South West Cape
On our 30th day, we rounded the South West Cape—the end of the southwest coast and a major milestone for all of us. We felt like we’d completed the expedition, as the most treacherous section was over. We still had 150 miles to go, but we had 11 days before we were due to fly home. Ironically, once the pressure was off a bit, my motivation dipped.
I was surprised by how tired I felt after 30 days of paddling. The constant exercise, getting up early, always being mentally alert, and even the time and effort it takes just to cook a meal all takes its toll. I started to feel exhausted and fed up. It wasn’t a good feeling, and sometimes we just needed to get off the water to gather strength. A 25-knot headwind forced us to rest for a day at the beautiful Anchorage Cove. Full of pancakes, burritos and just about everything else, we were back on the water the following morning. The forecast was for at least three days of up to Force-5 headwinds, but we decided that we’d edge along the coast slowly.
To some extent, the scenery made up for the weather. Steep mountains and precipitous ridges rose from the shore, and lush forest covered it all. The odd gannet or albatross hovered above our heads, peering down at us. An easterly wind persisted for five days but gradually decreased in power. On our penultimate day, we had a 25-mile crossing of Storm Bay to reach the Tasman Peninsula. Gemma put her radio in a dry bag on her deck so she wouldn’t get bored. She soon memorized the radio station’s phone number, and we called them on a cell phone to request a song. They didn’t play our choice of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On,” but they did play our conversation on the air, which helped us on our way!
On our last day, the wind turned around behind us. We surfed past stunning diorite columns and through the gap by the Totem Pole, a towering needle of rock rising over 200 feet from a base barely 10 feet across.
As we paddled toward our final landing, I only had to look at Trys and Gemma to start laughing with shared pride and excitement. After all of our disappointments and worries, we’d made the circumnavigation with five days to spare. It had taken us 37 days to paddle 900 miles around this beautiful, moody island, and finally we had made it. A TV crew was waiting to meet us at Eaglehawk Neck as we pulled our kayaks up onto the slipway. I took one last glimpse at the sea that had been our constant companion for so long and couldn’t resist saying to the girls: “It’s a shame not to make the most of this following sea. Shall we just carry on?”




Justine Curgenven is an adventure filmmaker and perpetual explorer. Her films about expeditions, travel and adventure racing have aired on the National Geographic Channel and the BBC. Her latest kayaking DVDs are This is the Sea 1 and 2, the latter of which includes a 30-minute documentary about her Tasmania expedition. Visit Justine online at: www.cackletv.com

The expedition used 4-piece Kinetic paddles from Lendal; Aquatherm touring cag, coverall cagdeck and fleece kayaking thermals from Reed Chill Cheater; 2 Explorer sea kayaks and 1 Greenlander sea kayak from Sea Kayaking UK; Armortex reinforced spraydecks and Hot Hands pogies from Snap Dragon Design; and a VE25 tent, foul weather gear and insulating garments from The North Face. The author would like to thank The North Face and the Sports Council for Wales for their support, Kayanu for logistical support and Tasmanian-paddlers Matt Watton and Jeff Jennings for their invaluable assistance.