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.