Saturday, 1st September 2012 - Dux Anchorage, Tippler’s Passage
It is back to sunshine for the first day of spring. There are lots of jet skis down this way plus heaps of expensive Riviera type motor cruisers. During the day more and more appeared and the sailing boats were very soon out numbered. At the moment there is only one other sailing boat here with us, a Lightwave cat and the rest are motor boats of various shapes and sizes. But they all seem to be friendly and wave.
Around mid morning we headed ashore and followed the sandy track over to the surf beach. Geoff left me and went for a jog and I plodded on. I could hear the surf clearly so knew it wasn’t too far away and the sand on the track was soft but not too soft underfoot. It took 10 minutes to walk to the other side where I found Geoff sitting on a seat to catch his breath, and in front of a SAND DUNE! Bugga, and here I had been thinking it was a nice easy walk! The ‘mountain goat’ was up and over it in seconds but I made hard going of it but eventually made it to be confronted by a ‘Thong Tree’ (Flip Flop Tree for you poms … the vision it conjures up in the wrong meaning … and Jandal Tree for you Kiwis). This tree was marking the entrance back over as, once you got to the beach and looked back, all the dunes looked the same.
The beach extended way down south where you could see the high rises of the Gold Coast about 15 kms away and to the north stretching on and on into nothingness. I could just see a few dots southward which were people but otherwise the beach was deserted. I could hear my UK cousin John in my ear saying ’Cor’. The other thought that amused me was that down on Surfers Paradise, 15 kms away, there would have been bodies, elbow to elbow, on that one stretch of beach. We spent some time enjoying the ambience until we spoke our favourite saying “Once you’ve seen one beach, you’ve seen them all”. Time for us to head on back over, startling a Goanna on the way who took off up the closest tree. Back to the boat for a cuppa and to watch another yacht come in … yippee … now there are three of us.
The beach extended way down south where you could see the high rises of the Gold Coast about 15 kms away and to the north stretching on and on into nothingness. I could just see a few dots southward which were people but otherwise the beach was deserted. I could hear my UK cousin John in my ear saying ’Cor’. The other thought that amused me was that down on Surfers Paradise, 15 kms away, there would have been bodies, elbow to elbow, on that one stretch of beach. We spent some time enjoying the ambience until we spoke our favourite saying “Once you’ve seen one beach, you’ve seen them all”. Time for us to head on back over, startling a Goanna on the way who took off up the closest tree. Back to the boat for a cuppa and to watch another yacht come in … yippee … now there are three of us.
After a bite to eat Geoff went in the dinghy and cut, polished and waxed the port hull touch ups he had done in the yard in Bundy. Now he just wants to use the polishing machine on them, which he will do next time we are beached, whenever that will be. For my lunch I opened a tin of Sauerkraut as I had run out of lettuce and the ones growing on the back deck weren’t big enough yet. I didn’t know if I would like it and found the texture ok but wasn’t too enamoured with the flavour. I had just used up the last pickled onion so I put the remainder if the sauerkraut in the pickled onion vinegar which is a taste I do like so I will see what it is like tomorrow. After lunch we played Carcassonne again and this time I beat him well so now I am only 4 games behind him this year. We just fiddled around for the rest of the afternoon until it was time for tea. After tea we heard a boat horn going off a few times so Geoff investigated and we think another cruiser had dragged into three boats that were rafted together. I must admit that the three boats were taking up a lot of room. Also, the boat on our starboard side was quite close. He had come in during the afternoon and now it was slack tide all boats were swinging differently. Hopefully, all will be well, touch wood.
Sunday, 2nd September 2012 - Thompsons Lagoon, Browns Island
A quiet night and no one bumped into us. We were anchored here first so, in theory, have the right in place but whether that would stand up in a court of law remains to be seen. Another lovely day.
We left the anchorage at 11.30 and headed south with the intention of anchoring in Marine Stadium (Bums Bay) near Sea World on the Gold Coast. We couldn’t believe how busy it was, like Burke Street on a Saturday. There were boats coming past one after the other really fast and we were getting really bounced around, quite severely at times, if three boats went by at a time. It was just as bad, if not worse, than being in rough seas. Geoff said he really didn’t like it down here as it is much too busy and we have been spoiled over the years often having secluded anchorages just to ourselves. On route Geoff decided that he would try to see if we could get into Thompson's Lagoon which is very shallow. We didn’t know if we could get in as it was only 2 hours before low tide with .2 metre to drop. We managed it ok and anchored in very minimal depth and expect to be on the bottom for a while at low tide (we were). There are three sunken (sunk but not under the water as it is too shallow) here and a lot of other boats that look a little derelict plus a few nicer ones. It looks like a dumping ground for unwanted boats and it is opposite million dollar houses. At least it is quiet in here as it is not a destination for stink boats. At low tide we were ‘kinda’ floating, bouncing when we walked but, for all intents and purposes, aground. No drama as we had expected this. So the rest of the day was spent relaxing and playing games and generally lazing around. What a life!
Monday, 3rd September 2012 - Howards Landing, Gold Coast
A very quite night, nice, and another nice day. Watched the news and heard that Max Bygraves (only us oldies would know who he is) had died at his home on Hope Island which we were anchored opposite. Small world! We checked the weather and it looks like we are in for a spell of northerly winds. We looked at our options and have decided to head to the Gold Coast somewhere and get some fresh produce and, probably … if the weather permits, leave Tuesday night and do an overnight sail to arrive at the Ballina bar a couple of hours before high tide.
We left Thompsons Lagoon on the high tide and motored down past these huge mansions and anchored at Howards Landing, which was the closest we could get to the Australia Fair shopping centre. After lunch we headed to the public jetty close by and wandered up to the shopping centre where Geoff made a bee line for a certain shop called ‘Mind Games’ and bought the game ‘Gloom’. By the time we had finished in the shopping centre it was, alas, more money gone on fertilizer, cutlery rack, Aust Post, Gloom, wine, fishing lure, marker pens, new shoes for Geoff at Rivers, food and various smaller odds and ends. $$$ = ouch! Australia Fair is a large shopping centre and you could easily get lost at first. We filled up my granny wheeler, the freezer bag and the backpack and made our way back to the public jetty. We loaded up and took off but we soon came to a sudden stop as it was now low tide. The area we had been able to come through earlier was no longer deep enough so poor Geoff had to take his shoes off and tow us quite a way until it was deep enough for him to hop back in and get the motor to start. Once on board I put the supplies away, made a cuppa and then Geoff started to cook tea, to give me a break, he said. Nice. After tea we had a couple of mock games of Gloom and it looks good. See WEB link
Tuesday,4thSeptember 2012 - Howards Landing
Another beautiful sunny day. We decided to take the bikes ashore and cycle to the Southport Chandlery and Whitworth’s. “Flat all the way” said Geoff and I trusted him! The bike trip to the Southport Chandlery was through park along the water front and was, indeed, flat except for one short but steep bit up to cross the bridge. The chandlery didn’t have much variety in stock so we headed off for Whitworth’s. This is where Geoff’s memory failed him and there was a long and steep hill. I thought to myself “I can do this” and pushed myself but I couldn’t and had to get off and push the last quarter. In hindsight, I was a bit silly pushing myself so much as my calf muscles felt like jelly and I couldn’t even handle the smallest hill after that. I think Geoff gets exasperated with me but a person can only do their best and my fitness level isn’t all that good when it comes to hills, and never has been even in my thinner and fitter days. I DO have a lot of stamina when it comes to flat stuff. When we got to Whitworth’s I went and found the closest foot stool and sat and rested for a while. It wasn’t long before I got interested in the goodies around me and went in search of Geoff who was looking at brass clocks. There was one in the catalogue in the size we wanted but, once again, they did not have it in stock. Geoff said he could make a wood surround for it to make the base bigger so we went for a smaller and nicer looking one. We also bought a new LED light for the galley sink area as the old one was dull and useless. We then had a last look around the shop and saw a cover for our Plasimo compass for only $14.95. Our original cover had disintegrated quite a while ago and, when we check on a price of a new one from Plasimo, they quoted us $38. We though this was a stupid price for a little piece of plastic so we grabbed this one when we saw it.
Geoff then took pity on me and we stopped for a coffee. It was a lovely tasting coffee but only lukewarm, as most coffees in cafes seem to be. I like mine hot so I must remember to ask them to zap it in the microwave for another 10 seconds next time.
Time to get back on the ‘torture machine’ and Geoff tried a different route back to the dinghy. A small hill (I pushed it up) and then DOWN, DOWN, DOWN (bliss) back to the bike track and then a flat ride back to the boat. By the time I got back, not only were my calf muscles shot but my ‘nether regions’ were numb as well! According to the GPS we had covered 10 kms … that’s enough for me thanks!
