Southport to Bundaberg

Steve's new boat, Castanet, is lovely - I'm really happy for him. She's large, forty feet, and spacious with it, but in many ways is a cousin to Contessa II, with the same classic lines.

In between tinkering with the alternator and inspecting Castanet, I was treated to a tour of the HMAS Bundaberg, which was tied up at the Soutport Yacht Club. A friend of Jo C. and my brothers' happened to be on board, and when I looked him up he showed me around the ship, leaving me with a severe case of navigational instrument envy.

I have another recommendation to make: Joe Gergay of Mojo Marine was working with Steve on his boat, and kindly took some time to look at my alternator. He helped out and gave lots of good advice - anyone looking at marine electronics in the Southport/Brisbane area should certainly give him a ring on 0434375375.

From Southport we made pretty good time, and I'm now more like two-thirds of my way to Townsville. I expect to slow down a bit from here on in, as the better weather, the Whitsundays and the reef will probably encourage dawdling - especially as Emma is joining me here in Bundaberg.

Eugene and I stopped in Mooloolaba for one night. It's a strange town - home to Jessica Watson and Steve Irwin, if that gives any idea. There's a few Mooloolaba photos in the latest set:

Yamba to Bundaberg

Most of the photos, though, are of the Great Sandy Straights and Hervey Bay. We went inside Fraser Island to Bundaberg, rather than around the top - trading stronger offshore winds and easier navigation for a shorter but far more scenic route and tricky inshore pilotage. We started late in the day from Mooloolaba and made it to Wide Bay Bar the next morning, then moved about half-way through the Straights to the South White Cliffs and the anchorage known as "Ceratodus", where we stopped for the night. It's a beautiful spot, I could have lazed there for days.

I didn't, though. The next morning we got off early, and spent the day racing to Bundaberg as best we could with no wind. We got in after dark, with no moon and a tidal current running quite strong, which was a bit tricky, but there's a shipping "runway" (Eugene's mot juste), so there was no chance of missing the entrance. I sort of expected rum piped to berths here, along with water and power, but as it turned out we had to wander all the way to Burnett Heads before we found an open pub, the Lighthouse. We had to find a pub, though, because after over a fortnight Eugene was disembarking and heading back to work - a great shame, we made a good team.

I'll be resting up here for a few days, doing some maintenance and cleaning and resupplying. And drinking some rum, I expect.

Yamba to Southport

Queensland, at last! Southport isn't quite half way to Townsville, but as a psychological milestone, it'll do. We're tied up round the corner from Seaworld, in a forest of highrises and resorts - quite a contrast to the last few stops. Hopefully somewhere around here I can find a new alternator. Steve Y. is up here buying himself a boat (which is a relief, I've been feeling bad about taking his), so we had a friendly face to meet us when we arrived.

The trip from Yamba was the longest passage I've made so far, and one of the most beautiful - after a rough start, the weather turned very fair, with a decent breeze. There was a near-full moon that lasted most of the night, and mild seas, and of the 30 hours we spent, berth-to-berth, we only had the engine running for 9. With some offshore hazards and a bit of set-and-drift, I got to do some decent navigation work, too.

We were particularly well-favoured by dolphins (attentive readers might remind me here that in 'Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour' I said I'd stop going on and on about dolphins, to which: I didn't mean it), particularly off Cape Byron. I was happily reminded of my one-time brother-in-law Andy plunging into the surf to swim with them in his wedding clothes in Byron - I wonder if we encountered any of the same ones? Resting with the engine off, you could hear them through the hull - I reckon I can rig myself a bedside bathyphone by stickytaping on a stethoscope down below the waterline. That's one to add to the list.

Coffs Harbour to Yamba

Leaving Coffs was bittersweet - it's been my favorite stop so far. Still, there was northing to be made, so off we went! The day started (I say started, but we didn't leave until mid-afternoon) with a slow but scenic sail, with no wind to speak of. It had become completely calm by dusk, so on went the motor again, for some hours. It was a lovely clear evening, with a bright moon. At midnight we observed the solstice and celebrated with cake, and after the moon set had a nice couple of hours of stargazing.

In the pre-dawn watch, the wind suddenly struck up, and we covered almost a third of the distance, arriving at Yamba, in two hours. Wonderful sailing, with the sun rising - but the wind kept building and we've been sheltering in Yamba since.

Between starting slowly and arriving early, we actually managed to snap a few photos while sailing - including some of some pilot whales that passed by outside of Yamba, though you might need to take my word for it on those photos:

Coffs Harbour to Yamba

Yamba is a nice town - the bowling club is good value for hungry, thirsty sailors, and we found the lovely Pacific Hotel, with its pleasantly surprising bistro, when walking up Clarence Head to take a closer look at the lighthouse.

I'm itching to get away, though, as on the next passage we'll cross into Queensland. At last!

Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour

Coffs Harbour has been the best place to be delayed, yet! A really friendly marina crowd, and yacht club, beautiful location, whales daily and an excellent marine electrician: Marcus Edwards - look him up if you're ever stuck in Coffs with electrical problems. While I'm remembering to recommend people, Peter Elms is the man for marine diesel in Forster-Tuncurry.

Eugene and I had a lovely calm night sail from Port Macquarie, after two nights spent there. We had a close encounter with a couple of humpbacks outside the Macquarie bar, and dolphins are becoming too regular to mention. The weather is improving hugely as I head north - the locals are still complaining about the cold, but apparently they're doing that in Townsville, too.

