Hello Simon,
Having sailed east to west before, we found January a good time to begin the voyage. Close to the mainland coast, an easterly flow is established by the heat rising from the center and west, producing easterly winds upwards of 25 – 30 knots from midday to midnight.
There are numerous anchorages, mostly all reachable in day hops.
For the two or three day hop across the Bight, we began from St Francis which is around forty miles west of Streaky Bay. Interesting islands. We recommend Daw Island on the western side. Good protection from north thru east to south. And from there there are plenty of stops through the Recherche Archipelago to Esperance. The a jump to Albany, Emu Harbour is our choice of anchorages there, or you may prefer the marina downtown. Pick your weather window for rounding Cape Leewun and then head for Geographe Bay, maybe Dunsbourgh. The summer winds are generally fairly light near the coast in Geographe Bay. From there to Fremantle can be down in day hops.
Three essential items –
1/ Jack and Jude  South Australia Cruising Guide
2/ FSC WA Sailing Guide – free download online
3/ Book – Where Wild Winds Blow by Jack and Jude describing our east to west to east crossing containing place descriptions and history information.
Hope that helps,
J&J 

Hello Linda and Allen,
Wonderful Mandurah with loads of tasty blue swimmers just outside the training walls. We’d love to be there again, but maybe not till summer.

Sailing to Tasmania from Mandurah is a wonderful trip, with a few challenging patches. The first, getting around Cape Leeuwin. That’s a bit easier now that the new marina is available at Augusta. But there can be southern ocean swell even in summer. We generally wait for a good window and make a run for Albany in one go. There are a few spots before Albany, but again if the swell is running they can be challenging. In Albany our preference is Emu Harbour. Tight entrance but safe and quiet and and lovely bike ride to town.
You can get WA anchorage info online from the Fremantle Sailing Club
Try here to download it It was free, so let us know if you’re successful. You’ll also find plenty of info on our website here.

For the remainder of you journey, Jack and Jude produce two excellent guides:
For South Australia – You can peruse the free online version here or get the extended offline version here that comes in several formats for all devices for the cost of a drink.
For Tasmania – You can peruse the free online version here or get the extended offline version here that comes in several formats for all devices for the cost of a drink.

Hope that helps.

Hello Nick

Rule ONE – Make sure you do not need to be rescued.
Rule Two – Do not endanger other people’s lives.

Melbourne to Brisbane may at first seem an easy thing to do, like what a speedboat fellow once said years ago, “just keep Australia on your left.”

But the truth is there can be any number of events that can put a vessel and her crew in mortal danger.
Let’s look at what you have.
Firstly, you state you are inexperienced, piloting a vessel new and unfamiliar to yourself.
That alone has us wondering –
Is there adequate safety gear on board?
Is the gear up to the challenges of the voyage? Big winds can strike anytime on that run plus you’ll be bucking a strong south running current, making good runs hard to achieve. And at only 30 foot, she might be slow.

So, it is impossible for us to predict how long that voyage will take. But, to give an example, last December we sailed out of Ballina, which is near Brisbane, on a vessel we’ve known for over forty years, the current with us, and made Eden in four jumps, all of them over-nighters, one lasting three days. Given rest stops and breaks for weather ate up another two weeks On that voyage, we suffered equipment breakage that had us stranded for another month. All up it took two months to reach Tasmania.

If we can be more helpful, send details of the vessel, it’s gear, (usually supplied when making a purchase) and a rundown of your blue water experience. How many on board? Have you had the vessel surveyed? Hope this helps.
Jack,