Back on the boat I made lunch and Geoff started working on the wooden clock plinth. I checked the weather and it looks like those northerlies are coming through very strong so it looks like we may be spending , at least, 5 days here or more.
Wednesday, 5th September 2012 - Marine Stadium (Bums Bay, Gold Coast
A nice day so far, apart from the fact that I had a muscle going into spasm on my left side just below the shoulder blade. Don’t ask me why as it was fine when I got up and then suddenly screaming at me when I got up to make brekky. In the end I had to take something for it and it slowly eased off.
We watched the news this morning and it looks like Victoria and NSW are in for some really nasty weather and strong winds before the winds arrive up here. We left Howards Landing just before 10 am and anchored at Bums Bay 30 minutes later and saw Jiri on ‘Nikita’ was also anchored here. After we were settled we checked the emails and had a nice surprise as our draft of our article ‘Getting into Sailing’ had come in from Multihull World for checking. Geoff was tickled pink that the draft had come in as time was passing and he was worried it had been forgotten … it made his day! It is supposed to be in the November issue so look out for it. The article is eight pages long (not really as some pages have adverts on them) so we spent a lot of the day proof reading and editing it and getting the chosen high resolution photos ready to send to them. I had to send the photos two at a time as they took a long time to send. We were still in the process of sending them when Jiri turned up so it was time to stop and make coffee all round and cake and mince pies for the boys. Jiri left around 4 pm and then we managed to send the rest of the photos. Geoff is convinced that the 3G network has slowed down now that Telstra has brought out the 4G network.
After this was all done Geoff put the second coat of varnish on the clock plinth and then went down into the galley and installed the new LED light so now I can wash up without having the main power hungry galley light on. By mid afternoon it was getting a little windy, although we had a couple of calls from Tony on ‘Incantation’ saying he was on his way to Bongaree to sit out the northerlies and the sea was calm with hardly any wind. He said he was on his way to visit his family on the Gold Coast. Geoff told him that the wind was on the way.
Thursday, 6th September 2012 - Marine Stadium, Gold Coast
A calm night with just enough wind to keep the wind generator ticking over and another sunny day. The annoying thing is that we would could have made it to Ballina before the strong winds if we had left on Tuesday night, but you never really know at the time.
Geoff installed the new clock and it looks nice. By the time he had finished this the winds were really blowing. He spent the morning fiddling on the computer making up and printing off some score sheets for the new game ‘Gloom’. Because we had plenty of power, thanks to the wind generator, I caught up with the typing up of my journal. Later Geoff loaded his bike into the dinghy and went ashore. He wanted to go to a craft shop to buy some board to make up two working boards for the game Gloom so the plastic cards don’t slide around. He came back about four hours later with the board, two sink plugs (I had thrown the last one away with veggie peelings), and a scratchie for me which won me $12. Nice but it would have been nicer if there were a few more zeros. He got wet coming back with the wind swept waves and said he had cycled 11 kms. He actually said he got off and pushed up one hill. Wow, I never thought he ever would! He’s knackered now and having a rest. Once he had sufficiently rested he started on the ‘Gloom’ boards. It will take quite a while to complete as it has to be done in four stages. I don’t have the patience for that sort of thing.
Friday, 7th September 2012 - Bums Bay
A reasonable night and another sunny day and windy. I got myself motivated today and cooked up one chicken and one beef casserole and popped them in the freezer. Geoff had bought some fish back with him yesterday which we will have tonight so I needed to do something with the chicken and meat I had defrosted yesterday. I also put the washing in to soak for a few hours and then washed and rinsed them by hand, a task I don’t really like doing. It is the wringing out that I don’t like as it plays havoc with my arthritic thumbs. Anyway, it was soon done and out drying, a good job done. Geoff spent most of the day working on the ‘Gloom’ boards which was a long and fiddly task. He was using a hobby tool (a dremmel type high speed tool) that he had bought from Aldi. It kept over heating and cutting out after a very short time and he’s only cutting craft cardboard! Of course, we can’t find the receipt which is normal for us. He rang Aldi and they told him to let it cool off, which he did, and then it worked for a few minutes and cut out again so he will have to ring them again. Annoying. Then another annoying thing happened as Geoff’s bike fell over and punctured one of the 10 litre water containers … bumma. Geoff thinks he can fix it as it is only a smallish hole. It stayed windy all day and then got overcast and looked like rain so I rearranged my washing so that most of it would stay dryish. It didn’t rain, of course.
Saturday, 8th September 2012 - Bums Bay
Well, the strong winds have gone for the moment and we’ve got southerlies now so it is still sit here and wait. I weighed in this morning and got the scales to set and I have lost 1.2 kgs this week so I am a happy little camper.
Geoff finished off the ‘Gloom’ boards yesterday and had a weight on them overnight to get the glue to really set. (I told you it would take a long time). They look good and I think they will work well. Poked my head out of the saloon and saw that Jiri has gone this morning. He won’t have gone far as he is really limited to where he anchors due to his draught.
It was a nice day again so we ate brekky on the back deck in our PJ’s (good idea Geoff). Then I got very industrious and started cleaning the galley. I had only just finished at lunch time and had cleaned the mould areas ( a constant battle), cleaned the fridge, scrubbed the oven and racks (I even took the glass out of the oven door to scrub), cleaned the walls, benches, cupboard doors, cook top etc. Now I know it is spotless, for a few days at least. Geoff mended the water container then went off to get rid of the rubbish and fill up with more water.
After lunch we had three test games of ‘Gloom’ and I won all three so I told Geoff he will probably take the game back now saying it is no good! Whilst we were playing a humungous, swanky, black hulled million dollar ‘Gin Palace’ motor launch came into the anchorage. It was loaded with lots of tanned ‘beautiful’ people onboard and their music was blaring so that the whole anchorage had no other option than to listen to it. We had out own music on and could hear it over the top and they weren't anchored near us. Pity the poor B’s who they anchored next to. We hoped they were not staying overnight and were happy to see them leave about 4pm but not before driving some people away to anchor nearer to us. No courtesy!!!!!
Sunday, 9th September 2012 - Bums Bay
A quiet night and another nice day. As it was still the weekend it wasn’t long before the anchorage filled up again with small, medium and large motor cruisers all out to enjoy the weekend weather. After brekky of bacon and eggs we took the dinghy up to the end of Bums Bay to stretch our legs. We walked to the Seaway and along the pathway to the end of the south arm where the light (you couldn’t really call it a lighthouse) was. We watched people on boards taking their lives into their hands by paddling out into the Seaway. There is too much boat traffic and it only needs one skipper to, either have the sun in their eyes or a moment of inattention, to mow them down. Jet Skiers are the same and also play in the Seaway. After the incident with the young Aussie lad hitting a stationery jet ski and killing a lovely young lady in Miami, one wonders how it hasn’t happened here. They must be doing 30/40 knots and cover a lot of distance in a few seconds and, as a lot of jet ski riders are doing the ‘look at me, look at me” thing I am sure it will happen one day in the future. Geoff said they banned jet skis in Sydney Harbour before it got out of hand and I expect they will have stricter controls on jet ski hooning around the Gold Coast soon.
It was a lovely day and everyone and their dog, and I mean THEIR DOG, seemed to be out walking the spit recreation area. As you know, I love dogs, but get annoyed that not everyone picks up after their canine friends. There seemed to be dog poo every 20 metres or so. Most people do the right thing and there’s no excuse not to clean up after them. We had to watch where we trod. There were hundreds of dogs of all colours, shapes and sizes playing in the water, running along the beach (a dog free zone) and walking with their owners. It was also interesting hearing snippets of conversation as people went by. Many different languages and accents. The Aussie lingo and accent was just holding its own.
We stopped at a café and purchased iced coffees and 2 litres of very expensive milk at $4.50. We wandered back to the dinghy and I got Geoff to drop me back at 2Abreast and got the coffee on and lunch ready whist Geoff went to grab some more water. After lunch he went in the dinghy and scrubbed the hulls down to remove the brown marks from the dirty Brisbane River. After he had finished this chore we had a game of Carcassonne and he beat me but only just, by 9 points. I thought I had him beat but when we added up the scores at the end he pipped me but it was a good game.
After dinner I rang Maryanne to wish her a happy birthday. They were at Montezuma’s celebrating so I hope they enjoyed it.
Monday, 10th September 2012 - Bums Bay
A little rain overnight but not much. It is a little overcast today but is still sunny. I took my blood pressure today as I have been getting a little dizzy at times but it was 107/80 which is normal for me so it is not that. I could say it is lack of food but I would only be kidding.
At 10.15 we loaded the bikes into the dinghy again and headed ashore. We took the bike panniers with us this time as well as the backpack. We headed off to Surfers Paradise, 6 kms away. Geoff had promised me that it was flat all the way and it was, relatively so. There was a nice bike track all the way along the esplanade and through nice park land. The only downer was that we had a head wind all of the way which made you work harder. It was quiet busy but there were not many people swimming as it was a bit fresh with the southerly wind blowing. We chained up the bikes and went to walk around the shops. There was a ‘Ye Olde English Lolly Shop’ which was selling Daim chocolate (which is not English but Swedish) and Branston Sauce so Geoff bought some chocolate and some sauce. Then we found a factory seconds book shop selling books at $5 each so Geoff bough one fact book on Russian spies and another book called ‘Eco system guides - Tropical seashores of Australia’. This book covered nearly everything you would find on a seashore from cloud formations, flora, fauna, shells, birds, crustaceans, worms … everything. We bought it because Chris, a friend in Vic, also writes a sailing journal and seems to know what she is looking at all of the time and makes us feel lazy/slack! After a coffee we wandered back to Coles, which was where we had left the bikes, and bought a current copy of the Australian MultiHull World as Chris, yes the same Chris, and Wade had an article published in it about bringing their new cat (new to them) ‘Take it Easy’ from Sydney to Lakes Entrance. There was also an article about Nathan Stanton’s new 46 Freeway cat design. Nathan was the original owner and designer of Lightwave cats and we had spent a lovely Christmas and New Year with him, Jo and the kids at Great Keppel Island one year, so this article was also of interest.
On to Coles and we were half way through our list when Geoff said he wasn’t feeling too good in the stomach area and went off to find a loo. He returned just as I was going through the checkout but disappeared again and yet again. I thought we might have to get a taxi back but he soldiered on. He was okay on the way back and we were soon back at the public pontoon where we loaded everything into the dinghy and were back onboard just before 4 pm. Geoff collapsed on the saloon seat and I put the shopping away. Geoff then crawled off to bed for a while. No tea tonight, just nibbles which didn’t worry me as it was my protein only day anyway.
Tuesday, 11th September 2012 - Heading South to Tweed Heads, NSW
Geoff was okay this morning, which was good. We got an email from Debbie and caught up on all the Bundy marina news.
We up-anchored at 9.30 am and headed to the Seaway entrance which was as flat as a tack. We motored south as the wind was negligible and Geoff put the trolling lines out. This got me thinking that we would now have to buy a NSW fishing licence each so I went on the web. I noticed a section titled ‘Exemptions’ and, low and behold, we were exempt as we both hold Pensioner Concession cards so that has saved us $30 each.
We got to Cook Island around 2.30 pm and grabbed a buoy but I didn’t like it. The trouble was that we were on the southern side of the island as the wind was from the north east but the swell was coming from the south at 1 to 1.5 metres and it was very uncomfortable. I convinced Geoff (he didn’t need much convincing) to turn back to Tweed Heads, which we did, and Maryanne rang on route so we had a nice long chat. Time to put on our life jackets to cross the bar. A nasty side wave came as we went over the bar so I kept my eyes shut, as I often do. The conditions weren’t too bad although a little surfy. We anchored at 3.30 pm in the river just outside of the channel and it was nice and calm. Tony from ‘Incantation’ rang and said he was at Bongaree. Geoff then put the rods in and as he was doing it the most massive jellyfish that we have ever seen floated by. It must have been at least half a metre wide and long. Geoff said “you wouldn’t want to meet that in the dark” to which “I replied “I wouldn’t want to meet it at all!”. Geoff looked in our new book and found it was called a jelly blubber or Moon Jelly and there are over 200 species around the world. They can sting but not like the nasty box jellyfish.
For tea we had the lovely Rock Cod that we had bought on the way home at the fisherman’s market. Early to bed.
Wednesday, 12th September 2012 - Ballina, NSW
I was up just before 5 am, yawn, to make a coffee and Geoff was up very soon after. Engines on at 5.15 am, when we could just about see, on with the life jackets and head on over the bar by 5.50 am with some big swells coming in and breakers to the south of the entrance. It was comfortable enough although, I must admit, I hate bar crossings. It is the reasonably big southerly swells that are still affecting us from all the bad weather down south. Geoff is complaining that we have a southerly breeze at the moment when the forecast is for N—NE. Still, it’s early yet! It was ok as it came from the land in a SW direction so was on our beam but only at around 9 knots but it enabled us to turn off the port engine and motor sail. The wind was soon down to 2 knots and we expected the northerlies to kick in. They didn’t and the seas were glassy with long swells that had dissipated quite a bit. By 11.30 we were off Byron Bay and still no wind. We were ahead of time to cross the Ballina Bar at the right time so Geoff decided to go into the bay north of Cape Byron, which is the most easterly point in Oz, and see what the anchorage was like. It is what is called an ‘Open Ocean Roadstead’ and is only suitable for short stops in ideal conditions unless you have no other choice. As we changed course for the bay we were met by a huge pod of dolphins and one Humpback whale, so nice. We anchored for an hour whilst we had lunch and waited to see if the wind would pick up. It was quite a swelly anchorage and we were on our way again by 1.15 pm. The wind did pick up but was not of much help. Late afternoon we saw another whale in the distance and this one was having a great time cavorting away. We saw him/her come right out of the water and belly flop along with many graceful tail flukes. Oh, I wish we were closer, but not too close! By 5pm we were closing in on Ballina so Geoff called the marine rescue to confirm the bearings, the state of the bar and directions once we were over as it had been six years since we were in these parts. It sounded ok as he said there were no breakers and the waves were under 1 metre. On with the life jackets and inside 5 minutes later without any drama. A much nicer bar (if there is such a thing as a nice bar) than the Tweed Heads one! We anchored at 5.40 pm just as the sun dipped below the horizon. We are glad to be in as there is a strong wind warning for tomorrow.
After tea we had a visit from Maritime NSW, who had no boat lights on which I thought strange, who just wanted to say hi, I think. They said they thought we might be a little close to the sandbank but it was hard to see at night. We had plenty of water under us so I think we were further away than they thought. They wished us a good night, said we could use the jetty to go to the shops and were very friendly.
Thursday, 13th September 2012 - Ballina NSW
A reasonable night until about 5 am when quite a few fishing boats sped by, presumably to cross the bar just before high tide. As we were only just out of the main channel they went by quite close so we got bounced around quite a bit. The wind is howling so we have plenty of power.
When we got up I checked the emails and there was one from Bazza saying that they hoped to catch up with us today. He said they had been at the sailing club up till 5 pm yesterday and had just missed us. They hadn’t checked their emails until they got home and had been hoping to meet us at the bar in their little sailing boat, I presume. We must have only just missed them as we were over the bar at 5.05 pm. As they didn’t say what time they would arrive today I thought I had better get my ‘A into G’ and do some cleaning. Which we both did and by lunchtime the inside was sparkly and polished and the decks and cockpit had been washed down with the power washer and dried off. The seat cushion pads are clipped on, the director chairs are out and the loose cushions are strewn (is that grammatically correct?). She looks very nice. Even the floors and flyscreens have been scrubbed. We ate lunch in the chairs on the back deck and relaxed for a while. We have been joined in our spot in the river by another cat who, we believe, were anchored in Mobb’s Bay last night. They went ashore with their woof and stopped by for a quick hello on their way back. They invited us over for a cuppa but, as we didn’t know when the Bazza mob would turn up, we declined and said we would go over tomorrow if we didn’t make any other plans and they were still here. Their cat is a Seawind 1160 called ‘Annabella’ and they have just bought it from Port Stephens. They are going up to Brisbane and then taking it back to Melbourne.
AND still we kept cleaning. I cleaned the brasses and the outside of the windows and Geoff started on the stainless steel on the front deck. After another cuppa he continued on and I caught up with my journal on the laptop as the batteries were full.
Baza called around 4 pm and Geoff went over to the RSL to pick him and his 2 year old son, Asher, up. He said he couldn’t stay long and was gone by 5 pm but not before we had made plans to go to their place for dinner tomorrow night. Geoff was ages and I found out that Helen had turned up when he dropped the two of them back so he got nattering.
Friday, 14th September 2012 - Ballina (Alstonville)
A bouncy night as the southerly change came through and the wind kept us sideways across river so we got bounced with the incoming/outgoing tide. At 9.15 am we up-anchored and headed for Mobb’s Bay which was more sheltered and closer to the sailing club where Bazza is a member. We are going for dinner tonight and they have offered us a bed for a few days which we still have to arrange. Tony rang this morning to say he had woken up to the sight of a very large python wrapped twice around his solar panels! Apparently it didn’t much like being pushed off into the water.
Geoff spent the morning putting some photos together onto a memory stick and I got some things together to take with us. After lunch we played Carcassonne and I won … just! By this time it was time to leave so I rang the VMR and said we would be away from the boat for a few days, told then where we were anchored and our phone number. This was just in case something happened with the boat so at least they had contact details for it. We left the anchor light on and loaded up the dinghy and headed across the river to the sailing club. Bazza met us there and we locked the dinghy away behind the fence of the sailing club and we were off. We were soon at their home in Alstonville and cuddles for Helen and a shy hello from Adam and wary looks from Asher. We had a look around the house and very nice it was too. We had a huge bedroom with its own en-suite … nice! We sat and chatted, had dinner and then chatted again. Suddenly my eyes were getting heavy and it was past 11 pm and time for bed. AND what a nice, large and soft bed it was with a lovely warm doona.
