An intra-state trio took off on a six-day journey across the Bass Strait, using only jet skis

Aaron Tarbit, by day the owner of AT Welding Services and by night a keen jet-skier for the last two years, undertook the journey with Andrew Thompson and Brendan Whitty - friends from Victoria and Canberra respectively. The journey set off on May 9, after a full year of preparation.

The 1680 kilometre journey took them from Apollo Bay in Victoria, across to Stanley in Tasmania before moving to Launceston. They returned via Flinders Island , Wilson's Prom, Port Philip Heads and finished up back in Apollo Bay.

Mr Tarbit said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"Since I had my jet ski, I thought 'Wouldn't it be good to go to Tasmania?' To concrete that, I looked on the internet so I'm not the first but not many have done it," he said.

"I thought that I wouldn't ever bother with it, and then six months later these guys asked me to come along ... in hindsight, it was one of the best trips I ever had."

The trio loaded themselves up with huge amounts of petrol and supplies, with Mr Tarbit emphasising that safety was paramount. He said the Bass Strait was known as a 'sleeping dog.'

"It's usually fine, but if you wake it up..."

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The first half of each day was spent travelling, with the second half of the day devoted to preparing for the next leg of the journey. This prep led to a few late nights, with one night seeing the men stay up until midnight to ensure they could have confidence in the skis before setting out just before 5am.

"That was definitely a big test of relationships that night, it was good to see how the three of us got on ... it just shows how much we all had each other's back," Mr Tarbit said.

He added that a highlight of the journey was meeting and engaging with different people, drawn by curiosity to the trio on the jet skis.

"All three of us would do it again in a heartbeat, I couldn't hope to do the trip with two better blokes - both those guys, and every person we met on the way really turned it from a destination trip to one that was more about the journey."

Not all of those friends were human, with the final stretch back to Apollo Bay seeing a pod of dolphins join the trio.

"We followed the coast up and the day just kept improving as we went along, and it was just beautiful as we were chased by dolphins all afternoon," Mr Whitley said to The Examiner in Launceston.

Mr Tarbit said they would be looking forward to the next journey, with a few ideas including a journey to Papua New Guinea.

"I love the touring side of things, for me, a vacation is just getting the hell away from everyone," he joked.

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