Awake at 6am and on our way across Norfolk Bay by 7am,  A glorious SW at 10 to 15 knots in our sails and Deep Purple Booming on the stereo “Smoke on the Water” . Just seems so fitting with the smoke filled haze covering the hills and the bush fires raging across parts of Tassie.     It is unseasonably dry here with very little rain having fallen in January.   So, please if you’re reading this send a positive thought of rain in this direction.   (Preferably at nights from 11pm to 7am 😀 – That’s me being selfish so go ahead and ignore that if you wish. )

We sailed up past the IRON Pot which identifies the start of the river Derwent.  This is where the wind dropped resulting in motor sailing the rest of the way up to Prince of Wales Bay Marina.

We got a call from good friends Greg and Judy who asked us to join them for dinner tonight.  Yay!  Once we get settled they will drop by and pick us up.

We did learn (or rather re-remembered) where to go through under the Tasman Bridge.  Avoiding the main, widest central section as this is for bigger ships 25 metres plus and the sections either side of the main section which is reserved for boats 15-25 metres.  Nashira is allowed to transit any other section making sure to stay out of the way of shipping movements.

Prince of Wales Bay marina is in a decidedly industrial area approximately 7 or 8 klms from Hobart central.  Incat (International Catamarans) is set up here manufacturing some HUGE catamarans for the world market.

Besides Incat Surrounding the marina are many industrial fabricators, TasTafe metal workshops, Elgas and a myriad of others.   The public bus stop is 1.5 klms from the marina  and there is a bike trail here somewhere and the marina is planning on setting up some sort of shuttle bus to ferry people to and from the Wooden Boat Festival.  Uber and Taxis are available so we ought to be able to scrounge us some suitable mode of transportation.  Perhaps we will hire a car at some stage if we stay for a while.

The marina is clean and the managers lovely.  Here are laundry, bathroom and shower facilities,  a café that is open 6 days a week but does not stock lots of stuff.   You can borrow their car to do some local shopping for $10 for 2 hours.

Evan and I checked in about 2:30pm and waited for Bundeena to arrive and helped them tie up.

Then headed for glorious SHOWERS!!  Ones where you can run the water for more than a minute, lather up then run for a minute again to de soap.   These have great water pressure,  hot water that keeps going and you can stand up straight on solid ground without grabbing onto a rail to steady your balance.  BLISS.

A little later in the evening we chilled on Nashira with drinks and nibbles with Frank, Peter and Greg.  At 6pm Evan and I left with Greg to go find Judy waiting at T42 (degrees south) a lovely restaurant overlooking the water on the Elizabeth street pier.  Dinner was lovely and the company even better.   It’s great to meet up with friends here in Tassie.

It’s been a long day.