Team Clean are all over the news!

Woooohoooo! We've been getting some amazing media over the past 24 hours.

Check out ...

• The ace story that ABC news ran
• A cracker piece from The Mercury

AND a pearler story that aired on Southern Cross news, right here ...

BONUS LIVE ABC RADIO INTERVIEW
Click on play below to listen

112,117 pieces in 8 days

The crew departed from the tranquil anchorage of Bond Bay and headed south around South West Cape to the protected Wilson's Bight for a morning of of diving and surfing in calm crystal clear waters. After a quick sweep of the beach the everyone assembled on the beach for some team photos, to celebrate breaking the marine debris collection record with over 112,000 items removed during this year's cleanup. The team then headed for Southport and were treated to a spectacular cruise along the south coast with crystal clear sky's and light winds.

Lay day in Bond Bay

Day 9 - Friday 9 March

After a record breaking count on day 8 (of nearly 40,000 pieces!!), the cleanup team was delighted to hear the skippers announce that day nine was going to be a leisure day. For the first time in cleanup history, the team did not pick up rubbish on a fair weather day. What a treat in the such a location!

The surfers went surfing, kayakers went kayaking, fish were caught and coastlines explored and enjoyed.

After an early start from the stunning Nye Bay, all bar the surfers, who headed north in search of the perfect wave, headed south, back to the sheltered oasis of Port Davey.

The skippers rafted the boats together and a feast from the mornings catch was prepared. Abalone, lobster and fresh fish all washed down with ice cold beverages; Moo-Brew and Gillespies ginger treats all lovingly donated and chilled perfectly - thanks Craig Moysten for the ice! After much digesting, the team was ferried onto the shores of Bond Bay for an afternoon of exploring the calm beaches and surrounding forests.

Most swam in the unseasonably warm and glassy waters. Some headed off into the forests overlooking the beach in search of bird-life, others strolled down the pristine squeaky sands that melt seamlessly into the lush green, sculpted lawns below the Melaleuca canopy.

Truly, an amazing day for everyone involved and a sunset to remember. An evening of fine fresh food including chef Masaaki's crumbed abalone delights and a five boat soirée, got us re-energized for another day of relieving a stunning beach of its unwanted plastic invaders.

South Giblin River and Nye Bay

Day 8 - Thursday 8 March

Our 8th day on clean up 2018 turned out to be a day of contrasts. The morning surf crew got lucky this time and snuffled a sweet sunrise session with "Go Hard" Gerhard scoring wave of the day on a challenging right hander.

After a quick break the crew reunited on the south shore of the majestic Giblin River and continued south east from yesterday's clean up site along a sharp schist coastline, a big change from the expansive beaches we'd become accustomed to. What started as a cruisy wander along the nocks and crannies of rock pools and kelp filled challels soon turned different when we hit a little creek inlet which made the litter trap at Green Island Main look like a pristine paradise. It was quite the head spin to get lost in the details of picking the ropes, debris and micro plastics from the grains of sand and then looking up to take in the superb vistas of this otherwise seemingly untouched coastline, frame by a blazingly amazing sunny day.

Four hours we spent, some 20 pairs of hands picking plastics and filling bags like we'd not done before this trip, but at last the call was made to get what we could to the boats to start what promised to be an epic count, whilst others carried on along the shore to clear up some of the larger rubbish pieces that otherwise promised to be next years clean up micro plastic nightmare.

With the good ship Diamantina III headed back to Melaleuca to drop a couple of crew off to catch flights back to civilisation, the count took place on Rumours, with the rumours of a record breaking count that had been in the air all day proved true with whole buckets filled with micros contributing to a whopping Day 8 total of 38,400 pieces!

Count done, the surfers jumped at the chance to try their luck on a tantalising right hander, and caught a few, but in the end the session was stolen by a pod of dolphins picking up a sunset set way out the back, doing triple loops and leaps and surfing a wave or two themselves. Wow! What a day, what a trip!

Nye Bay and the Giblin River

Day 7 – Wednesday 7 March

With the promise of good conditions and the wind easing, we took our window of opportunity to head north, steaming off early from Green Island Main. Nye Bay is a favourite for the team with huge coastal dunes and the mouth of the Giblin River making for some stunning scenery.

We found lots of familiar big items – trawl nets, buoys and old fish bins – along with lots of other rubbish, but micro plastics were the favourite of the day, concentrated in small intense patches along the beach.

