I had so many plans last year that were totally written off by the pandemic. Fiji and Vanuatu were out pretty quickly. Getting to the Kimberly followed when Western Australia closed their borders. I got stuck in the Whitsundays on a bridging visa whilst the Australian Border Force took 4 months to decide on my visa. However, I made it up to Cairns and got some good diving in with various crew along the way who have all been great!

New Year’s Eve fireworks in Sydney were ruled out when the Northern Beaches cases occurred though I was already on my way south at that point.

However, a birthday spent under spinnaker in the Bass Strait has seen Duplicat arrive in Tasmania, which is pretty stunning.

I plan to spend a relatively short time here in Tasmania, as Western Australia beckons and we now have a way to get there. It means crossing the Bight which is best done in summer. So we need to get a move on!

So after some cruising, the odd distillery and winery visit, some fixing and provision, our next stop will be in South Australia. We’ve jumped through the hoops to get our approvals for there, and should be off in a few weeks.

I’ll try and blog a bit more this year, honest....