Saturday, 15th September 2012 - Ballina (Alstonville
My feet were cold last night so it took me ages to drift off to sleep. I will definitely fill a ‘hottie’ tomorrow night. Up, shower and brekky. I put my clothes in to wash and then hung them out to dry whilst Helen made up a picnic lunch. Around 11.30 am we all (except for poor Adam … sorry, no more room) bundled into their car and headed off towards Minyon Falls. First stop was the tiny hamlet of Eltham where we all wandered around a really nice gift shop. Talked to the owner about the coal seam gas project they were trying to stop in the valley. They are strongly opposed to it and I can’t say I blame them. On to Minyon Falls and it reminded me a little of a mini Mt Buffalo but there wasn’t much water going over the falls. Still, it was very pretty. There were quite a few Lace Monitors around and they didn’t seem at all worried about us humans. After this short walk we moved on to a more sunnier picnic spot to stop for lunch. The last two days have been quite nippy and I think it is because we are no longer at sea level. From here we continued on to the Rocky Ridge Dam. Very scenic and a nice little walk to the spill way. On the way back Geoff jogged up the last bit of the hill to do his cardio vascular exercise. By this time it was 5.30 so we stopped off in Alstonville to buy fish’n chips for tea. So today has become my free day! After tea Geoff had a little snoozette as he said he was a tad tired.
Sunday, 16th September 2012 - Ballina (Alstonville)
A good night. Got up and had brekky with the guys and then they all headed off to church. We stayed behind and Geoff did some computer work and I relaxed and read my ebook. Helen, Adam and Asher came home at lunch time and she put the DVD ‘Toy Story’ on for Asher and both Geoff and I got really sucked into it. We then went out to Victoria Park which was a very pretty boardwalk through temperate rain forest. Very nice. Then we walked to another waterfall called Dalwood Falls which is on council property and not open to the public although everyone ignores the sign and the falls and pool are well used by the local youngsters. There was a steep and high cliff and a deep pool below which the kids leap into. Better them than me! Next on the agenda was a café called ‘Amaze n Place which had a large hedge maze and puzzles you could do whilst partaking of a nice hot (and it was hot for a change) cup of coffee. It reminded us of Puzzle World in Wanaka, NZ, albeit on a minor scale. When we got talking to the owners they said they had got the idea from Wanaka but the council won’t let them expand because it is zoned rural. Dumb!
Back to the house and Bazza turned up soon after. He had been to the sailing club and been racing and won. He said he had pointed out 2Abreast in Mobb’s Bay and was disappointed when the other club members just said “Oh yeah” and showed no interest.
Baked spuds topped by Chilli Beef for tea … yum. Except that we had no idea it wasn’t really beef mince. The only reason I had queried it was that I thought it might be chicken mince due to the lighter colour. I then found out it was TVP. Apparently Helen had been put onto it by mutual cruising friends, Christine and Peter from ‘Pure Magic’ as it was great for cruising as it did not need refrigeration. Helen liked it so much that she stuck with it and it is five times, at least, cheaper than real mince. Well … what can I say? ...I had no idea! She has given me a packet to try, which we will do.
Thursday, 17th September 2012 - Ballina (Alstonville)
Well, all good things must come to an end. Bazza went off to work early as he starts at 6 am and finishes at 12 pm to help Helen with Asher as she has a few health issues just at the moment. Adam went off to catch the bus to school and has his final end of term exam today and will be home by noon. We packed up our things and had brekky. We loaded up the car and then Helen took us to Dan Murphy’s to get our favourite ‘Chateau Cardboard’ cask wine and then on to Aldi And then to Woolies to get the last bits and pieces we needed. She then took us to the sailing club where we retrieved our dinghy, loaded everything up, cuddles for Helen and headed over to 2Abreast who was, luckily, where we had left her. We were surprised at how windy it was as you would never know where they live in Alstonville. Still, it meant we had plenty of power. Cuppa time, put everything away and relax. It was a very low tide so I checked our depth and we seem to still have 1.5 metres under us. We are not sure when we will be able to head off to Yamba as it means trying to co-ordinate tides for the bars although Yamba is deep enough for any tide as long as the seas are not rough.
Tuesday, 18th September 2012 - Ballina
A good sleep, calm night with a little rain and lightning in the distance. When I went on my laptop this morning my 12 volt adaptor started melting so Geoff had a look at it. I did a bit of tidying up but she’s (the boat) not bad as we did a big clean up before we headed off to the ‘Bradford Estate’.
A little overcast, some wind, weak sun but warm enough. At 12.30 pm we left Mobb’s Bay and headed over to the public jetty and tied up. There’s another yacht tied up on the other arm which has been there since early morning so, in theory, they should get chucked off first.
I went and read the teeny weeny council/Maritime NSW sign and it says you can stay for 15 minutes only just to pick up or drop of passengers and the boat must not be left unattended. There is nobody on the other yacht and Maritime NSW had already told us we could tie up here and shop plus stay overnight if we came in during the afternoon.
I went and read the teeny weeny council/Maritime NSW sign and it says you can stay for 15 minutes only just to pick up or drop of passengers and the boat must not be left unattended. There is nobody on the other yacht and Maritime NSW had already told us we could tie up here and shop plus stay overnight if we came in during the afternoon.
Just after we had tied off we got talking to a couple who wandered down into the jetty. They were caravanners (grey nomads) who also house sit and were house sitting at Lismore which was about 20 minutes drive away. Their names were Michael and Algi and we invited them on for a cuppa and we had a nice chat. Ships that pass in the night!
Just before 4pm Bazza, Helen, Adam and Asher turned up and we had drinks and nibbles and they had a good look around. Bazza said he felt like they still owned the boat and we were the visiting guests. It was very nostalgic for them and Bazza had a good poke around. When they left we only had a light tea as we were still full from nibbles. Early to bed and then to get up again as we heard lots of noises on the hull. It turned out to be a lot of fish banging themselves against the hulls. Perhaps they were being hunted by a predator!
Wednesday, 19th September 2012 - Ballina
A storm came through quickly overnight with strong winds and rain. It was gone within an hour and then calm reigned. It was a nice day again in the morning.
We are thinking of leaving tomorrow, if the weather is right, as there is an anchorage half way between here and Yamba we can go into if we need to called Evan’s Head. We shall see.
Geoff headed up the street to the chemist and then to Jaycar to try to pick up some more 12 volt fittings. The cigarette type holder where we plug in the laptops is starting to break up and smoking so Geoff needs to fix it. I definitely need to get back on the straight and narrow again with my diet. I have not been bad but haven’t been sticking to the low carb/low sugar side of it whilst I was away.
Geoff came back and said he couldn’t get what he wanted from Jaycar so will get on his bike and go further afield. Whilst he was having a cuppa he took the mast 12 volt socket apart and found a lot of wires were exposed and fused together so it is a good job he caught it when he did! We then had another visitor, David from McLean on the Clarence River, who had spotted 2Abreast and really liked the look of her. He was also a caravanner but wanted a small cat to go around the top and down to the Kimberley in WA. He had a look around and said he would look out for us when we make it to his neck of the woods. Geoff then went off on his quest to buy the 12 volt stuff he needed and I made myself some brekky. He came back with all the bits he needed from Super Cheap Auto and started fixing the 12 volt mast socket. The first thing he did was to slice his finger when he caught it on the router blade. A quick clean and a plaster and, luckily, it wasn’t as deep as he originally thought although throbbing. By 2pm he had rewired and installed the 12 volt socket so we thought we had better move from the public jetty as we had been there for over 25 hours. Just a tad more than the allowed 15 minutes. We anchored back over in Mobb’s Bay and it started to get windier with stronger winds forecast over the next couple of days.
Suddenly there was a quick shower of rain and I looked out the side window and saw a wind surfer in the small bay. On closer inspection it was Bazza and he went past us and then back and made a perfect landing on the starboard transom step. I was in the process of making a cuppa so he had one with us and then was off again. Looks like hard work to me!
Around 4.30 pm Geoff went outside and I heard him call out to someone so I went out for a ‘sticky beak’. There was a motor sailer to out port stern and they said they had run aground. Because we were anchored they thought it would be deep enough for them to go behind us. Well, it all depends on what your boat draws, doesn’t it? They also said they had just come in over the bar and said the bar was quite nasty. Strange that! It is dead on low tide! Of course it might be nasty. Not something we would do if we could help it on a bar like this one. Three hours later it was dark and they were still aground but having a look around with their torches but an hour later they were gone completely. They had probably headed back on over the bar as they were heading south the Sydney.
