Lake Macquarie

We headed to Lake Macquarie after leaving Gosford where Saltheart was for about a week. The weather wasn't very nice on the way down here and everyone wa feeling a little under the weather. We had to get the Swansea bridge opened to get through into the lake which didn't involve a lot of preparation.We spent the first couple of nights in Wangi Wangi to get wome well deserved rest from the past few busy weeks. The weather turned nasty for most of the East Coast so we hid out the weather in Dora Creek.


Amy waiting to go through the Swansea bridge

 We tried to get up Dora Creek but only made it not quite half way before we hit bottom, just not deep enough for the old girl. Never mind we didn’t get as far as we hoped but we are still protected from any bad weather that was out there. The wind picked up and the rain came down, we found a couple of drips which will be fixed up. We caught up with family while being here which is always a good thing.



We have stayed in Wangi Wangi for a couple of times since being in Lake Macquarie. Once out the front of the RSL and now in front of the Workers club. It is cheap to stay against the jetty in both places and use the power, showers and toilets. The water in the lake is clean here not discolored from all the mud that has washed in from other parts of the lake. The kids have been for a swim a couple of times and even cleaned the hull, not in the last few days however.




Ian and I out the front of Wangi Wangi RSL.

Daniel and Amy having a swim off Saltheart in Wangi Wangi

We spent Austraila Day in Newcastle (we caught the train up from Dora Creek). There were a lot of people along the foreshore. There was high speed water ski races in the harbour with boats going airbourne, the speed along with the ocean swell coming in must have made it hard for the water  skiers to stay up, we didn't see anyone go over which saw amazing. As we walked along the foreshore 3 fighter jets flew over us. The noise was deafening, they circled around a couple of times before heading back to base. We also saw the tug boats spouting water high into the air and doing donuts in the water, we weren’t sure what they were doing to start with until we picked up a program sheet. It turned out that they were doing a tug boat ballet.

Along the Newcastle Foreshore

Jet planes flying over head

Amy and Daniel to pull up the anchor

Kathleen has caught up with us on the way home after seeing friends further south for a few days. We are doing a few day trips around the lake with her now that the weather has eased of and the sun is starting to show it's face again at times.

My beautiful girls on the bow

Amy helping Ian fix a hole under the dingy

Just Beautiful sisters

We think we may be around the lake for while longer so there may be another post from here we will see how things go.

We're bound for Botany Bay

Port Stephens is on my list of places I would happily live when the farm get too much to look after. The harbour is twice the size of Sydney Harbour and around its shores is mostly undeveloped. Truly beautiful.
We moved Saltheart to Shoal Bay for a change of scenery and after a couple attempts of getting the anchor to dig in we checked out the town and climbed to Mt. Tomaree. It's an easy walk with excellent views. The anchorage is a little swell prone but makes up for it by having the best fish and chips we've had.


This photo was taken with a panorama feature on my camera, Saltheart is down there.




The forecast was for fair wind but some swell so we left earlier than planned to make sure we would be in Sydney by the 18th. There is no bar as such when leaving Port Stephens, but leaving with wind and swell against the outgoing tide meant the waves became steep and the bow went under more than a few times. There seemed to be swell coming in from about three different directions and with the wind waves it made for an uncomfortable passage, so much so that Wendy and Daniel became seasick, Daniel actual threw up. We pulled into Newcastle for the night and anchored off Stockton for some respite.
Newcastle is a very busy industrial port. We dropped anchor just outside the main channel and enjoyed watching the tugs maneuver massive coal and container ships in and out. We plan to stop here a bit longer on the way north, but for now it's south we go.

They look a lot bigger than in this photo

Leaving Newcastle was much more pleasant than the day before. There was a strong wind warning issued(winds 30 knots) but we figured we would but in Broken Bay by the time it arrived and to make sure we motor sailed in light winds for most of the day. It wasn't until the last hour that the white caps started to appear in numbers. We were anchored in Refuge Bay at about 4pm. This has been described by some round-the-world yachtsmen as the best anchorage in the world and it's easy to see why. There is total protection in beautiful national park. At the head of the bay is a waterfall that drops off a sandstone cliff right onto a small beach. Sydney siders pack this place out on weekends and when we were there more that half the moorings were taken.

From the top of the waterfall

At the beach, the waterfall is just a trickle due to the lack of rain

Today we received a call from an old friend that has just returned from Africa and is in Sydney recovering from malaria that he picked while he was over there. We motored down to Brooklyn and picked him up. We went back to the bay and spent an enjoyable afternoon swimming and just catching up.

