Riviera ‘Jenisiph’. A total of 15 people enjoyed the trip.
As Peter explained the details of where they went and how far each leg was it was quite evident a lot of pre planning went into making it all possible. Gary Axton was the main instigator to make this trip work with many hours of co-ordination between all the interested parties to make this happen.
They left Queenscliff and headed to Stanley the first day and stayed three nights. Next was an overnight stay near Three Hummock Island before heading down the coast to Macquarie Harbor ending up at Hawks Nest Cove for one night. It was then up the Gordon river to Sir Johns falls for two more nights.
They spent the next two days there exploring the Franklin river and enjoying a great photo opportunity the next day heading down river and ending up at Strahan. The photos were amazing.
A few nights in Strahan with a train trip up to Queenstown just topped off a great trip.
Heading home a little earlier than planned meant another night at anchor in Coulomb bay then a quick dash back into the safety of Port Phillip Bay. Apparently according to Peter, Bass Strait was as good as he has ever seen. They had to head home early as the weather forecast for Bass Strait was as Mike Percy (7th Heaven Pro skipper) said to us “you don’t want to be there after Tuesday afternoon” and as predicted it blew a gale the next day.
Plans for the next trip to Tasmania where given and the group would like to do a complete circumnavigation in Feb next year.
As Peter finished he mentioned he wrote a picture book about this trip. If interested go to Blurb.com.au
Search ‘Tasmania. Where the Gordon and Franklin Rivers meet’ for a preview.