After tea Connie rang and we had a good natter and caught up on all of her news.
Thursday, 20th September 2012 - Ballina
Up quite late. Went out on deck and spotted a small pod of dolphins are in here with us this morning. We checked the weather forecast and it says N—NE winds when in reality, it is coming from the south s we won’t be going anywhere today. It was a lovely day so we had brekky out on the back deck and the fishing rod is in. We got two emails from Tony saying the python is still with him and must be living somewhere on the boat. He sent us a grainy photo and it looks quite large. He has put it overboard four times now but it is always back the next day. Next time he puts it overboard I would move to another anchorage. He doesn’t like snakes and wants me to come up and get it for him as I don’t mind them … pythons, wouldn’t handle the deadly ones although they don’t worry me.
A lazy morning. Geoff checked my part one September journal and added a couple of photos for me. Now it is almost ready to be sent off. Geoff checked the emails again before he logged off and there was one from another Tony, Trinity Beach Tone) asking if we could send our Whitsunday article to an American couple who were hoping to charter in the Whitsundays … done! By this time it was nearly 4 pm so we hopped into the dinghy and went across to the island close by which turned out to be a bird nature reserve. We walked around it (it was small) all the time being scolded by a couple of Brown Stone Curlews who were not at all impressed we had intruded onto their island. We were soon back to the dinghy so went over to the coastal spit which was also a nature reserve. We had a wander and chatted to a couple on the beach who said they were living in a bus in the nearby caravan park but were heading off to Derby in WA in October as he had a job driving trucks there. It was pleasant passing the time of day with them.
Friday, 21st September 2012 - To Yamba/Iluka
Up at 7am to check the weather and it has been downgraded to NE 20—25 knts so we decided to head off today. The bar was as flat as a tack, nice, and we were escorted down the coast for a short while by a small pod of dolphins but we weren’t going fast enough for them and were soon gone. Just past 10 am Geoff spotted a pod of whales to starboard. Close enough to watch but not really enough for a decent photo. Just after midday there were more whales just playing for the hell of it. It leads us to believe there must be an awful lot of whales in our coastal waters. They have no predators this close in as the Japanese ‘Research’ ships can’t come in and kill them in the name of science here (pull the other leg).
It was a hazy day with low clouds, weak sun, no wind to speak of and a cool day. It was soon off with the shorts and on with the jeans again. Sometimes the sky looked threatening and then it would brighten but we heard thunder in the distance. We had the trolling lines out most of the way but no fish. We have been discussing lately the lack of fish now to seven years ago. A lot of difference, can these seas really be fished out or are we just unlucky? We had to motor sail all of the way and we got to the Yamba bar at 4.30 which was three hours after high tide. Not a good time to cross as you should always cross on a flood tide not an ebb. There was nothing we could do about it and we were happy when we saw that this bar was also nearly as flat as a tack. We got into Yamba/Iluka just after 3.30 pm after a 7.5 hour passage. We anchored in the little harbour of Iluka an a very secure anchorage with quite a few other boats. It’s good to be here. AND, the sun came out to greet us so we sat on the back deck with nibbles (for Geoff) and drinks and enjoyed the warm, mellow late evening sun as it slowly dipped below the horizon. The late afternoon sun always seems to give of a warm, comforting aura.
Saturday, 22nd September 2012 - Iluka
Up at 8 am to a sunny but windy day so I am glad we made it in yesterday. We were still in our PJ’s at 10 am although we had eaten brekky and had a long chat to Sally and Martin on the phone and caught up on all their Vanuatu and personal news. They were down in Melbourne helping Jaegen, their son, and his wife pack up as they were moving to Sydney for work.
As it was windy we decided not to take the bikes ashore today so we had a game of Carcassonne and I trounced him - wow - I don’t get to do that often. After lunch we decided to head ashore to stretch our legs. There’s a nice floating pontoon close by for small boats and dinghies so there was no need to get our feet wet, for a change. There wasn’t much down this coastal end of Iluka. Just a pub (tattyish), which was enjoying the Saturday afternoon trade, a clothes/souvenir cum café, a small chandlery that only opened Mon to Fri till noon, a trawler harbour and a fish and chips/fresh seafood shop ( small fisherman’s co-op). The prawns here were still $26 kg so we really do well at Bundy when we pay $12 kg. When Geoff spoke to the guy he said they were lucky to even get prawns these days so it reinforces what I said before about the lack of sea life. On our way up the road from the trawler wharf something caught my eye so we went to investigate. It turned out to be a memorial with plaques for commercial fishermen who had been lost or killed at sea. The first plaque seemed to have been put up in 1970 and the memorial has been added to ever since. The oldest person was 52 years old and the youngest around 22 years old. When you look at something like that it brings home the fact that ‘sailing’ can be a perilous pursuit.
Back to the dinghy and go round to the ramp where the closest water was to fill up a couple of containers and then back to the boat. We will go further afield on the bikes when it stops blowing Less. Geoff decided to go back with all of the containers to filled them all up. He was away a while as he got chatting to a couple of people, as he does.
Spunday, 23rd September, 2012 - Iluka
Up early-ish for us to another beautiful spring day. Weighed myself and I have only lost .2 kg since my last weight in but I‘m happy with that as I couldn’t really stick to it when I was staying with Bazza and Helen. Although I did watch what I ate. Down is down! Bacon and eggs and then load up the dinghy with the bikes and backpack and go ashore. Our first direction was towards the east to the Iluka beach area which was a ride of about 1 km. A nice beach with nice views. Back up the road a tad was a turn off to the Marine Rescue Iluka/Yamba so we turned right. We introduced ourselves to Bob, the volunteer radio operator on duty, and chatted to him to get some info on boating on the Clarence. It was research for our next article ‘Cruising the Clarence’. A nice bloke and we also chatted about boating in general. It was interesting that the Marine Rescue organisation system is all under one name and umbrella and that you do not have to pass on your details to the next sector as it is all computerised. Another interesting fact was that you are not charged anything if you call them out for assistance. Unlike Qld.
Back on the bikes and back to our starting point of the pontoon and then heading west towards the centre of Iluka about 1.5 kms away. There was a good bike/walking path all the way along the foreshore of the harbour and through parkland. It wasn’t long before we found the centre of Iluka. More a village than a town with a few shops. We found a Foodworks so bought a few items, including some damaged cans that were on special, and then found a little café called ‘Sum'thn Tastee’ or something like that. I had a coffee and Geoff had an Iced coffee. There were three real estates in town (a lot for such a small place) so we looked in the window but there was nothing we could afford. So far we have seen a hardware/camping store, a fresh fish shop, 2 cafes, various souvenir shops, a plant/nursery (small) and a newsagent. There’s probably more but that’s all I can remember. A nice, quiet and interesting little village but it would get very busy in the summer and school holiday, I would think.
Back on the bike and back to the boat. Geoff checked the GPS to see how far we had cycled and it said over 2000 kms! Geoff says there is a definite software bug in it somewhere. It must be having a funny five minutes! Once back on the boat we had people water skiing past our boat and making us rock. Not only have they settled themselves under a big sign that says ‘No water skiing’ but they are passing a marker buoy stating the same thing. We put up with it for over three hours as they were only having fun but they progressively got closer and closer to our boat and it was getting uncomfortable and I went on the deck and yelled. Geoff then went over in the dinghy and said something to them but to no avail. Bas***ds! Luckily it was after 4 pm so they packed up and left soon after. Range Maryannne and had a long natter and caught up with the news.
Monday, 24th September 2012 - Iluka
Nature called at 6 am and I looked out of the windows to see white everywhere - fog! It was so thick I couldn’t even see the boat closest to us, let alone the public pontoon. When I got up at 7.30 am it had mostly burnt off. After brekky Geoff donned his wet suit, sealed up his cut finger and went in the water to clean off the propellers and then the hulls. He managed to keep his finger dry but his hands were very cold when he got out. A quick, hot shower and a hot cuppa soon fixed that.
We were going to take the bikes ashore to cycle to the rain forest walk but the wind picked up so we stayed onboard and just fiddled around. By 2pm we were glad we hadn’t gone ashore. It was really blowing, dull and threatening. We got everything under cover and brought the dinghy up, just in case, and it was time to put our slippers on as it got quite chilly. 15 minutes later and the wind was howling with the cry of the banshee echoing across the anchorage from our wind generator. We had plenty of chain out and this was supposed to be one of the more secure anchorages on the coast. Then the thunder and lightning came through, and right overhead … not fun! Geoff’s laptop and the GPS were soon in the oven . As we watched the storm come through we saw the little motor sailer that was next to us drag backwards towards the beach and another cat. We hoped it would soon pass over and we were very attentive and kept an eye on things until it did. An hour later and the wind was down just enough to keep the wind generator ticking over, the storm had gone, the sun was weakly trying to push through and the anchorage was dead calm. We only managed to collect 6 litres of water as neither of us wanted to go out on the front deck to get the water containers so we just used a bucket. By tea time there was no wind whatsoever but it was short lived and by the time we were ready for bed it was blowing quite hard again so Geoff turned off the wind generator overnight so we could get a decent night’s sleep.
