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!

Coffs and Yamba - Clarence River

We left Port Macquarie a couple of days ago overnighting at Coffs Harbour where we anchored beside the old jetty. We are currently at Yamba which is a little town at the mouth of the Clarence River. We planned to travel down the river as there are some really interesting stops but the bridge over the Pacific Highway which we would need to get opened is closed for 6 months while they do repairs :( We can still travel 8 nmiles up river so will spend a night at the bridge and do some walking.
Travelling up the coast from Coffs we passed the Solitary Islands which are environmentally protected and span for about 40nmiles, very popular with divers. The first picture shows South Solitary Island - there are several others dotted around.

Reaching Yamba in the Clarence river was a challenge as we had to navigate through a convoluted, narrow and shallow channel, to a marginally wider bay which was already quite full of boats. We eventually found somewhere to lay anchor from where the second picture was taken. As this shows we've had some slightly stormy weather while here, apparently side effects from a tropical depression up in Queensland.

Just as we were thinking we can do this everything is getting easier we managed to gaff (puncture) the dingy when coming up to an old wharf. The picture below shows David cleaning (which was overdue) and repairing it which took a while. The other pic shows me sporting an eBay purchase which I thought would come in really handy: a fold-up bike. This is the first time we have used it and could be the last as its a bit of a palaver getting it off the boat and set up.

Australia Day - Port Macquarie

A short hop, 15 nautical miles up the coast to Port Macquarie. We were slightly more anxious about the bar crossing at the entrance than usual as we read in the cruising guide this bar can produce more rogue waves than most, thankfully it was really calm so no drama's. In true Aussie fashion we flew the flag on Australia Day only to be out done by a group of parachutists that gave us quiet a fright landing right beside us on the beach. The day got pretty busy as small boats jostled for position to watch the days entertainment which was raft racing down the channel and bands. Just as we were taking in the sights along came party barge anchoring right in front of us. We must be getting old as we decided to head back to the boat for some peace and quiet, really sad! Next stop Coffs Harbour in a couple of days.

Camden Haven

This photo shows a two mile stretch of water known as Camden Haven Inlet which is part of a delta system. We are anchored bottom right opposite the town of Laurieton unable to proceed into the system due to a low bridge. We certainly can not complain we have 10+ pelicans flying around, dolphins swimming past and pubs, cafes and shops just up the road. This is certainly a very beautiful part of the country.
The first night we experienced two thunder storms and reasonably large hail which sounded like bullets hitting the boat, another reason to buy steel as no damage was done :) we also have been able to see Avatar in 3D which was brilliant! We plan to head off at the weekend as want to see a few bands on at the local hotel tomorrow night. We have been told its going to be a sell out - how exciting, a big night out!

Beautiful Port Stephens

Port Stephens is one of our favourite weekend getaways so being able to cruise around the bay looking for dolphins with no specific agenda was a treat. We had one surprise on our first day here. Though we planned our route through the channels carefully we ran aground when passing to the south of a south cardinal marker! Luckily it was just sand and our engine reversed us out after a few tense minutes. Phew!, another lucky escape, and a good lesson that sand banks can move and in this area it pays to give channel markers a bit of leeway.

Overall this has been a cruisie stop. The weather has been very hot for a couple of days then changed to drizzly today giving a nice relief to the temperature. We have also been able to pick up the tennis which is starting to get addictive. This week has been the run-up tournaments to the Australia Open which starts next week - a luxury having the time to watch.

The pictures show use leaving Port Stephens, not a very nice day. The other shows a rescue we witnessed at Broughton Island as we were travelling up the coast: looked like their engine wasn't working so were getting towed in.

Lake Macquarie wrap

Had lots of fun in Lake Macquarie. First night we anchored at Wangi Wangi and headed to the RSL for a couple of well earned beers, where we ended up winning the meat raffle. Archie was very happy to pose next to our prize; unfortunately he's just had a very bad haircut.

Next day we did a very slow 4 hour sail down Lake Maccquarie averaging about 2 knots with just the yankee out. A very relaxing way to enjoy the scenery. It is by and large a beautiful area, though there are several power stations around the lake that make for good landmarks.

We had an early start next morning in order to get through the channel at the 6am high tide. Then through Swansea bridge and out over the bar en route to Port Stephen's. The picture shows Swansea bridge and gives a good idea how narrow it seems when passing through. We were certainly concentrating on staying mid channel at this point.

We had the best sail so far up to Port Stephen's with little swell and 15kts of wind just aft of the beam. We passed the port of Newcastle on this leg which must have 50+ tankers waiting outside. Must be a strange job waiting on board one of these monsters to head into port.