Carnivore's Cruise

I misaddressed the "Bureaucracy" blog two days ago so it didn't post. Lori let me know, and I sent it out again last night. Sorry about that.

0600 position 32-49S 152-11E. 19 miles from Newcastle

We motor sailed all day yesterday with the wind light and directly behind us. It was very pleasant, but we would rather have been sailing. At 9PM last night the wind finally backed far enough to the north that we could sail and we shut the engine down. We sailed all night, and have just turned the engine back on at 540 this morning as the wind died off again.

Other vessels popping up on the AIS have provided entertainment for the crew on watch for most of the trip. We would usually only see one at a time, and they'd be a long way off. As we closed with the Australian coast last night the ship traffic increased. When I went off watch at midnight there were five ships on the AIS, one of which was in sight. This morning I count twenty. It is like a freeway out here. The boys told me that Zappa had to take evasive action during his watch to avoid one of them.

Yesterday was meat day aboard the mighty Van Diemen. After our grilled sausage and eggs breakfast Marie made a nice chicken salad for lunch. The lovely smell of Michael's beef stew simmering woke me up for dinner. Nobody goes to bed hungry on this boat. This morning for breakfast we are having a grilled lamb sausage appetizer followed by grilled lamb chops and proscuito.

I can just see the coast of Australia ahead of us as the rising sun is lighting the horizon behind us. It's been forty years since I last made landfall on this coast in a sailboat. I have goose bumps just like the last time.

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