All day we motored along through the large swell and waves. It was very comfortable, considering the sea conditions. We mostly stayed firmly in our seats, Alan sat behind me at the bench seat in the pilothouse as his legs were long enough to reach the edge of the dash. I sat in the helm seat so I could support myself with my feet up. The stabilizers worked perfectly, so there was minimal roll, just the fore and aft movement. We survived the time at sea on cups of Tea, biscuits, rockcakes, 2 min noodles, and tomato and cheese on crackers. It wasn’t until midnight that the wind began to ease then we were able to move around safely. Throughout the day and night we took turns at trying to sleep, approx 2 hours at a time. The seas started to flatten at around 2am and we picked up speed to 6.5 knts SOG. The engine ran at 1600 RPM the entire trip using 8 LPH and arrival at the notorious Hells Gates at 9am. The view of the mountains behind the sandy beach coastline with the sun rising through the clouds made for some great photos on the last few hours of the trip. Macquarie Harbour has little tidal influence, but the SW wind sucks the water out and the Northerly winds push it back in! So 2.5 knts current was coming out against us. We slowly made our way 10nm past the tree covered mountains, including a motor around the Strahan town waterfront before dropping the anchor in Mill Bay for a well earned sleep. The North west change blew up at 3am, so again we got up to check the anchor. Other yachts were coming into the bay looking for a safe spot to anchor. This morning was overcast and another change due late morning arrived early, it has blown 40knts from the North expected to go Northwest tonight at 40-50 knts!! Some of the yachts that came south went straight up the Gordon River to hide from the winds, there are 5 of us here in Mill Bay and the remainder stayed back in Stanley. It will be R&R for a few days til this blows through. Check out the photos page for Leg 2 photos so far.