Rest day in Port Welshpool

Today the team rested up in Port Welshpool. They are aiming to head to Refuge Cove tomorrow, leaving 5:30am to catch the outgoing tide. It could prove to be a hard day into the wind, but the guys are looking forward to getting the trip started. They are feeling much more ready for the journey and thankfully Jason is feeling better (praise God!). Thanks goes to Dave Gemmell who has helped out the last couple of days and will drive the car back to Melbourne.

Today, When the Boys Almost Left...

The boys woke up at 4am to darkness, 25 knot winds and horizontal rain. They packed up and drove out to the Port by 5am. The weather wasn't looking any better so they made the decision that it would be better to wait. This was pretty tough as they were revved up and in their paddling gear, all ready to go. But Thursday was also looking like a 'no go' to cross to Hogan Island. This decision, although difficult to make, ended up being a blessing as Jason came down with food poisoning/gastro today. Not good, but definitely easier to deal with on land!!
The guys ended up going to Tidal River and are staying with Ross' wife's cousin who is a ranger there. But they were still keen to get out and try the Bass Strait so they did a paddle from Tidal River. The Bass Strait experience they definitely got, with a 30 knot head wind and 3m occasionally breaking waves. The boats performed well in the conditions however which gave them confidence.
The plan now is to rest for one more day, driving back to Port Welshpool and staying in a house that a local checkout lady has kindly let them use! Then paddle to Refuge Cove on Thursday (with Jason hopefully all better by then).



The campsite at Tidal River (actually Ross' cousin Lynden's backyard). Dave, Jill and Ben.




All of the guys plus Dave at Normans beach at Tidal River. Looking a bit chilly.



Tomorrow, When the Boys Began...

Hi there, I'm Matt's wife Narelle and I'll be taking over the blog whilst the guys are doing their trip. The boys are hoping to paddle to Refuge Cove (VIC) tomorrow in preparation to cross to Hogan Island (Bass Strait)on Thursday. They have decided to leave from Port Welshpool (VIC) instead of Tidal River as strong westerly winds will mean the east side of Wilson's Promontory is more protected. The trip is a total of 42km. They are hoping to meet up with a group of five from Queensland who are at Refuge Cove at the moment and are doing a similar trip to them. Go boys! We'll be praying for good weather, fun times and safe travel!

At Melbourne

The car became our home for a couple of days, we will miss you car - noooooooot

We left Kristal Brook (SA) early in the morning we almost ran into trouble with a blown valve on the trailer tyre and no wheel brace, luckely I packed my whole socket set and breaker bar "Just in case" as Matt would say...
We are now safely in Melbourne after 49 hours from when we left Perth.
Thanks Russ and Kyleigh Palmer who put us up in there house with only a couple of hours notice.
We will galavant around Melbourne whilst waiting for Jason and Ross to arrive via Plane tomorrow. After we will head south to prep, sleep and wait for a good weather day for paddle "Day 1".
By the way this is Tim (Matt and Ben may be in bed and Matt left the blog logged on only for me to find, Whooooop Whoooop Whoooooop!!)
Over and Out...

Over half way - woohoo

Breakfast on the Nullarbor

Trying to eat all our fruit before the quarantine station, we were thinking of starting a fruit stall with everything people have to throw out (Tim ate 14 pieces of fruit in 4min)

Well we drove through the night and have now done 2300km.  Swapping drivers every 2hrs meant that we didnt have to concentrate for too long but also meant sleep was in 1hr lots.  I think weve all had around 3hrs since yesterday.  Weve been keeping ourselves occupied by checking the weather on the Bass and trying to plan when we might get a window to go.  At this stage we might be able to head to refuge cove on Tuesday and possibly do our first crossing to Hogan on thursday.  One of our challenges has been to tell every service station about our trip, most people have been interested but 1 lady thought we are lazy because were only paddling 1 way.  Looking forward to finding a quiet campsite for tonight somewhere before Adelaide and hopefully get some sleep.

Were off!

Were finally off.  Im writing this from Tims laptop as we drive away from Perth.  Tim, Benny and myself left today at 2pm after only a few last minute shenanigens.  Weve only done 230km and are already going crazy, its going to be a long way!  Our favourite game of 'Would you rather' has already started.  So far the best question has been 'Would you rather have really really long arms or really really long legs?' (all opinions are welcome).  It feels like weve already eaten nearly all our driving snacks for the journey, but as Tim reminds us its ok because we need to fatten up.  Our plan is to drive through the night tonight and hopefully make it to South Australia by tomorrow morning.  Thanks for everyones msgs, prayers and well wishes, only 3300km to go, woohoo.  Hopefully our posts will get a bit more exciting when we hit the Bass. - Matt.

Final Pack day - 4th Jan

All our gear, how the heck will it all fit?

one last session, paddling in time for the camera proved quite a challenge

A group photo for the West Australian (our mate Simo snuck in too!)

Team shirt

Thanks to our sponsors

Looking good Benny, but will it fit?

Are we done yet Couttsy? I wish Bres.

Finally after 8 hours of work, everything was packed ready for the Nullabor.





Two months ago we thought it would be a good idea to get together a couple of days before we headed off to sort out the last couple of repairs with the boats and to see if all our gear actually fit into our limited space. We thought it would only take an hour or two, but after 8 hours of chaos, with gear spread across the whole of my front yard, we realised we were wrong. But just how valuable the time we had set aside had been. It was an epic day, we managed to fit everything into our boats, pack the trailer, had a meeting, a good prayer session and even a photo shoot with the West Australian newspaper. It feels great to be finally ready to go. With only a day and a half til we leave, it's time to relax, reflect on what's ahead, and spend the last bit of time with our families before we say goodbye. Thanks to our wives and mates who helped out today. Tassie here we come!