Day 5 - The west coast beckons

We left Stanley today to wander down the west coast. We stopped in Smithton for supplies before riding on down the western explorer trail. A couple of people in Stanley warned us about punctures on the bad dirt parts of the road, so we went and bought some more plugs just in case. 

We found a beautiful beach to camp at for the night. No shower but worth missing out just for the view. Tomorrow we head for Strahan. 

Black Spur Ride video

Day 4 - we climbed the nut

Rest day ? Not with Lisa. 3 hours of walking including a circumnavigation of the nut. Stanley is a lovely place. See below. I needed an arvo sleep after Lisa was finished with me. Tomorrow we go bush on the west coast for some real camping. 

View from the top of the nut

Under the pleasure dome

Day 3 - Devonport to Stanley

An early start was the order of the day. The ship woke us up a 5.45 but Lisa says she hadn't actually been asleep yet. I had a great sleep however I did wake a few times when the ship hit particularly big waves. I worried about gerti down in the hold. Was she tied down properly?

We rode off at 6.30 and headed for our favourite Devonport coffee shop. The Laneway cafe. After lots of coffee we hit the road and sculked our way up the coast visiting more coffee shops along the way. 

We arrived at Stanley and set up camp ready for Friday drinks

All is right with the world

Friday afternoon drinks in Stanley

Happy travels on Black Spur

Day 2 - back country victoria and black spur

Well there is no way we could handle the Hume highway for long so we let the gps take us on a merry dirt road adventure. We popped out at Alexandra for some lunch before heading toward Healesville via the famous black spur road. Unfortunately it was wet and slippery but still absolutely beautiful. 

After a quick visit with Bernd at Healesville we braved the traffic into port Melbourne. It was a wet peak hour hell. Arrived at the ferry tired cold and very wet. 

We had a nice dinner on board and settled into our little cabin for the night. Hopefully the gear will dry overnight. 

Hello we is on our adventure.

Our Tasi adventure begins

We are off to Tasmania for a 3-ish week bike ride. We left Bathurst today and headed for Albury. We had a late start as we were hoping the postman would deliver the hand warmers that have been on backorder for ages. I was in luck and fitted them up before we left. They will come in handy in Tasi at some stage I'm sure. We have until 6pm Thursday to make the ferry. We might try to fit in a ride through the mountains if time permits. 

The pilot arrived by chopper

We were turned out in fire gear with hose and foam for the arrival of the chopper. We tucked in behind a hatch in case it all went pear shaped. 

Arrival at Newcastle

As we entered the hunter river mouth we were met by 4 tugs. It took 2 hours to push us into our berth at the coal loader

The boys

Sunset over the bridge

Me and the chief

Earning my keep

Pedro was spying on me from the luxury of his day room while I sang for my supper. They found something I could do and gave me a fire hose

Leaving port kembla

Leaving port was a real thrill. It was a carefully rehurst exercise to get the ship turned and out of port. 

Engine room

This shot is standing with the engine running at 1/2 ahead. Doing about 70rpm

This is the top of the engine. (Heads) it goes down another 2 floors. 

Drifting of Newcastle

Today we have had a 12 hour drift off the coast to wait our turn to enter Newcastle. We have been bust readying the ship to take on its coal cargo before leaving for japan. 

Big boys

These two Diesel engines are. 2 of the 3 generators that provide power used on board. They burn around 2 tonnes of fuel each day. The piston and conrod I have in my workshop are from one of these engines. Pictured is Tony the first engineer. 

Pedro's cabin

Good to be the chief 

Desert

Barista at work

The mess is off the hook

Can't believe how good the food is. You seem to spend an aweful lot of the day eating. 

Breakfast 7.30-8

Morning tea. 10/10.30

Lunch 12-1

Afternoon tea 3-3.30

Dinner 6-7

The mess is a bit divided between blue and white collar. They sit on different tables. I just keep swapping between the two. 

First day on deck

I had my first day of work today. I spent the first few hours doing a full induction with the 2nd engineer. After that I was assigned to the IR's for the day working as a deck hand. The boys were a great bunch to work with and made me very welcome. We spent the day doing maintenance tasks around the deck. We also went into one of the cargo holds to change some bilge filters. It's a spin out how big this ship is. 

Tomorrow I'm spending the day in the engine room. I will get to experience an engine startup. What a hoot

State of origin in style

Number 6 hold

Ther are 9 of them. 

We were in the bottom changing the bilge filters. It's a fair climb down. Bigger climb out

My cabin

View from my cabin port hole

All at Sea

I'm just about to start another great adventure. Pedro has worked a miracle and got permission for me to join his ship for the first part of it voyage. More to follow