This was a difficult deployment, with the system struggling due to long-period swell from the southern oceans.

Long-period swell was a well-known issue for the system, but it very rarely caused problems. Only a few places in the world frequently get swell with a wavelength long enough to be problematic. Unfortunately, southern Tasmania is one of them. Nevertheless, with a great deal of support to & from the software engineering team in Adelaide, we were able to improve the results with software enhancements. The swell did slightly lower the accuracy level that we were able to achieve, but the survey was still a success.

While in Hobart, I took some photos of the Salamanca Markets & the wonderful wood-carvings available there. I couldn’t resist picking up a few bowls & smaller carvings that would still be easy to fly with back to Adelaide. The small wooden bust I bought was not actually a Tasmanian carving, it’s African. I found it in an antique store & had to grab it.

The wonderful wooden dog sculpture, “Thomson” was located in a mall somewhere in central Hobart.

Instead of flying commercially, it was also nice do the transit from Cairns to Hobart in the Navy’s Dash-8 aircraft. Photos through aircraft windows are usually terrible, but the Dash-8 windows are not bad. I also got some photos inside the cockpit.

Salamanca Markets:

Bush & countryside around Hobart:

Transit from Cairns to Hobart in Dash-8 aircraft: