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.

Not gone yet

Well we have been very busy moving all of our stuff out of the house and into a shipping container so that our Friends Melissa and Elliot can move in. It been great to get rid of all the things that we no longer have a use for. At the same time we have been laying cork tile in our bedroom. This was the last part of the house to be done.

We also have had an electrician to wire in smoke alarms which you are required to have by law now.

We plan to be living on the boat by early February. Then we'll sail to Yaamba where we will pull Saltheart out of the water and paint her bottom. She may also get a new paint job on the deck and sides as well.

Koala on the verandah!

Unreal!!
Nothing to do with the trip but what an experience. We had just watched a movie an getting into bed. The dog was going off as she sometimes does and Kathleen yelled out "holy crap, there's a koala on the verandah." I went into her room and looking through her sliding door was a koala! We think that Jess had chased it up the verandah post. It stayed there for a bout 10 minutes before getting down and walking around the verandah looking for a way down. It done a couple of laps before we heard it crash to the ground after trying to climb down the passionfruit vine. Speaking to other people that have been here longer than us and they have never seen or heard koalas in this area. Great to know they are there, we will be planting more trees to keep them here when we get back

First trip

The first trip in Saltheart. We have purchased Saltheart from a broker at Southport, on the Gold Coast, Australia with the idea to have a holiday for a few months or so. The plan is to get the boat to Ballina in NSW, which in closer to our home so that we can work on her and generally get ready for the trip. To start with we were going to take her up the Broadwater, which is a narrow body of water between the Gold Coast and Stradbroke Island, so that we could give the motor a bit of a run to see if there was going to be any problems. After trying to leave the mooring at full throttle and going nowhere we figured that the boat was either severely under powered or there was a problem. A bit of investigation revealed that the coupling that connects the gearbox to the prop shaft had sheared the bolts. With that fixed we were off the next day. Wendy's dad, Grumps, was visiting from the UK so there was a crew of 7 and 1 dog. Our destination was Tipplers Resort and after a few hours we had dropped the anchor a bit south of the resort. Its a low key family resort where wallabies hop around and there is a pool and pub that is open to the public.

Amy & Skip

Wendy, Michael & Daniel in the resort pool

For $5 you can go on a tractor ride to the surf side of the island and surf the huge sand dunes. Here is Kathleen about to come a Gusta and down .

There is speed boat rides that the kids enjoyed, but more so was the rope swing that they found hanging over the water.

After 3 nights of relaxation it was time to head south. The wind had shifted around to the north so we weighed anchor early to take advantage of the out going tide and headed for the seaway. On the way to the seaway we saw a helicopter chasing a power boat. We figured it must have been for a commercial, it certainly got everyone out of bed.




Ian down



Shortly after going into the open ocean the wind picked up and we were able to kill the motor and raise the sails. The down side of this was that it got a little rolly as the sea was coming from behind. Daniel was the first to feed the fish with sea sickness, closely followed by me. Every one except for Grumps felt queasy, even Jess our dog. All you can do is lay down to make you feel better.



Kathleen a bit Queasy


Other than that it was a pretty uneventful passage except for crossing the bar at Ballina which we did at about 10pm that night. We were going pretty slow into the wind and I was a bit panicky as I usually am when crossing a bar, when just as we were on top of the shallowest part of the bar the motor started ticking like a bomb about to explode. There was not a lot we could do but pray that she got us inside, which she did. After tying along side the pontoon in town I was off to get some pizza in our now empty stomach's.

Kids are good for somethings

After the recent purchase of Saltheart we decided to go up to the gold coast to spend a few nights on her and do some maintainance. I was tinkering around the motor when I droped a shifting spanner in the bilge. I thought that it was lost for ever, never to be seen again. The area under the motor is small, dark and oily, the perfect place for Kathleen. Wearing a head torch and surgical glove, she climbed into the bilge and rescued my spanner. With all that experience she will now have the job of scrubbing it out!

Job done, get away from me, I don't want a hug