Samurai Gallery

The operation went well and hoping to be back on the boat at the weekend. We were going to post a shot of Caroline on her crutches but our camera has broken. We suspect some bird poo may have got into the mechanics - so much for being lucky!
As we have some time to kill we decided to share some photos that just missed being blogged.
Dave cooking up a storm: its the meat tray we won in Lake Macquarie and went vegetarian for quite a few nights afterwards. Too much meat!

Archie frequently patrols the decks looking for dolphins and sticks his head through any open window to check he is not missing anything. Well food mainly...........

Caroline is pictured donning her wet weather gear and surprisingly its really nice to have some rain as the temperatures are usually in the 30's.

Dave bringing Archie back to the boat after his walk. Archie is getting very brave in the dinghy these days launching himself at docks confidently when we are meters away. He has had to be fished out once because he has misjudged the distance. This is a very different Archie from when we started the trip and we're glad to see he's feeling more comfortable.

And finally, Dave trying to hoist the main sail to catch every breath of wind: it seems to be either too calm or blowing a buster. Rarely perfect conditions and we have found we motor sail most of the time - but hey, what's the rush?

Ballina

Hooray! We have left the Clarence River as the swell has calmed after nearly two weeks allowing us to cross the bar safely. The boat is anchored at Ballina where we will be leaving her for 10 days. We have hired a car and returned to Port Maquarie in order for Caroline to have a small operation on her knee. We have been asured she will be back sailing in two weeks everything going well :)

There are quite a lot of sea birds around and Caroline was hit by one messy bird poo, which we will assume is a lucky sign.

A big congratulations to Karen and Peter on the arrival of their first child, Lara Astrial Hocking, who was born on February 10th. We are looking forward to meeting her :)

Carry on up the Clarence

We are currently unable to leave the Clarence River due to 2 - 3m swells offshore and moving to the next destination which is Ballina the sea conditions need to be pretty calm as the entrance has a difficult sand bar crossing. Looking like we'll be here for a few days yet!
But the Clarence River is quite a pleasant place, with a few places to explore up river. We motored up to Harwood where the Pacific Highway bridge, closed for six months of repairs, blocks further progress (pictured).
The fields along-side the river are all full of sugar cane in this area. We also passed quite a few huge mansions along the bank, one for instance having what seemed to be a 9 hole pitch and put over the front lawns. Sugar cane appears to be good business. The picture shows the sugar mill at Harwood close to where we anchored.




We travelled a little further up river by dinghy in order to visit Maclean, the 'Scottish town' of NSW. All the telegraph poles here are painted with different tartans as shown in the picture. They also hold highland games here each year. Made me feel quite nostalgic!