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20 Februar y 2015

destination: Tasmania

Chris Danger and Wade Bishop are regular visitors to

eastern Bass Strait, exploring its little frequented islands.

Chris shares ten of her favourite anchorages

Furneaux Group

Top 10 anchorages

The Furneaux Group is a jewel in Bass Strait.

It consists of some 52 isles, many offering safe,

unspoilt and varied anchorages. We have spent

several summers exploring these waters. For us

the attraction is its remoteness and the fact that

we often have pristine coves to ourselves.

So out of the many spots we have explored,

here are our top ten. Three are on Flinders

Island, the largest isle of the group and seven are

located in the surrounding islets. Follow the map

(page 22) anti-clockwise for locations.

Killiecrankie Bay

On the northwest side of Flinders Island,

Killiecrankie provides shelter from north-

easterly through to southerly winds.

Although you can anchor along the beach, the

best shelter is to be had by coming right into

the small natural harbour formed by a rock shelf

and Little Island, where the local cray fishing

boats are safely moored. If you call Killiecrankie

Enterprises on Channel 16 and talk to Margaret

or Alan Wheatley, you may be able to use one of

its spare moorings.

We have been known to hook up there to

hide from a blow and treat ourselves to one of

A la n’s c rays.

The bay itself is a broad sweeping half-moon,

dominated at one end by Mount Killiecrankie.

If you look carefully at the rock formation at

the northern end of the beach, you will see the

Old Man’s Head peacefully guarding the bay.

At the southern end of the beach are barbecues.

But apart from the very beautiful scenery,

the area is known for one particular thing:

diamond fossicking. The Killiecrankie diamonds,

a misnomer for gem quality topaz, can be found

in the alluvial gravel of small creeks at both the

northern and southern end of the bay.

They look like glassy, waterworn pebbles,

usually translucent white, but sometimes yellow

or even pale blue. Once cut they can pass for a

diamond, well, nearly. We are told that crystals

of 20 millimetre are abundant and larger ones

have been found.

We have tried to make our fortune armed with

shovel and sieve, but must admit to being paltry

fossickers. Still, it’s fun to try!

Roydon Island

Off the northwest coast of Flinders Island, just

south of imposing Cape Frankland, is the island

of Roydon, dominated by a rocky pyramidal tor.

This is a stunning place with brilliant quartz

sand making the water postcard blue. It offers

good shelter on its eastern shores from winds

coming from the southwest to the north, in two

to five metres of water over sand and weed.