World cruise | Captain, who's driving?

I have been poring over weather charts and forecasts all morning. We are heading south, towards Tasmania and Hobart in particular. We departed Sydney yesterday evening (11th) and now I write on the 12th.

As is the norm we berthed at White Bay Cruise terminal; the days of being able to berth at Circular Quay are long past. The ‘explosion’ of larger cruise ships homeported here results in larger ships, unable to fit under the harbour bridge, using the prime berth in Sydney.

The reason I have been absorbed in the weather is that the Tasman Sea is about to live up to its reputation; a depression to the west is moving in, a very large swell and high winds on Tasmania’s west coast are expected and we are, (were) due to sail into it. Instead I have shortened our Hobart call by 5 hours and cancelled a tender-port call at Port Arthur, I am going to try to “get out of Dodge” before the worst of it comes in. I intend to sail north, staying near Tasmania’s east coast and then steam ‘over the top’ of the worst weather. That’s plan A anyway, time will tell.

In the outer harbour, having just entered through the ‘Heads’

Sydney appears through the gloom; Fort Denison, the Opera House and the Bridge

Tops of skyscrapers hidden in low cloud, Fort Denison foreground

Back to Sydney, a wonderful arrival, albeit the early morning was dull and cloudy. The sun soon came out and temperatures soared. Although I took a video of our arrival and several photographs, a quick ferry trip enabled me to take some satisfying shots of the goings-on around the harbour.

Fort Denison was once a small, rocky island. After the British arrived in 1788 it was renamed Rock Island. In 1796 the Governor installed a gibbet and a convict was hanged there; his skeleton was still hanging 4 years later, a warning to all entering Sydney.