Tuesday, 25th September 2012 - Iluka
I was up reasonably early as I couldn’t sleep. A windy but sunny morning to start. We were thinking of taking the bikes ashore but by 11 am it was still windy so decided to just go ashore for a walk to the chandlery. I cut the end off a large black garbage bag and wrapped it around me to stop getting wet but it wasn’t too bad at all. We wandered around to the chandlery and we didn’t make the best sale of the day as we only spent $8 on a lighter and scraper. Geoff also bought himself a fish cake from the fish shop but I had to wait until I got back on board before I could get some lunch as there wasn’t anything there I could eat. Geoff filled up the two small water containers and then we got chatting to a Victorian couple who were from San Remo, down near Philip Island, who were up here on holiday. Back to 2Abreast and after lunch we played Carcassonne and I won again so Geoff is getting a little p’d off. He admits he is not a good loser and went off for a disgruntled snoozette and I spent the day reading my book until it was time to cook some tea.
Wednesday, 26th September 2012 - Iluka
It looked like a reasonable day so we decided to take the bikes ashore to do the forest walk. We had brekky and headed off at 9.30 am, there abouts. We cycled about 500 metres to the Iluka Nature Reserve and the start of the rain forest walk to The Bluff. Alas, there was a sign saying no bikes allowed so we got off and pushed them. We presumed it meant no riding of bikes was allowed. It was a pretty walk and the strangler vines were very interesting.
The walk was 2.5 kms with interpretation signs at regular intervals, as were bench seats. At one of these signs I learnt something new and a new word … epiphytes. Epiphytes are plants that are neither parasitic nor symbiotic and just use their host as support, like a trellis really. IT was a much drier rain forest from the ones we visited in the tropics but with similar plants. The closer to the ocean we got the shorter the trees became until they gave way completely to just bushes. We had arrived at our destination of The Bluff. We read the large interps signs before more energy needed to be expended to climb the steps and the pathway up to the lookout. Good views, as is the norm, and we gazed out to sea looking for whales. As we are familiar with what to look for we soon saw whales misting and breaching towards the horizon. A family that happened to be at the lookout with us found it very interesting and would probably never have seen them without help. Unfortunately, there were quite a way away.
Back to the Bluff car park and down the dirt road towards Iluka and our little café where we stopped for a drink. Back to Foodworks to pick up milk etc and them back along the foreshore to the dinghy. The GPS said we had covered 6.6 kms but it felt much more than that as we had walked and pushed the bikes for 2.5 kms of that. Back on the boat and the water skiers are back (not sure if it is the same ones) but, although noisy, they don’t seem to be rocking us too much. They did later but were gone by 4.30 pm.
Geoff also rang the operators of the Harwood Bridge that carries the Pacific Highway northwards from Yamba. We arranged for the bridge to be opened tomorrow at 11am. They don’t open it on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays after 7am and before 7 pm. Monday is Labour Day here in NSW so tomorrow it is as we don’t like getting up too early if we can get away with it.
Thursday, 27th September 2012 - To Harwood
Up at 7am and Geoff checked the oil, warmed the engines and plotted a course up river. We’ve spent an enjoyable 6 days here at Iluka despite some strong winds and the inconsiderate water skiers (we will anchor toward the outer harbour wall next time) and it was well worth the visit. A layback and lazy little village. We were just leaving the north harbour entrance at 8 am when the guy from the Harwood Bridge gave us a call saying that he had guys down there working on the bridge and they would come and open it for us as soon as we got there … great … no having to anchor and wait. I read Alan Lucas’ ‘Cruising the New South Wales Coast’ as we made our way up river and he says that the Clarence River has 99 islands making it the river with the most island in the southern Hemisphere.
By 10 am we were just coming up to the bridge and we saw two guys in high vis yellow work vests walking towards the control tower to activate the opening. We got the red light and we just hovered until they had stopped the traffic and the middle span of the bridge started to lift. It was not a bascule bridge which opens in the middle but a bridge that lifts the whole section of the road up by using counterweights. Very interesting. We got the green light and were soon through. It made me think … Little 2Abreast held up all of the traffic on the Pacific Highway which is the main highway that goes from south to north … tee he! Geoff has now stated that we are trapped on this side of the bridge until, at least, Wednesday due to the long weekend. Not that we expect to be coming back that quickly.
Just beyond the bridge was a nice, new public jetty which was empty so it was on with the fenders and ropes and tied up. It can take about two reasonably sized boats. There were no signs stating any time limits and some locals we spoke to said people didn’t seem to worry about how long you stay there.
After a cuppa we locked up and went for a walk. There is a hotel and an antique store and that is all we found. We wandered up to the Harwood Bridge and climbed the steps up to the pedestrian walkway. We walked to almost halfway to take a photo of 2Abreast docked down below. Back the way we had come and when we got back to the pub we decided to stop in for a drink. Wine for me and draught beer for Geoff. As we sipped we watched the slow life of Harwood go by and Geoff chatted to some of the locals. The drinks went straight to our heads so it was wander back to the boat for some lunch. Oh - I have just remembered something! The lady behind the bar told us a whale had come up under a 10 mt catamaran just outside Yamba yesterday and the marine rescue had been called out to rescue them as they were taking on water. They are now in the slip yard and there is about 5 months worth of repairs to be done. The lady behind the bar thought it might have been us but, thankfully, it wasn’t although we have always been aware of the possibility, especially when the engines are off. Maritime NSW are now asking for all boaties to look out for an injured whale.
I wonder if one of the whales we saw yesterday was the culprit?
I wonder if one of the whales we saw yesterday was the culprit?
It got quite bouncy during the afternoon with the wind against tide, even tied up to the dock. Once the wind died down it was much better. We are expecting some 30 knot northerlies over the next few days.
Just after 5 pm I diced up some meat to make Massuman Curry and I gave Geoff the scrappy bits to see if the pelicans liked them. Geoff threw the bits a piece at a time and he caught most of the bits that Geoff threw accurately and seemed to enjoy them. The Egret on the dock was less than impressed and wouldn’t touch it so Mr Pelican said “I’ll have that, thank you very much”. Geoff had spent some of the afternoon transporting water from close by and managed 100 litres so we now have 400 litres onboard which should last us a while. We relaxed while dinner was cooking listening to the nonstop muted roar of the bridge traffic. How people can live in houses almost underneath the bridge is beyond me. Maybe they are deaf! Just the noise of the exhausts 24/7 would drive us nuts.
(Note: When Geoff was reading the Sydney paper he noticed a small story about a teacher that had run away with a student and the CCTV on the Channel ferry had spotted them and they were now being hunted in Europe. The school was Bishop Bell, which rang a bell (no pun intended) and was a school in Eastbourne, UK and the paper later stated that fact. Eastbourne being our home town in the UK, of course. Fancy reading something as trivial as that in a Sydney paper!)
Friday, 28th September 2012 - To Mclean
Wow … we didn’t wake up till 8.45 am and the bridge traffic didn’t keep us awake either. As I sipped my early morning coffee I watched the vehicles go over the bridge and about every one in ten non commercial vehicles is either a towed caravan or a motor home.
We were just thinking about making a move when Geoff noticed a couple of guys hammering a temporary notice near the ramp to the jetty so went up to see what it was all about. Oh bugga - It says that the river is closed from Grafton to Harwood on Sunday morning to all boating because, would you believe it, there is a water ski race being held. Now we have to rethink our trip so we can find a place where we won’t get bounced when they zoom past. Maybe they go so fast that they won’t cause much wake, who knows, and it should be interesting to watch. We still decided to head to McLean today and we will check out the anchorages in North Arm of the Clarence River where we could get far enough away from the main river and still watch the race. We left at 10 am and made our way up river and turned into the North Arm and marked a few good spots to anchor on the GPS, if we need to.
When we got to McLean we found the public jetty was full with three boats on it, two of which were rafted up. We continued up a little way past some moored boats and anchored. It took a while for the anchor to dig in and Geoff said he thought it was a rocky bottom which wasn’t too good. Whilst he was up on the front deck checking to make sure we weren’t dragging he cut his foot on a latch that I hadn’t secured down. Sorry Geoff! There’s quite a lot of anchor grind here so definitely rocks below.
I then checked the weather forecast and I had been telling Geoff we were in for some strong winds. Duh! … I am so use to reading the marine weather forecast which has the wind speed in knots that I had failed to see the normal inland town forecast was in kms so it will not be as windy as I thought. 30 kms divided by 1.8 knots = about 17 knots so not so bad.
