Exploring King Island - Currie, Kelp and Cows

 

We arrived at Grassy Harbour Port late afternoon. After recovering from the excitement of the dolphin ballet, we were thrilled to arrive at King Island. We'd heard so much about it from folks who had visited that we hardly believed we were really here.

Grassy Harbour Port is located behind a man-made breakwater and we were fortunate to be able to pick up a local's mooring for use while we were here. Another Dutch-flagged cruising yacht was already at anchor in the little harbor and a small ship was at the dock, loading prime King Island cattle aboard. The breakwater, we later learned, was made of tailings and rubble from an open pit scheelite mine that was active until 1990 and now closed. The breakwater is also the best vantage point for watching a colony of fairy penguins return to their nests at dusk.

We got a lift to the little village of Grassy about 5 km away from the harbor. It's pleasant, but it's not much...a very small grocery, a couple of limited-hour restaurants, the Kelp Craft store (yes, kelp craft...more on that later), a laundromat. You know it's a small town when you see an ad on the bulletin board that offers “Number Cake Tins (0-9) for rent...$10 for 48 hours” and another offer to sell you “sticks for your stove – just call my mum for more info” with no name or phone number.

The “big smoke” on King Island is Currie on the west side of the island, some 30 km away. We were way under budget for expenses in January and thought we'd splurge on a car rental here ($$) for a couple of days in order to see the island. Part of the plan, right? Sail to places and then get off the boat and see what's there.

Back to the Kelp Craft, for a minute. When we envisioned “kelp craft”, or anything to do with kelp actually, we thought of the huge wads of thick, heavy brown weed that we pulled up on the chain and anchor in Patagonia. We had to use a machete to hack it off and it took forever. What “craft” could you fashion from these sea weeds? Well, Betty and Bevin have figured it out and the results are pretty outstanding. We were so impressed with their artwork that we bought a kelp seahorse. I mean when your art medium is kelp, you've got to be congratulated for your imaginative efforts, don't you think?

We walked back to Grassy Harbour along a gravel road that led past the scheelite mine and then to Sandblow Point. We saw wallabies, a rather large blue-tongued lizard crossing the road and lots of birds. We were especially warned about the venomous snakes here … tigers and copperheads … it's mating season and they're all a bit cranky. We didn't see any though (and I was just as glad). The walk back along the white sand beach was invigorating with the sand blowing (hmmm...Sandblow Point) and the waves licking our toes.

We picked up the car the next morning and decided to explore Currie first since we had to complete our rental paperwork there. It's not as small as Grassy, but it's not very big. Let's put it this way... there are no traffic lights on King Island and the only traffic circle (rotary) is in Currie. We saw the lighthouse (not impressive in our humble opinions), the museum was closed; visited the harbour (very impressive, especially the entrance with huge rollers impeding the entry...wow!) and the cemetery (lots of room for expansion). We picked up stuff for a picnic lunch at the Foodworks supermarket and then headed south.

First stop, the kelp processing factory. Now here's an interesting product to market (beyond the kelp craft previously described). How could we have ever known that durvillaea potatorum aka bull kelp could be of such importance to the biopolymer industry, but it is. We learned all about it, then found a beach where a fellow was harvesting kelp. Pretty interesting stuff. Toyota is even thinking of making a kelp car. Really!

We drove to Stokes Point at the southern tip of the island on a winding, narrow, gravel road. Not quite like four-wheeling, but close. The views were great; the lighthouse, not so much.

We noted lots of cows en route grazing on kelp … they must like the salt. There are lots and lots of cows on King Island. Not as many cows as wallabies though which they estimate to be 3X the human population of ~1700.

There were lots of walks to take, in fact we found a whole brochure describing King Island walks. We attempted to walk all of them, though gave up on a few when the flies drove us nearly mad. Now we know why Aussies wear those “swaggie hats” with the corks dangling off the brims.

The Calcified Forest was actually a surprise. Tree roots calcified over time and when the root died and rotted out, only hollow shells remained … a small forest of them.

The Cataraqui Memorial Walk was a sad reminder of the reason King Island's lighthouses were originally constructed. The entire coastline of King Island is dotted with shipwrecks, in fact more shipwrecks than any other part of Australia. There's a Shipwreck Trail to follow with memorials near the sites of the most disastrous ones. The Cataraqui which went down in 1845, is still the worst civil maritime disaster in Australia's history with a loss of 400 lives. A memorial marks the site of the mass grave.

We ended the day with a trip over to Naracoopa on the island's east coast and a look at Sea Elephant Bay. In the 1800's, elephant seals inhabited this island in great numbers, but after a “lawless frenzy” of sealing following the “discovery” of the island, they were hunted to local extinction. No more seals, but the name remains, a haunting legacy.

We were home just before dark, scampering down the rocks to recoup the dinghy which was moored a ways offshore to account for the sizable tides here (~2m /6'). We have the car another day and we plan to head north tomorrow. Want to join us?

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Ash Wednesday

The beginning of the Lenten Season for Christians; a time of penance and penitence. No more candy until Easter?

Get a Different Name Day

Don't like your given name? Today's the day to take care of it. Give yourself a name you like and use it all day. See if it grows on you.

