Sailing Ships upon the Sea

1988 Hobart to Sydney Tall Ship Race

There is a certain romanticism of billowing sails carrying great ships across the sea

Distant shores unexplored

Harnessing the power of the wind

The power to cross vast oceans

The clouds of billowing sails

Masts reaching for the sky.

Ships from all parts of the world

Oman and the exotic east

The new world of the Americas

The old continents of Europe and Africa

These sailing giants covered the globe

As a young man I read and read Joseph Conrad and dreamt of the sea

My mind full of imaginary adventures in distant and exotic ports

The exotic ports of the trade winds in Lord Jim

The loneliness of being at sea and the weight of command in The Secret Sharer

The power of the weather and the sea in Typhoon

To be amongst the tall ships and the sailing tales of the crew

To sail away

Tech Note

These images were captured during the 1988 Hobart to Sydney Tall Ship Race on colour transparencies. I have rephotographed these with my digital camera using an Emora slide copier extension tube attached to the my camera lens.

Boys Big Bike Bash in Tassie

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — big boys on a dirt road at Poatina

It was a boys big bike bash

looping Tassie like it was a race track

Roaring bikes

From the cold damp west coast

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Misty wet Queenstown

settled in the heart of the wild west coast

windy roads in the mountains

constant dam filling drizzle and rain

looping across to the east coast

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St Helens Tasmania

St Helens Tasmania

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The beautiful fishing harbour of St Helens at dawn

Fresh fish washed down by local beer and wine

The mountains

Elephant Pass and St Mary’s Pass clinging to the side of the mountains range.

From the coast climbing the past Poatina

Up onto the high plains

Winding through Bothwell

The home of the worlds best merino wool

and the high plains lakes

P2261180 — Great Lake at Miena

The nature was not the only thing of beauty

In Hobart there we visited a magnificent collection of classic bikes

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Perfect for a Boys big bike bash

Tassie (Tasmania)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Looking past Wineglass Bay to Schouten Passage in the Freycinet Peninsula

I’ve looked at Tassie from both sides now

from in and out

and still somehow

Its Tassie’s illusion I recall

I really don’t know Tassie at all

(will apologies to Joni Mitchell)

I’m going to Tassie again

I place I can always go back to

find something new and beautiful

In Australian smallest State

An island State, part of an island nation.

p2041116e — Looking out to sea over the remains of the old jetty in Bridport NE Tasmania

Looking out across the blue clear waters that surround Tassie.

Looking in from coastal anchorages at

hobart116 — Storm over Maria Island from Chinamans Bay,

At storms rolling past

At the play of the light on the rocky shoreline

hobart188 — Sleepy Cove, Freycinet Peninsula

Looking in to tight harbour entrances

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Hells Gates the entrance to Macquarie Harbour in perfect conditions

Sitting safe in historic ports

summer-2006-7-067e — Futura in Constitution Dock, Hobart

copy-of-summer-2006-7-038 — Looking down on the Stanley Fishing Harbour from the Nut

Travelling through beautiful wilderness

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Gordon River Wilderness

p2091182e — Looking towards Frenchmans Cap in the South West Wilderness

And a quirkiness that is only Tassie

p2041095e1 — Ship’s dog watching passers by

p2071166e — Blue Man in Salamanca Place Hobart

Next month I’m going back to Tassie again

Taking the mighty Breva down for her second trip

I hope the sun never sets on my Tasmania adventures.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Sunset over Coles Bay TasmaniaSouth East Tasmania