Search for the Shy Albatross Day 1 : 17-08-2015

** The afternoon update is now up! **

North west Tasmania is our location for the next four weeks and I'm here! I arrived at Hellyer Beach last night with the sea kayak strapped to the trailer in heavy rain and cold wind. The aim for this week is to paddle west along the coast until I can head safely out past Robbins Island to Three Hummock Island. On the way we will see what we can find, out on the water and along the shore. I'll pack all the gear into the kayak in a minute and hope the wind dies down slightly. This is the first expedition I've brought along a sail but I doubt it will get used today. Nasty.

Afternoon update:

Dragging the kayak down Hellyer Beach it started to rain, icy cold Antarctic type rain. I sealed the hatches and still had one bag to fit in the main cockpit. It's best to keep the cockpit free of bags but there was no choice. With 12 litres of water and enough food for the first three weeks it was a heavy boat that slugged out through the small waves. Turning west with the rudder down the rain stopped and wind dropped. I hugged the shore to reduce the impact of the offshore breeze. Turning out to look across Bass Strait I spied a lone albatross cruising and swooping a few hundred meters away. I couldn't identify it but hopefully in the days ahead we'll get a closer look. On shore it changed between rocky headlands and sandy beaches. Far ahead the Stanley Nut (Circular Head) was the most prominent landmark. Just as I passed under the long loading jetty at Port Latta's iron ore processing plant a severe burst of rain and wind made it hard to make progress. It looked like there was a silver gull (sea gull) nesting colony right next to the huge piles of ore waiting to be loaded. And just when I was squinting hardest to avoid the stinging rain a flock of 25-30 terns (again I couldn't identify the species) were circling and diving for bait fish. I was nearly being blown over in a heavy kayak but they seemed not to mind the wind at all! Continuing with numbing fingers I made landfall inside Black River and raced to set up the tent to warm up. I snapped a quick pic of a shell in the beach- any guesses which shellfish used to call it home? Post your thoughts under the 'Discuss' link above.

Tomorrow:

Forecast looks better and the plan is to paddle north around the Nut and then south into Duck Bay- hoping to see a duck. 

Today's T-shirt winner: 

Lucy

Students can use the discussion boards on the daily reports to answer the question of the day or start a discussion on any other expedition related topic. One student will be chosen to receive a Search for the Shy Albatross T-shirt each week day of the expedition, so get involved. Shy Albatross Watch is now active as well and our experts are online to answer all the tricky questions. We are officially underway.