Did not know my whiskers would be so grey

From here we will explore some more of the anchorage up Cowan Creek before entering Sydney Harbour on Tuesday or Wednesday. We thought about pulling into a marina while we were down there as we are not sure how easy it is to land and store the dingy in some of the bays and then get to public transport. We've been to Sydney many times but never looked at it from this point of view.


We now have an autopilot for the dingy. Amy stands up front and leans to the left or right to steer the boat.




port



hard to port



very hard to port



Port Stephens

We spent a few days in Coffs Harbour most of the time we spent rolling around in the bay as we could only spend one night in the marina as there was a yacht race from Pittwater to Coffs and all the berths were already booked. It was quite uncomfortable and we were glad when the winds changed and we could head off. We did use the time there to walk up mutton bird island which do every time we come here.

Enjoying a beautiful day

Somewhere behind Ian and Amy is Saltheart

Saying goodbye to Kathleen

Kathleen also came for a visit on her way home from Peats Ridge music festival. This is the last time we may see her for awhile. Amy Gave her big hugs. We had the dingy on the beach and got soaked trying to launch it   after saying goodbye to her.

Amy having a wonderful time watching the dolphins

We sailed overnight to Port Stephens some of the way we made good speeds of just over 8 knots, 167 miles in 26 hours. Ian and I took turns with the night shift but neither of us slept when we tried to so we were both exhausted when we finally dropped anchor in Salamander Bay. We had  dolphin escort for part of the way where they were jumping out of the water.

 We dropped anchor, our first priority was to take Jess(the dog) for toilet stop she has held on for over 24hrs amazing how long she can hold when she needs to.

We went back to the boat and Ian and I had a nap neither of us are functioning properly. The kids got some school work out of the way while we had a sleep. After we woke up I put the other side of the netting on the boat which took hours but at least Jess can walk around up there. Still need to do the back of the boat but that is for another day.

 Amy and Daniel had a swim off the boat jumping off the front and climbing up the duck board. I even went for a swim with them the water is cool but not cold. Ian scraped the prop and said it had heaps of barnacles on it, Daniel checked it before we left. 

Amy cooling off

Monkey man trying to climb the anchor chain 

The topping lift rope came out so Daniel climbed the mast to redo the rope. Better tie a knot on the end next time so it doesn't come out again. He had fun up there.

Good job Daniel's not scared of heights

We also caught up with friends we knew years ago that moved to Newcastle area. Their kids have grown up so much. It was wonderful to catch up with them again. We will see them when we head north again

Jeremiah and Daniel 

Ella, Holly and Amy

We are away

We finally moved onboard after a hectic week travelling  to see mum for Christmas. We loaded the car with the last of the things we could think of and late in the afternoon of the 30th we moved to Mobbs Bay for the night. Michael joined us and shouted us hot chips and scallops. We took the kids and dog to the beach and Michael took me back to the car in the dingy so that he could drive it home in the morning.  Wendy made some pan cooked bread and we made some wraps for tea.

Wendy making some bread

Saying goodbye

In the morning nobody had breakfast, I didn’t want to risk it because I knew I would be seasick and after a stroll on the beach it was time to say goodbye to Michael. Amy sang him a song and Wendy had a cry and he drove off to wave to us at the bar. 



Bye Michael, we love you

Michael looking happy (freedom)

Everybody was finding their sea legs and in the afternoon we decided to stay the night in Yamba. We dropped anchor  in the river on the Iluka side and went ashore and had hot chips at the pub. Later we ate home made pizza, stayed up to watch the fireworks.

 

Flying to Coffs

A few hours of calm

Wendy and I decided we are going to try to have a jog in the mornings when we can, so we started this morning, just a couple of hundred meters in the sand.
The alternator belt was screaming again when we started the motor so we replaced it with another before we weighed anchor and crossed the  bar. The passage started of  a little uncomfortable then the wind died down in the middle of the day, then in the afternoon it picked up to  20-25 knots and we were averaging 7.5 knots over the ground often reaching 8.

At around 18:00 we arrived in Coffs Harbour.  Earlier we rang for a berth for 3 days in the marina but they couldn’t fit us in for that long. We thought about anchoring in the harbour but with the depth sounder playing up we decided to grab a berth for a night. We went and got some hot chips and Wendy scored some free bread rolls from a shop that was closing for the day.  We went back to the boat and ate them and I downloaded a software update for the depth sounder and it seems to be working ok now.

Daniel and Amy made a start on their school work so they have a head start when school officially starts in February. Amy's workload seems about right but Daniel looks like he might have to be putting in 4 hours a day which is way more than we imagined.

We are staying here till Friday when the wind swings around to the north.