Dolphin Ballet

 

Finally … some easterly winds to take us further west in the Bass Strait. Our next port of call is King Island, known as KI to the locals. We planned an overnight passage to cover the ~160 nm. The forecast called for light easterlies to start, increasing to 15 kts towards afternoon. Hmm...we'd fallen for this type of forecast recently and it didn't work out as planned. There's always a quandary. If we leave early enough to make it by nightfall the next day, the winds will not have picked up enough to sail all the way. If we waited until later in the day, we'd arrive at night...not a prudent prospect for making our first foray into the reef-lined entrance to Grassy Harbour. King Island is the best known graveyard for ships in all of Australia. Hmm...let's contemplate that fact. If we waited until the following day, there was a chance we'd miss our window altogether. We left around 0900 and hoped for the best.

The day was spent holding on. We motored for awhile and then the easterlies finally arrived and so did the swell. The sunset was a fire-in-the-sky blaze that bode well for the rest of the passage (Red sky at night...sailor's delight). Though rolly to the point that neither of us could sleep a wink, it turned out to be a good passage.

The night was clear and crisp. Millions of Milky Way stars danced in the ink black sky. A yellow half moon played tricks in the clouds...now brilliant, now a shady silhouette. I tried to take photos, but the best I managed on a rolly boat at night was a Nike swoosh!

The night was spent alternately trying in vain to sleep on our off-watches scrunched into the lee cloths on the settee or holding on in the cockpit while watching out for the fast-moving Bass Strait ferry and well-lit oil rigs. Despite the roll, the weather was mild and being topside was quite pleasant.

Day broke and a thick gray wall of clouds stretched from sky to sea in the east and slowly receded like a heavy coverlet slipping off a bed. Shafts of sunlight cut through the thick blanket and were reminiscent of Hollywood movie aliens trying to beam people up from their boats. A pale blue, cloud-studded sky tinged with peaches and pinks appeared and promised a fine day ahead and so it was.

We spotted a pod of dolphins in the distance and they migrated toward us. Dolphins are always good luck for sailors, so we were glad when they stopped by. You don't even have to see them; you hear them first … a distinctive breath sound that we've come to recognize. Three or four of them greeted us by the cockpit, then swam by. Another three or four joined them and started swimming in the bow wake. Then more dolphins appeared … and more. We'd never seen quite so many all at one time, diving, surfing down waves, swimming under the boat, beside us, in front of us, behind us.

I was beside myself. I started photographing, but they were everywhere, all jumping and frolicking and apparently intent on giving us a good show. I hung over the bow and over the rails, clicking away into the clear blue water, then finally gave up with the camera and just enjoyed their presence. For over an hour, they swam with us.

After 13 years at sea, this is one of the many pleasures that always excite. Not to mention all that good luck.

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Peppermint Patty Day

Have a refreshing York's peppermint patty.

White T-shirt Day

Honoring men and women who participated in a sitdown strike at General Motors in 1937. These autoworkers helped the United Auto Workers (UAW) union to become the sole bargaining agent for General Motors autoworkers. The strike ended on this day in 1937. Wear a white t-shirt, but do not get peppermint patty all over it.

Tasmanian Tiger

 

Everyone's heard of the Tasmanian devil, thanks to Looney Tunes, but if you're not from down under, you've probably never heard of the Tasmanian tiger. This is neither myth nor legend. The Tasmanian tiger really did exist and not so long ago. We'd never heard of this animal before coming to Tasmania. The thylacine, commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger because of its striped back, was the largest carnivorous marsupial. Think meat-eater that looks like a striped dog with a pouch for its young.

Originally thought to be widespread in Australia and New Guinea, they became extinct in those areas long before European settlement. Archeological evidence in the form of rock paintings indicates that they might have been hunted by the early humans that inhabited the continent. Thylacines did pretty well in Tasmania for awhile. In 1803 when Europeans first arrived here, they were quite common and it's thought the Aboriginals here used them for meat.

It didn't take long, however, until settlers decided the these critters were harmful to humans, attacked stock and needed to be killed off (sound familiar?). Government bounties were offered and contributed significantly to the hunting and eradication of the beast, but disease and human intrusion impacted them as well, not to mention the introduction of dogs.

By 1910, the animal was considered a rarity and zoos around the world sought them. They didn't fare well in zoos though. The last known thylacine killed in the wild was shot in 1930. The last known Tasmanian Tiger was captured in 1933 and the species became extinct when it died at the Beaumarais Zoo in Hobart in 1936. The last of its kind gone. An entire species became extinct at that moment. When I read this and shared it with David, it made both of our hearts heavy.

The thylacine was an unusual critter. Both males and females had pouches: the female to nurture and protect the young joeys and the male to protect his external reproductive organs when he ran.

Observers noted that the animal ran awkwardly, wasn't very fast (more of a trot) and sometimes hopped on its rear feet, using its tail for balance, very much like a kangaroo. Though they were considered vicious predators, it was thought that their sense of smell and dogged persistence in running down and tiring their prey played a major role in their hunting ability. They were very shy and when captured, they rarely struggled, but rather just surrendered to their captors.

It's closest relative was thought to be the Tasmanian devil, but recent research indicates that the numbat, a striped anteater native to Western Australia, might be more closely related. Despite its official classification as extinct, sightings are still reported, though none have been conclusively proven. There are all sorts of rumors and stories associated with this shy guy which contributes to its mystery. In 1999, the Australian Museum began a project in an effort to bring life to an extinct species through cloning.

A bit of trivia: According to the Parks Tasmania website, mainland Australia has the worst record of mammalian extinctions of any country on Earth, with nearly 50% of its native mammals becoming extinct in the past 200 years. Of course, prior to that, who was really keeping track?

It took us awhile to figure out that the image on the Tasmanian coat of arms and car license plates is that of the elusive Tasmanian Tiger.

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Chinese New Year's (1st Day)

Celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Snake. Wear red and go out for Chinese food.