Southport, Queensland to Sydney Harbour, New South Wales

Leaving Southport

On Saturday 14^th December, we weighed anchor, called Seaway Tower, Southport and motored out to sea. There was less than 1m of swell and no breaking waves. Soon we had both sails flying and enjoyed a beam reach in sunny weather - perfect for our first sail for a while. We found the East Australia Current, which added about 2 knots to our speed over the ground. Our destination was Coffs Harbour in New South Wales. We signed on with Marine Rescue and called them on VHF at various points on our journey. This is an excellent voluntary service rather like a combination of the UK RNLI and Coastguard.

The jetty at Coffs Harbour

It was 165nm to Coffs Harbour and we completed the trip in less than 29 hours. We anchored in the well-protected bay near a long jetty. Later, we moved to one of the two free moorings.

East of England Westerly Owners

We stayed in Coffs Harbour for three nights waiting for a strong southerly blow to pass by. It was a great place with a marina close by, two laundrettes and shops. Large shopping malls were just a bus ride away. One afternoon we met up with fellow East of England Westerly Owners, Bill and Brenda, and enjoyed a beer and a chat sitting in the shade next to their VW camper van.

Retrieving the mast

On Wednesday 18^th December we were off again hoping to make Port Stephens, 177nm further south. There was still a fair bit of swell from the SE, but the winds were slowly coming round to the N and E. We called Marine Rescue Coffs Harbour to inform them of our intentions. At midday a whole school of dolphins played around the boat, some doing somersaults in pairs. It was lovely to see them but I couldn’t help thinking they might be warning us of strong winds to come.

Refuge Bay

Sure enough, by the evening we had taken down the mainsail and had the genoa poled out in a following wind. The current gave us 7.7 knots over the ground, but the swell and waves gave us a rocky rolly ride. We saw several large ships and another sailing vessel. By 0300 hours we had a rough and boisterous sea and in the morning we found our pressure cooker with our stew inside it upside down on the front cabin floor. Fortunately, only a bit of gravy had leaked out so we were able to eat the stew later.

Not good for swimming

We were very happy to motor into Port Stephens 29 hours after our departure from Coffs. We anchored in Nelson Bay where the three courtesy moorings were already taken. A dismasted yacht was tied to one of them. Steve from one of the other yachts stopped by and gave us useful advice on where to anchor in Sydney Harbour for the fireworks. Nelson was another great place with a marina nearby and a large Woolworths store just a few minutes’ walk away. We stocked up with food, I bought a Telstra SIM card and we filled up with water.

Fairy lights on Sal Darago

Another southerly blow passed by but we were able to leave Port Stephens in the afternoon for another overnight passage to Broken Bay 77nm further south. There were several large ships off the port of Newcastle drifting, presumably waiting to enter the port. One was right on our course and did not show up on our AIS until we were only two miles away. It was the end of my first night watch and I woke Jeremy 5 minutes early to help me. A grumpy Skipper came out to the cockpit and started taking bearings until MV Good Hope showed itself on our AIS and Jeremy was able to call them on VHF and find out which way they were drifting.

Putting up the Christmas tree

The wind died away in the small hours. We entered Broken Bay, just 18 miles north of Sydney Harbour and picked up a club mooring in Refuge Bay, having taken advice from the owner of a local catamaran. There were numerous, large jellyfish so no swimming for me. We knew from Sue and Dougie back in Coomera that Broken Bay led to Cowan Creek and the Hawkesbury River and it was a good place to spend Christmas. 

 

Returning from church

It was beautiful and most of it’s tree-lined, steep-sided bays had courtesy moorings which could be used for 24 hours. It was a peaceful place, the only down side being a lack of a mobile phone signal in most places and a very small number of villages with shops.

North Head entrance to Sydney Harbour

We spent a night in Yeoman’s Bay and shopped the next day at the well-stocked general store at Brooklyn. We met Ann and Nubert at the Lifeboat Seafood Restaurant nearby. They shared their wine with us and we enjoyed listening to their fascinating accounts of how they ended up in Australia from Europe.

Peter and Judy

Other bays we visited were Little Shark Rock Bay, Waratah Bay and Houseboat Bay. Christmas Eve was spent in Waratah Bay. We hiked uphill for an hour to Berowra to go to church at St Marks. After a short trip to the end of Cowan Creek at Bobbin Head, Christmas Day was spent in Houseboat Bay. We had a mobile phone signal so we were able to phone all our close relatives and wish them a Merry Christmas. This included Peter and Judy and that was how we came to be invited to cousin, Louise’s house at Avalon on Boxing Day.