The Australian Coastal Route

Newcastle, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart, Port Kembla, Newcastle.

The round trip is about 19 days - we took 21 days - due to extra time loading cargo in Port Kembla.         

Newcastle 

Cape Don leaving Newcastle - Knobby's lighthouse and breakwater are on the righthand side of the ship. We were certainly lucky with the weather, we had a clear blue sky and a light wind as we sailed from Newcastle. 

Melbourne       

Photo of a geared container ship taken from the Cape Don when berthed in Melbourne. The city high rise and one of Melbourne's newest bridges can be seen in the background. A city that prides itself on its artistic and traditional values could not be proud of such a hideously utilitarian structure as this latest bridge. Melbourne is a wonderful city, a lunch by the Yarra river at one of Melbourne's superb restaurants is not to be missed. Unfortunately Melbourne's art collection was not on display as it is waiting to move into new premises near Spencer station. 

Port Adelaide

On the left is a photo of an Indian bulk carrier taken  from Cape Don when berthed in Port Adelaide. As you can see we had some beautiful weather for winter. To the right is another spectacular photo taken at Port Adelaide. I call it silver water.

Another spectacular sight we saw in Port Adelaide were the dolphins playing in the waves produced by the bow of a small fishing boat as it went past our ship. Unfortunately we were so busy watching the dolphins we didn't attempt to photo them. There are a number cruise launches which take people from the inner harbour of Port Adelaide to the outer harbour - these two launches were photographed from the Cape Don.

Across from where we were berthed were the cement works. Port Adelaide has a very pristinely maintained cement delivery ship - photograph on the left. A fire fighting launch called Gallantry put on a wonderful display for us in Port Adelaide.

We had excellent weather for the trip from Port Adelaide across the Bass Strait to Hobart - the wind was behind us and we had fast, smooth sailing. One of the most spectacular parts of the trip was sailing down the East Coast of Tasmania. The wilderness and majesty of the coastline was stunning. In my geology books from school I always remember the Giant Causeway of Ireland being used as an example of columnar jointing - why on earth didn't they use Tasman Island? Following are two views of Tasman Island and lighthouse taken from Cape Don one as we sailed towards Hobart the other when we left Hobart.

Hobart

By the far most charming and accessible of the Ports visited. It was a five minute walk from our birth into the centre of Hobart city. One of the more interesting areas to visit is Salamanca Place. It was originally filled with pubs for the sailors and wharehouses, but now has become an elite restaurant tourist shopping area. If you are luckier enough to be there on the weekend we have been told that the markets held in Salamanca Place are festive and not to be missed. We visited a cosy Irish pub to watch the Brazil Irish world soccer match. Most of the customers were English supporters so there was little celebration when Brazil won the match.

Make sure you take a ferry trip on the harbour. You can visit the Botanic gardens, a wine estate Cadbury's Chocolate factory and the last stop is the Casino. The scenery is superb.

As Hobart is the largest most southern city you will always find Antarctic research vessels berthed there. Following are three that were there on our visit in June 2002.

Of course fishing is great in the southern oceans and there are large number of fishing vessels to be seen in Hobart. Below is a photo of a large trawler and a smaller lobster ketch. 

As we were walking around the harbour we saw large numbers of starfish. Large yellow ones and smaller green ones. These starfish are considered vermin.

Port Kembla

The City of Wollongong is only a short ride by taxi. You may visit Wollongong City Gallery which has an excellent aboriginal collection. Do make sure you visit North Wollongong beach and harbour. You will find a large variety of fishing boats moored in the harbour. One of the main tourist attractions at Wollongong is the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere - not to be missed.

The coal loader in Port Kembla taken from the Cape Don.

On board the Cape Don as we sail past Wollongong - on our way back to Newcastle.

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