Awaking at anchor in Safety Cove, around the corner from Tasmania’s Port Arthur historic site, we all took the tender to the beach to explore. We had a rough plan to hike across to Maingon Bay and then find a three-hour return walk up Mount Brown, with views across Crescent Beach and the Maingon Blow Hole.
The first leg from the beach to the road led past a farm which seemed to consist entirely of old tractors, hundreds of them, lining the road and spilling out of the sheds and filling the surrounding fields.
We met the man who had collected them all, and he suggested that instead of doing the round trip, we should cut back from Crescent Beach and hike over the dunes directly to Safety Cove.
Maingon Bay
The road to Maingon Bay was gentle, with views across the local farms. It was a relief to walk on hard dry terrain, and the flowers were bright in the warm sun.
Maingon Bay was pretty, with a sea-cave and views across to Cape Pillar.
Still feeling the need for a bit of solitude, I struck off alone along the signposted track. Some of the crew were ahead, and the rest would follow, but for the moment I enjoyed the stroll through flowering shrubs toward the blow-hole, which had a sturdy bridge and viewing platform but which wasn’t blowing at that time.
The path was in good shape, with evidence of recent work, and it wound up and across expanses of flat igneous rock to a bench with views across Crescent Beach.
Mount Brown
From the lookout, the path to the summit of Mount Brown became a scramble directly up flat sheets of dolerite scattered with scree. It was steep and the footing was interesting, but it didn’t take long to climb to the top, which at 174 metres was enough to give spectacular views across to Tasman Island and Cape Pillar.
In the other direction, Crescent Beach beckoned. This is the spectacular beach that was often visible across the water from the Three Capes Track on the other side of the bay. I had promised myself at that time that I would find a way to visit it one day.
Crescent Beach
Half the crew had skipped Mount Brown and had clambered down to the beach, and I could see their ant-like figures far below. The rest of us bumped into one another on the mountain, and we peered down to see if we could see the track behind the dunes that the tractor-man had mentioned. We were vaguely encouraged to make out a distant service road to some water tanks, and so clambered down to Crescent Beach to see if we could find it.
The beach was gorgeous. Big rollers creamed in over the soft golden sand, which squeaked underfoot. John and I went for a swim in the surf, and then dried off by attempting to run to the top of the backing dune.
Ange, Mish, Rob and Stuart had already climbed the dune and had discovered a bush track behind it, and were sitting at the top enjoying the views when we caught up with them.
The track soon led directly to Safety Cove, where some wag had draped the bow of the tender with armfuls of kelp. Clearing it off, we pushed her out into the rising surf and got thoroughly soaked, before boarding Silver Fern and pulling together an eclectic melange of left-overs for lunch.
We were by now really struggling to make decent meals from the remaining stores, and were sorely feeling the need for fresh fruit and vegetables. We discussed visiting a cafe or fast-food outlet in Kettering or Margate, but nothing would be open by the time we arrived, so we decided to anchor at North Bruny and make one last attempt at putting together a meal from the scrapings at the bottom of the freezer.
With no wind, we motored back around Cape Raoul.
Quarantine Bay again
By the time we reached North Bruny Island, the wind had picked up, and we had an enjoyable time tacking Silver Fern in past the fish-farms to Quarantine Bay, where it all began. One last meal, and then one last sundowner on the beach.
It had been a cracking two weeks, and we had all had a lot of fun and learned a lot about sailing a big steel yacht. We’d made new friends, and I had fallen in love with the buttongrass lands in the far south-west corner of Tasmania.