Yamba

Well we didn't get away as we planned. I had started the motor to check things were still alright and after about 3 minutes the oil light came on. One of the oil lines had a hole in it, so we ordered a new one on Friday afternoon. The amazing thing was that it arrived at the post office on Monday morning. So with that installed we left this morning on the high tide, about 6:00am. We had a great sail with light winds and arrived in Iluka harbour at 6:00pm. There was heaps of dolphins, they had a great time coming up to the boat and getting everyone excited before going for a fish and coming back for another play. We sailed all the way except for the last half hour, we just wanted to get anchored before it got too dark. Once inside the Clarence River we went straight to the Iluka harbour and went straight to the hotel for a meal and a couple of drinks.

Once again everyone felt a little queasy from seasickness, except for me. This time I knew that i may have to have my head in the motor so I took a couple of tablets and laughed at everyone laying about.

Tomorrow we'll have to go to the other side of the river to Yamba and haul out the boat and we have left our car in Ballina, so we will have to figure out a way of bringing it down here.

Road trip to Lake Macquarie

We had originally planned to sail to Lake Macquarie but my mum had a bit of a stay in hospital. So on Tuesday 13th we packed the dingy in the back of the car along with a few clothes and about 8 hours later were in Dora Creek. We left the boat anchored in Mobs bay, which we were concerned about a bit, but she was in the exact same spot where we left her when we got back. The people that are anchored next to us must have had to go away for a few days also, as there dingy was left on the beach for a few days. I haven't got into the cruising mode enough to be able to do that just yet, maybe because our dingy is still new.
We had a good time catching up with everyone down there, but after a week we thought we had better make sure Saltheart hadn't drifted off to New Zealand.
Our plan is to sail to Yamba tomorrow where Saltheart will come out of the water and get painted. We called in to there on the way back from Dora Creek and found a caravan park that Jess can stay at. We'll put up the tent while the boat is out of the water.

We are finely on board

We moved onto Saltheart on Monday afternoon. Our friends Melissa & Elliot along with their children Nathaniel, Jeremiah, Caleb, Holly and Ella have moved into our house. Melissa and the children came down to Ballina with us. All the children had a great time together playing on the beach. But i think Jess had the best time chasing after a stick.

Tuesday we tried to move Saltheart out the Fisherman's Harbour into the river. We untied the ropes just had a couple of ropes in hand, put her in reverse and nothing happened. On further investigation a cable had to be adjusted, at first we were concerned the gear box had had it. After a bit of time Ian had fixed the problem.

Ian down the motor room again fixing the problem.

Wayne who also had a boat in the harbour suggested that we check the propeller for any growth. Ian did this and said that there was a bit of growth and took a scraper for a swim. Kathleen decided to join in the fun with her dad. By now the tide had gone out so we had a spend another night in the harbour.Kathleen & Michael at the back of Saltheart in the harbour before we left.

Come morning we left the harbour behind us and moved into a anchorage further up the river. With a depth sounder on the dingy we were able to find a nice spot.

At anchor the kids had fun jumping off the bow of the boat and climbing back up the duck board.

Kathleen and Michael jumping off the bow.