At lunch, the majority of the crew jumped in dinghies and headed up the Giblin River for a sight-seeing tour. The quick sand at the water’s edge claimed a few crew who were suddenly thigh deep in the slimy sand.

When we returned, we continued to sweep in line formation up the beach, everyone’s heads below hips for optimal micro plastic collection, occasionally distracted by the myriad animal prints that criss-crossed the beach. Slowly, we are picking up the tracks of the locals and trying to identify some of the movements that the wildlife are making.

Sun sun sun and lots of sand – an amazing day in the wild west. 

Oh yeah, and 11,965 pieces of trash removed from the area today. Another job well done.

Green Island Main, Alfred Bight and Denn’s Gulch

Day 6 - Tuesday 6 March

The surfers woke up at 5am but the surf was not up. We converged at the first site, Alfred Bight. This area had a large amount of micro plastic in amongst the rotting stinking kelp, an unfortunate place to spend a few hours. Desolate, wild, rough and you can tell that by what was washed up here the gradient was a high energy wave site, a testament to the wild west coast. Today, it was calm compared to what it could be on a stormy day.

As we travelled to the next site, we slit into two groups. One went by boat and the other scoured the challenging rocky shoreline for marine debris. There was various scattered large plastics and small plastics across the shoreline, including a large tractor tyre. How did it get here, we wondered? There was a substantial amount of glass. We speculated – does life affect organic life? Does it break down to sand? How long does this take?

The next site, Denn’s Gulch, was more rocky and there was plastic up further in the bush area. In exploring this site, we encountered dangerous plants and insects (nettles, jack jumpers and wasps). When there was nothing left to gather, including energy, ginger beers were drunk (shout out to our sponsor Gillespies!) and everyone boated back to count well over 17,000 pieces whilst others took the opportunity to catch the surf.

Blog by Team Wilson Voyager

Spain Bay and Normans Cove

Day 5 - Monday 5 March

Team Clean woke up in the sheltered anchorage of Clayton's Corner. After a slow morning we steamed out of Port Davey and around to Spain Bay, our target for the clean up that day. Aboard the Velocity an alternate plan was cooking, we would head to Norman's Cove, suit up and paddle into the beach to do a clean up. If waves were caught along the way, so much the better.

We felt like pretty hard-core beach cleaners rocking up in our wetties, little did we know that some hard-core cleaning lay ahead! While Norman's Cove was small, it seemed to be a magnet for marine debris and we filled our bags over and over. A few hours in we started to regret our surf-style arrival, the sun was out and we were sorely missing our sunnies, hats and refreshments! Cap'n Dave came to the rescue, dropping supplies into the beach, and these got us over the line. When we cruised back into Spain Bay, the rest of Team Clean were impressed with our haul! They had sweated it out on the sand collecting all the little stuff. 

A big clean meant a big count (21,126 pieces of trash off the beach and onto the boat!) but it went in a flash because we knew what Masaaki was working on aboard the Velocity... Three days after it was caught it was finally time to get stuck into the fat, fat bluefin he had caught. The sashimi platter that resulted blew our collective minds! With fresh wasabi to boot. A stellar day on the water in the south west!

Blog by Madi

Wild winds and orange bellied parrots

Day 4 - Sunday 4 March 

Wild winds forced us to seek safe harbour today, and our flotilla anchored up in Port Davey.

Whilst there was some rest and recuperation for the crew, we also made the most of the opportunity to visit this magnificent part of the world.  At Clayton's corner we visited the home of Clyde and Win Clayton, who made their home in this remote corner in the 1940's, and we assisted family members doing maintenance on the historic house by removing rubbish from the site.

Coastwatchers team Shane and Pip taking a well earned break with a delicious Gillespies ginger beer

A team headed up through Forrest Lagoon and Melaleuca Inlet to explore the South West Conservation Area at Melaleuca.  Here we were delighted to observe Orange Bellied Parrots feeding at the bird hide.  The Orange Bellied Parrot is Australia's most endangered native bird species and volunteer researches spend weeks at time over the summer camped at Melaleuca to monitor and record the annual migration between South West Tasmania and the mainland.  Pip, was particularly excited to see seven Orange Bellied Parrots, which is 15% of the entire wild population.

The team are looking forward to getting back on the beach tomorrow to continue our mission to clean up the beaches.

11,313 pieces of rubbish!

March 3rd ~ Day 3

Turns out that everyone slept in except me on the Velocity, so I was Dellegated to put the jug on. We strapped up a sensational egg and mackerel muffin for brekkie, delicioso!

