Boating was all good fun.I have never driven a powerboat so it was yet another new experience for me. We trained in 18FT Zodiacs. The weather was not kind to us that week, which was good for training because Casey weather can be pretty fierce. Have to say it was a very hard week at the office - NOT! ;o]
I was surprised at how quickly I developed skills I never knew I had. It was a week of intensive training, spending 8 -9 hours a day on the water. First off was steering and speed control. Then we progressed to holding a boat, under power, nose onto a jetty then park it and hold it side on. This will allow people to get on and off without getting wet. Very important down south!. Then we learnt how to hold the boat against some fairly serious rocky shorelines in massive swells. We will do this to load and unload scientists and their equipment. We boated into caves and inlets and some really tight places where the only way out was to 3 point turn and head back out. We also learnt how to beach the boat by riding the swell of the surf in, not that we will do that down south, but it was part of the course anyway. There is an art in getting on top of a wave and using the throttle to stay up there and ride it in to the shore – I managed twice it but I think it was good luck more than skill. Ha Ha.
The coast line of Bruny Island and the Hobart surrounds down past Kingston are just beautiful. On our last day we went over to Shelby Island and did some serious caving and had a good look around. That was the BEST day. The weather Gods were very kind to us. The ride over was pretty hideous, with 30knot winds, a huge swell and white caps everywhere. But once we hit the island the sun came out and the wind dropped and we had a fabulous three hours exploring the coast.