The stitchers are out of my calf, so there is nothing hold me back from starting the journey back up the east Coast of Australia.
Kevin who sailed with me across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand last year, has signed up for the sail to Sydney.
His 12yo son Cody and his mate Michael’s school holidays started on Easter Friday, so we decided the put off the departure’s until they finished school of the Thursday.
There are 2 saying I regularly heard about Melbourne’s weather “4 season in one day“and “if you don’t like the weather, wait 2 hours“
Departure date was no exception
Kev lives at Seaford, on the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay, across the road from the beach
It took 4 hours of motoring and then sailing, to get to Seaford (24miles). Kev was on the beach to welcome me (by now the weather was perfect).
I dropped the anchor
and took Albert ashore to pick up the boys
we were underway by 4.30pm to cover the 20 miles to Sorrento, arriving at 8pm.
Port Phillip Bay has a very small entry point to Bass Straight, the tidal flow is extreme, so exiting the Bay needs to be done at slack water
Slack water was at 8am the next morning, so we where up and underway at first light.
To use the tidal flow to our advantage we pulled into Flinders in Westernport Bay for 4 hours, to wait for the best tide for our run to Wilson’s Promontory.
as we motored in one of the motors was not pushing the boat. The explanation was an enormous clump of seaweed, wrapped around the propeller. So the boys went over the side to untangle it. 
we headed off as the sun was setting 
The westerly wind was very favorable, enabling us to cover the 82miles to Waterloo Bay (on the eastern side of Wilson’s Promontory in 9hrs
Dropping the anchor in Waterloo Bay at 2am
The boys slept all the way there, and woke to this view, from the back of the boat, in the morning 
The SUPs where inflated, and the boys were off
The water temperature a bit on the side of “brass monkey” temperature for me, but that did not stop them swimming
Kev took them off, for a walk on the land
The next day, we motored 5 miles north, to Refuge Bay, stopping to try to catch some Snapper.
Didn’t get any Snapper, just this spiny looking thing, that a Wandering Albatross, dropped in, to see if there was a free feed
We had exquisite sunny weather, to enjoy the deserted beaches and headlands
Refuge Cove was very crowded, (comparted to deserted Waterloo Bay)
We went for a walk to the high spot, to get internet reception, to download the weather forecast
The boys went fishing mad, 
and caught quite a few fish, including these big wrasse
Bu now it was Easter Monday, so we made our way up the 24miles to Port Welshpool, for the boy’s mothers to drive over from Melbourne and pick them up.
I got to do my first mooring, up to a pile jetty
two and a half years ago, I made these fender boards out of heavy underground conduit, finally got a chance to use them