Geoff has checked my knots on the fender so now I have been given more instructions on how to tie a proper clove hitch rather than the Mazzie version which I have thought was correct for the last seven years. Geoff says that mine is the clove hitch version of the granny knot.
By the time we had a cuppa, showered and changed, about 90 minutes had gone by and it looked like the boat was staying where it was even though we really didn’t like where we anchored. We thought we would go into town and then move. As we were getting ready to get the dinghy down we saw a guy rowing out to us from his house. His name was Kingsley and he was an sailor/trawler skipper and had come over to tell us that it was rocky and not good holding and some people had got their anchors trapped between the rocks and had to get a diver down to free themselves. He said that one of the boats down on the public jetty told him that they were only staying a couple of hours and that the anchorage across the river from the jetty was much better holding. We thanked him and decided to move down and anchor and wait to see if a spot became free. As we were talking one of the very fast water ski boats went past reasonably close and there was hardly a ripple from it so that put our minds at rest. As we got near the dock the boat that was rafted up called out and said we could raft up to him but, as that would make three of us rafted up, we thanked him but declined and anchored across river. Geoff put his rod in and soon caught a large catfish which I will cook up and then freeze ready to make fish cakes at a later date. It was soon windy so we decided not to go across in the dinghy as we would get very wet. We watched the smaller boat leave the jetty and a houseboat that was hovering near the jetty go straight in and take his spot … bumma. We were half way through a game of Carcassonne when Geoff’s line tinkled again and he had caught another cat fish. I went out to help him with it and noticed the houseboat was gone so the fish went in a bucket and we quickly up anchored, got the lines and fenders on and made our way over to the public jetty and there was even someone there to catch our lines so how good was that? A perfect docking. A great little jetty with both power and water.
As it was just after 4pm we thought we would have a quick look around McLean. McLean calls itself the ‘Scottish Town in Australia’ and has 200 tartan decorated power poles. There were a few Scottish themed shops but we didn’t think it was very Scottish but was a pretty little town. We found a reasonably priced Chinese restaurant so returned at 6.30 pm to treat ourselves for a change. The food was tasty and the sizes generous but the service wasn’t that good. We brought a doggy bag back with us for lunch tomorrow. Although the menu stated that there was no MSG in the food something upset my tummy, as is usual for both of us with Chinese food, but it soon settled down.
Saturday, 29th September 2012 - McLean
I didn’t sleep brilliantly, probably due to the Chinese meal last night. It is not such a nice day today as it is overcast and windy. I was up at 7am and checked the weather and it looks like we are in for some thunderstorms and rain later.
Geoff decided to ride his bike up to the lookout. I declined as it looked like a lot of UP to me. He headed off and I had some brekky and then I wandered into town to try to get a haircut. I found a lady barber who only charged $20 (not too bad) and she made a good job of it. It is very short but the style suits me. I haven’t had my hair cut since before we left Bundy so that’s about three months so it certainly needed it. I popped into the supermarket on the way back and then went back to the boat where Geoff had just got back. He said the ride was very steep and hard work and he had reached speeds of 48 km/hr on the way back down. Not the sort of speeds I would like to reach on a bike. He said he thought he could see a food van up at the top and thought ‘good’ as he had forgotten to take water with him. When he got there he found it was a van containing, of all things, pigeons!
After he had a little rest we wandered back into town. We went into Home Hardware and spent the princely sum of $2.25 for, yet another, sink plug. Still 38 mm but it looked right to me. We also bought a large, soft, holey type laundry basket to keep our plants in. Of course we had to stop for a coffee before wandering back, stopping en route to buy some tomato seedlings that the guy said grew large tomatoes but remained a small bush. He also sold Geoff some loose potting mix. The sink plug fitted perfectly and Geoff went back up to buy another but we had bought the last one. We have quite a few aboriginal boys on the dock jumping into the water and who keep sitting on the boat. Very annoying as I
have told them not to and so has Geoff. You don’t want to antagonise them as you are not too sure of how they will react. We are moving this afternoon anyway so it won’t be a problem. Once the kids had left Geoff went for a little 30 minute snoozette as he had worn himself out. Geoff got up and we prepared to leave the dock. As the wind was blowing us onto the dock I took the helm so that Geoff could fend us off if need be. I slowly backed her out and once we knew she would clear Geoff took over. I’ve been reading the NSW Maritime boating laws and it says that you only need a boat licence if your vessel can do 10 knots or more under power. 2Abreast certainly can’t so, in theory, I should be able to handle the boat on my own … AS IF!
have told them not to and so has Geoff. You don’t want to antagonise them as you are not too sure of how they will react. We are moving this afternoon anyway so it won’t be a problem. Once the kids had left Geoff went for a little 30 minute snoozette as he had worn himself out. Geoff got up and we prepared to leave the dock. As the wind was blowing us onto the dock I took the helm so that Geoff could fend us off if need be. I slowly backed her out and once we knew she would clear Geoff took over. I’ve been reading the NSW Maritime boating laws and it says that you only need a boat licence if your vessel can do 10 knots or more under power. 2Abreast certainly can’t so, in theory, I should be able to handle the boat on my own … AS IF!
It wasn’t far to the North Arm and we were soon happily anchored. A houseboat followed us in but they didn’t stay. As we motored into the North Arm we saw a wedding being held in one of the gardens. I had spoken to a guy in a speed boat at the jetty earlier who had seen the Bundaberg sign on the back of the boat and asked if that was where we came from. It was his daughter getting married and he said she lived in Bundy and was a school teacher there. As we passed I said “I hope it doesn’t rain for them”. But we were anchored just in time as it got windier and the rain arrived. I hope they had contingency plans.
Sunday, 30th September - North Arm, Clarence River, just downstream from McLean
Up at 7.45 am to a slightly windy and overcast day with the sun trying to break through. We thought we may have been woken up from the roar of speed boats as they went past but they must be starting at a more civilised time.
As it was a nice and clam anchorage I got the electronic scales out and got them to set and have lost another 1 kg so I’m a happy little camper. Now another 10 kg to go to be a reasonable size and another 10 kg after that to be within my correct weight range. Oh … it takes such a long time!
By 9.30 am there was still no sign of the water skiers but 15 minutes later they were roaring past. The boats were towing two skiers apiece and were going really fast. We were really too far away to get any decent photos and we watched for a while before saying “Been there, watched that”. Eventually we decided to take the dinghy over to the island close by to get a better look and, hopefully, some better photos. There was one speed boat that had broken down and it was quite amusing to see one guy on the front of the boat with a tiny paddle and another at the back with his legs in the water kicking to help propulsion. From zoom to crawl in seconds! It was all over by 11 am and the SES was lifting all the buoys by 11.30 am. One race and it was all over - just like that!
Before going back to the boat we explored a little further up the North Arm to look at the islands. We couldn’t see much as they all looked overgrown. When we got back to the boat Geoff went on Google Earth to have a look and the overgrown banks were really just camouflage and the whole interior of the islands were cultivated. You would never have know from the river. Back to the boat for some lunch.
We decided to stay here tonight and, after lunch, I steamed the fish from yesterday, flaked it and froze it. We put the rods in but not a tinkle was heard all afternoon. Geoff spent the afternoon on the computer working on his panorama, stitched and photo montage. I spent my time finishing the Part 2 September journal and reading. I could read all day if I was allowed.
A southerly wind today with a cold bite to it. It is also overcast with a weak sun trying to break through. We up-anchored just after 9am. As we motored past the McLean public jetty there were three boats on it again. We had been thinking of stopping but continued on up river to have a look at the anchorage of Brushgrove. We were soon passing Woodford Island which is the largest inland island (37 square kms) and the only inland island to have its own mountain range in the southern hemisphere. As we were passing this Geoff had to keep an ‘eagle eye’ out for the Bluff Point/Southgate ferry which operates on cables that are 3 metres under water. The ferry waited for us to pass and we got a wave (from the skipper, not the ferry!).
As we motored up river I made up an ice cream, to the first stage, and popped it in the freezer. It probably won’t work as our freezer doesn’t get as cold as a home freezer but we will see.
As we came up to the tiny village of Lawrence we saw the public jetty, which was the older style non floating type. As it was slack tide and the wind was going to push us on to the jetty Geoff decided we would stop and have a look around. The village (hamlet?) consisted of an old general store, which seemed to stock a little bit of everything, and a modern pub and that was it. We also saw a very unusual house that was round (like a large water tank) supported by a plinth. We presume it was to get it above the flood level. It was a very interesting house but not very well kept. We bought milk at the general store, grabbed a free local paper and 25 minutes later were on our way again.
