#86 NOW January 19, 2006 1845-UTC +10 hours (Tasmania, Australia) Anchored near the town of Lady Barron, Flinders Island (S40'12.8 E148'15.5). 68 degrees "Oh wind a blowing all day long, Oh wind that sings so loud a song" Robert L Stevenson Greetings from Tasmania, Well, that pretty much sums up how things have been going down here. I departed Eden with a great forecast for the run to Tassie. My plan to stop at Gabo Island was good. The wind was out of the Northeast and Gabo Island gave me great protection from the wind and swell. Going to bed early, I got some good sleep before setting out at 3:00 AM for Tasmania. Once I got out from behind the island the wind and seas picked up and I had to keep the para-vanes down. It was a rough ride with winds in the 20 to 30 knot range all day, by evening they let up a little, but it was a long night. By morning, I was nearing the entry to Lady Barron. This is a rather complex entry with shoals all around and a 10-mile zigzag route into the harbor. Since it was rather shallow in places, I had to bring up the para-vanes, which drag 15 feet below the surface. You might say I rock and rolled my way into the harbor. You don't realize how much the para-vanes help until you have to bring them in when the seas are rough. I dropped the anchor in the bay, setting it securely, and fell into bed. Actually, the trip went pretty well, and was not much different from some of the long flights that I have made. Most passengers never realize how tired their Crew might be. Now that is a reassuring thought for your next international flight. The wind has been blowing for the last three days around 20 knots. It's too windy to get the dingy down, and I'm not sure I could paddle the kayak to the dock, which is about a mile away. Actually, the wind would blow me to the dock its getting back that would be the problem. So, I have been on the boat doing little things that must be done. There is always something to fix, clean, or polish. Tomorrow the weather should be a little better and I plan to take advantage of it and do another overnight run down to Wineglass Bay. It is 137 miles and I should be able to do that in about 22 hours. Now for a quick look at some Tasmanian history. It appears that in 1642 Abel Tasman was the first European to set foot on Tasmania. He actually named it Van Diemen’s Land in honor of the Governor General of the Dutch East India Company. For the next 130 years, there was very little further discovery or charting of Tasmania. Then in 1772 Marion du Fresne spent a few nights anchored. This was followed by Tobias Furneaux in 1773, and in 1777 along came, who else, Captain James Cook. It seems he has left his mark just about everywhere in the Pacific. It wasn’t tell 1798-99 that Matthew Flinders did some detailed charting and discovered that it really was an island and not just a peninsula as was thought. Later, Captain Flinders was the first to circumnavigated Australia creating some very good charts for that day. Tonight, as the sun sinks below the horizon, my little ship is anchored on the shore of Flinders Island, which was named after this great explorer. Life is a Cruise, Larry