By the time we reached Coffs my batteries were completely flat - we finished the trip quite dark, and came in without the chartplotter. It's a good thing Coffs is so easy. Easy, easygoing and just beautiful - the boat harbour and marina are tucked in behind Muttonbird Island, which is well worth a visit. There are some photos of it in the latest set:

Crowdy Heads to Coffs Harbour

We're just having lunch in the yacht club, then off to make a late afternoon start to Yamba. If everything holds out we'll carry on the next day for Southport-Brisbane, where I can start looking for a new alternator!

Port Stephens to Forster to Crowdy Heads to Port Macquarie

I encountered a whale, and crossed the famously scary Port Macquarie bar!

I know it's been a while, which is largely because I've been having small irritating difficulties with batteries and my engine. After Tony left for work and Sydney, and the awful weather passed, I eventually sailed from Nelson's Bay to Forster-Tuncurry. I wouldn't recommend a night entrance into Cape Hawke Harbour, the bar is easy enough but the tidal current there is quite frightening. I came awfully close to a major mishap, the day after arrival, crossing the harbour from one berth to another.

I was all ready to leave Forster-Tuncurry when the same engine problem struck again - it seems like the mechanic I used before leaving Pittwater didn't do a very thorough job. The chap I called in Tuncurry was much better, and hopefully the leaking fuel bleeding system is fixed for good, now. Still, it cost me another fine sailing day.

From Forster-Tuncurry to Crowdy Heads I went solo, for the first time, which was good to try. A Right Whale broached a couple of times nearby about halfway, a wonderful sight.

My sister, Soph, came up for her all-too-brief chef's weekend and joined me for the overnight trip to Port Macquarie. We were favoured by dolphins and rainbows as we set off, but it quickly turned unpleasantly rough and squally - poor Soph was under the weather most of the way, but admirably didn't let it stop her working.

I'd heard many dreadful tales of Port Macquarie's barred entrance, and I can't say they exaggerated much - it was a hair-raising entrance, despite timing and planning it carefully. Still, we made it alright - now all I have to do is get out again.

Eugene C. joins me for the next few weeks, which'll be great - plenty of time to get organised and get a routine together and really cover some miles. We head off to Coffs Harbour tomorrow, with a probable overnight stop at Trial Bay along the way.

Broken Bay to Port Stephens

The engine trouble wasn't all that bad, as it turned out, and fixing it only took a bleed and a new washer. I'd also managed to drain both batteries, so it wasn't until mid-Tuesday morning that everything had been put back together and we (Tony H. and I) finally sailed, with mum and Steve Y. waving us off.

The Port Stephens course was about 70 nm (after allowing plenty of offshore room - there are always cargo ships queued outside of Newcastle, and as we were going to be sailing overnight, I wanted to be well outside of them). We had a steady 10-15 knot southerly in the morning and made an excellent start, broad reaching NE out of Broken Bay then sitting on an easy NNE leg until late afternoon, making better distance than I'd anticipated. Around sunset a squall overtook us, and we lost the wind in its wake, and a lovely day's sailing gave way to a slow, wet night. A visit by a dolphin around midnight perked us up a bit.

Despite the slow night, we made it to Port Stephens around 0330. We really hadn't been keeping ourselves well enough fed (a lesson learned, for me) and were quite exhausted by then, but prudence dictated holding on until morning before entering the Port. We napped in shifts and tacked back and forth between Little and Boondelbah Islands for a couple of hours. Tony shouted down to me at dawn, calling me up on deck - a pod of dolphins had arrived and were playing around the boat, and they kept us company for a while as we turned into the harbour.

Hot showers, hot breakfasts and catching up on sleep took up the rest of the day - mum drove up from Sydney for a visit, and lunch in Shoal Bay. We were looking at another overnight sail starting the next day, I thought, but left the detailed planning until the morning.

Did anyone note that tornado, smashing Lennox Head? The weather didn't exactly cooperate with my plans... four days later, I'm still in Nelson Bay. Poor Tony has gone back to work, so missed out on a lot of sailing: poor reward for his invaluable assistance getting ready and moving. I owe him some cruising through the reef.

The nasty low seems finally to be moving off to a safe distance, so tomorrow I'll be setting off again - a day passage to Forster. An early start calls for an early night, so let me close with some photos:

Broken Bay to Port Stephens

Sod's Law

It's been a very busy week getting ready to depart, with endless little jobs needing doing, supplies and gear to buy, install and load, and plans to make and make over again. The invaluable Tony H. turned up with a car and all sorts of mysterious technical know-how, which was lucky, because without his help I'd never have been ready by my end-of-May-ish deadline.

One crucial step was taking the boat down to Sydney to have it looked over by Jonathan. Below is a link to some photos of that trip, showing Pittwater and then suddenly Sydney - outside the Heads we were far too busy with the boat for photos, as there were significant seas and an awkward south-westerly.

Almost ready

Sadly, Tony has signed up for paid employment, and only has a little time left for sailing, so it was a bit of a blow (so to speak) when a big East coast low formed and delayed our sailing date. We made good use of the enforced extra preparation time, though, and told each other it was nice to have a few more home-cooked meals and nights in proper beds.

Finally, with the low wandering off to the northeast, and almost every item crossed of my little lists, and plans laid and bags packed, the morning arrived. We got to Pittwater around 0800, with a mountain of bags and packages, had a coffee and boarded the boat, getting her ready to take in for fuel and loading. And, lo, the engine failed to start!

Tomorrow, for sure.