The team headed in to Stephen's beach around 9am after a few crew decided on an early morning dip to blow out the cobwebs. Dave the skipper and I squared the boat away and then moved up to the north end of the bay in readiness for the clean up crew to return from the beach. While the clean up crew worked tirelessly bending their backs to pick up 11313 minute pieces of rubbish (of which I picked up >two pieces of small rope), I lay back on the deck! 

We attempted to put up a tarp in readiness for the evening count, but due to the 20 knot winds we did a shabby job. Despite the sideways rain and sub‐standard tarp set‐up Masaaki and Gerhard whipped up a storm, both master chefs whipped up a banquet of freshly caught tuna and abalone and fed the whole team, ready for a long night in the safety of Schooner Cove of superb music from Jay and Harbs and a sample of Moobrews, Splendid Gin and Gillespies ginger beer.

Words by Zac (Team Clean's Official Cultural Attaché)
Images by Madi Rosevear

March 2nd - Half day on Noyhener

Day 2 started with a 0630 departure from Recherche Bay, for those of us who were awake, we were escorted out by a pod of dolphins riding the bow waves. By the time I rose from the depths of the rocking ship, I was treated to the incredible views of the south coast.

Precipitous Bluff was visible in all its beauty, a trip for another time. It was all smooth sailing, with the weather gods being on our side. The sun was shining, the swell rolling through and we were on the lookout for flocks of birds to give away the tuna's location.

As we cruised along in the sunshine, the fishing line was out the back of the boat hoping to catch our next feed. With great excitement, a fish was hooked, and with several stressful minutes of reeling, the >40 kg blue fin tuna was reeled in by our resident chef on board, Masaaki. It was an absolute beauty. Straight onto the ice she went and we will have the pleasure of eating her in a few days. After all the excitement of the fish catching, a nap was on the cards to prep ourselves for the first beach rubbish pick up. The views continued to impress as we headed around SW cape.

Team Clean on the telly!

Check out this awesome story that Southern Cross News aired last night!

Departure Day

It was action stations from 8am this morning with the food pickup for all 5 boats from our good friends at the West Hobart Hill Street, then straight down to the Wursthaus to collect the smallgoods.

Sam from Gillespies dropped of the medicinal ginger beer supplies and the crew loaded their gear. It was back-to-back media from 10 til 11.30 with both WIN and Southern Cross filming for the nightly news and the Mercury doing an article for tomorrow's paper.

The Wilsons Voyager departed at 11 with the Rumours and Diamantina III leaving at midday for a leisurely cruise down the Recherche. The Velocity was the last of the boats to raft up in Recherche at about 6.

Jay Bushby and Harbs have pulled out the guitars and are rocking under a bright moon as the crew get to know each other before we depart for the spectacular South Coast before daybreak tomorrow morning.

Departure imminent

Wow what a frantic day.  Ula the crowdfunding and media guru was on the email early getting the media release and strategy for the final day of the Pozible crowd funder sorted. I finished the last few admin tasks at the Uni and then headed out to the Dimantina III for the delivery from our kind friend Dave McGill from Moo Brew. Then a quick trip back into town some supplies for the trip and a quick trip to the pre poll venue to vote in the upcoming Tasmanian election. I dropped in on our long time sponsor Rob Pennicott to thank him for his generous ongoing support of our cleanup efforts. A quick 10 minute ABC radio interview was followed by a visit to the Wilson's Voyager to help Tom with some last minute jobs on the boat. At last at 8 pm I can start packing for the trip and planning our schedule around the weather. At this stage it looks like a nice cruise along the South Coast on Friday, then  possible beach mission on Saturday. Its going to be 20-30 knots and 3-4 metres on Sunday, so there might be some downtime for the crew as we hunker down in Port Davey. Let the Adventure begin :)

4 Days to Departure

The boats are all back in port and early preparations are underway. The 32 strong team have just a few days more before they can put away the phones and immerse themselves in the wonder that is the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.  The weather looks to have turned in our favour, so we will hopefully be able to access the expansive west facing beaches that provide us with our bounty.

If you have not had the chance please support or Pozible Crowdfunder so we can spread our message far and wide amongst through our education portal Coastwatchers.

Crowdfunder Launcher - Two weeks till departure

The 2018 Cleanup is just two weeks away and we have just launched our Pozible crowd funder to help cover the costs of the extra boat we are taking along this year.  The team will comprise 32 eager volunteers on 5 fishing vessels and will depart weather permitting on the 1st of March. Please click on the link or picture above to donate.