It wasn’t far to Brushgrove and we anchored at the entrance to the South Arm of the Clarence with Brushgrove on Woodford Island on one side and Cowper on the other. We had just anchored when Maryanne rang to say they were in Moree with the caravan and were slowly making their way back home to Bundy. We had a nice long chat. By this time it was 2 pm so we made our way over to the Brushgrove Hotel’s little dinghy dock hoping we were not too late to order lunch. They took pity on us so we ordered a Beef Nachos to share (my Free Day) When it came it was large with lots of chilli beef, sour cream, guacamole and cheese. Definitely enough for the two of us and very tasty indeed and was washed down by a nice glass of wine each.
The hotel was established in 1868 and had been recommended to us by Kingsley from McLean. Brushgrove had a very busy cedar cutting industry in its heyday in the early 1900’s and, at that time, boasted eight stores, three blacksmiths, a saddler, 2 restaurants, 2 hotels, a hospital, two doctors, auctioneers, a post/telegraph service, a police station and three churches. Once the road bridge was built and road transport became the norm the river services declined up until today when all that is left is a hotel and a post office.
After lunch we walked across the bridge over to Cowper where Geoff said he had read there was a general store. We found the store and, although still standing, was just sitting there abandoned. We also saw a sign directing us to the Cowper bus crash site but we never found it. When we got back on the boat I looked it up on the web and it was a bus crash that killed 21 people and injured 22 in 1989 when a semi ploughed into them on the Pacific Highway. The town of Cowper was then bypassed in 1993 making it the sleepy little village it is today.
We were on our way again by 3.20 pm as Geoff decided we would push on to the village of Ulmarra. Another ferry to look out for and this one can suddenly appear from out behind a headland. Again, not a problem. We arrived at Ulmarra at 4.45 pm and there was a houseboat on the public jetty but there was also plenty of room for us. It was another new public jetty and not the old one that was in pictured in the cruising guide. The lady on the houseboat called across and said they were just leaving and by the time we had our ropes and fenders ready they had left and we had it to ourselves but leaving plenty of room to get another large boat on. We did go up for a quick look at the village of Ulmarra and found it cute and very tiny and will have another look tomorrow when things are open. The jetty is very quiet and hidden from town … very peaceful.
(Note: tide is 4 hours after Sydney tide)
Tuesday, 2nd October 2012 - Ulmarra
Awake to a lovely sunny day. It was a very quiet night with nobody around.
After brekky Geoff went off on his bike to see if there was anymore to see of Ulmarra. Nope … just the Pacific Highway with a service station (gas refills here were $19.95 - very cheap). The service station is in easy walking distance and prices are good and it is probably the best and easiest place on the Clarence to get fuel if you are using jerry cans. Water is also available in the Memorial Park next to the jetty. Geoff looked for a walk/bike track along the river but the river banks were blocked by private land so what we saw last night was it! As we waited for sleepy Ulmarra to stir I finished off my Sept journal and now I just need Geoff to proof read it and I can send it off. Geoff also spent time on the computer sorting out the large amount of photos we have taken since leaving Bundy. Thank goodness for digital!
After 10 am we wandered up into Ulmarra which, basically, consists of 2 bric a brac shops, a craft shop gallery, 2 hairdressers, newsagent cum general store, a pub, a café, a servo, a small public pool, police station, B&B, some private dwellings and a large and fantastic 2nd hand book shop. Plus, the “Yamba to Grafton bus passes through. The shops and houses are historical and very well kept. We went into the book shop, of course, and Geoff and the lady behind the counter struck a conversation and just chatted and chatted. They chatted so much that I left them to it and wandered around the rest of the village and was back within 10 minutes … I told you it wasn’t very big! They were still chatting so I sat down and eventually Geoff got perusing for books. There were heaps to look at and more upstairs but he found two downstairs so we never ventured up.
Back to the boat to fill up with more water and then we ambled up to the servo with the two 20 litre diesel containers to fill up and then transfer some of it to top up our diesel tank, always keeping some for spare … just in case. We estimated we had used about 55 litres since leaving Steigletz (40 km south of Brizzy) to here.
Later, we played Carcassonne and I won again, what’s happening?, so I am now one ahead of him for this year.
Wednesday, 3rd October 2012 - Grafton
Up to a hazy but sunny day. Hazy because they must be burning off somewhere.
Well, we can really recommend Ulmarra if you want a quiet and peaceful stay, but not the weekends apparently, when there’s a band at the hotel which is right near the jetty. We have spent two nights on the jetty and had it all to ourselves. It was very quiet at night and only locals fishing from the old jetty during the day. A nice walk/bike track along the river would be a nice bonus but, hey, you can’t have everything.
We were on our way just after 9 am with only 5.8 nm to go before Grafton (tides at Grafton are 4.5 hours after Sydney). Geoff got a bit touchy as we went under some power cables with signage stating 17 metres clearance. Our air draft (the height to the top of the mast from water level) is 13 metres so we had plenty of clearance but you still watch and wonder as you go under. We anchored just off the small public jetty at Girl Guide Park. It was the end of the line for us as the river was now blocked by an ugly, rusty 2 tier traffic bridge (train and vehicular). The Susan Island Nature Reserve is just past this bridge so we will take the dinghy up there in the next few days (we must remember to wear our life jackets as the Maritime NSW laws say you must wear them when you are further away from the main boat by 400 metres).
We had a cuppa and then Geoff changed the oil in the engines whilst they were still warm. Once he had done this we loaded the bikes into the dinghy and headed ashore to the jetty. It was a bit old and tatty and we thought it very strange that the tiny villages of Harwood and Ulmarra plus McLean had these spanking new jetties and the main town, Grafton, had a real tatty one that you couldn’t tie up to with your main boat.
Well, that’s not completely true … there’s a nice new jetty on the other side of the river but past the bridge where masted vessels can’t get to. It looks new, big and EMPTY! Once again we got talking to a local and swapped flood experiences, ours on the Burnett and his on the Clarence. We put the co-ordinates in the GPS for the closest laundrette to check it out (minus the washing). It was 2.5 kms and when we got there it was filthy and most of the washers and dryers were out of order due to vandalism. Maybe we were in the wild end of town? We decided to look out for another one. We headed back towards the CBD and found an Aldi on the way so popped in to buy a few items off the list. We wandered around the shops in the CBD and then spotted another shopping centre (both Coles and Woollies were here) where we treated ourselves to a coffee each and Geoff had a meat pie as they were on special at half price. We also bought a nice condolence card for Lisa as we had received an email this morning saying that a friend, Steve, had died overnight. Steve had taken my dad up for a microlight flight when he visited us in Bright in 2003.
Back to the jetty and load the bikes back into the dinghy and back to the boat. By 4.30 pm it was blowing reasonable hard. We went on the web and composed a ‘letter to the editor’ of Cruising Helmsman re: an article on butane stoves. We also found we could buy online back issues of CH for $4.50 so we downloaded the September 2011 issue as there was an article about Grafton and the Clarence. It was mostly about Grafton and skimmed over the other places so we think we can write an article that will be different. The wind died by 6 pm and the river returned to flat and calm.
Thursday, 4th October 2012 - Grafton
A nice calm night that was occasionally broken by the loud rumble of a freight train as it passed over the bridge. Once again, it is a little hazy but it seems to clear later. The forecast is for a sunny day in the low 30’s.
Once brekky was out of the way we checked on the web for another laundrette and put the co-ordinates in the GPS once again. This time we did get all the washing together and we managed to fit it all in the two bike panniers. Load up again and head ashore. Got chatting, again, to some locals who said the laundrette we were going to was ok. I also noticed a tap at the end of the jetty so that’s good as we can now get water if needs be. On the bikes and head off, me trailing Geoff as always. We found the laundry and it was a clean and friendly one although a little expensive. $5 for a cold wash, $6 for a warm one and $7 for a hot one. As our clothes are always really grubby it was two machines at $7 each plus $5 for the dryer. And, if you are feeling particularly lazy, you can leave it all there and it will be done for you, at a cost … of course. They will even pick up and deliver if you are feely extremely lazy. Whilst we were waiting for the washing to finish a woman commented on Geoff’s T shirt which was one of his PNG ones. She was originally from Port Moresby and we had a nice chat until she had to rush away as a friend was waiting for her.
When we got back to the dock we left the bikes locked up there in case we wanted to go out again. We had some lunch and then decided to take the dinghy up river to the Susan Island Nature Reserve (we did forget our life jackets … not something we are used to wearing in the dinghy in Qld). We stopped just after the bridge to look at the wreck of the ‘Induna’ whose main claim to fame was the fact that she evacuated Winston Churchill from South Africa those many moons ago. There was not much left of her, just a bit of the outer shell with her innards filled up with soil and is now a lawn that blends seamlessly into the lawn of the garden she rest next to.
A 15minute dinghy ride further up river, 2 kms, takes you to the Susan Island Nature Reserve which, we read, has a large bat colony and the remnants of a lowland rain forest and which you can only reach by boat. It has a very rickety, uncared for wooden dock and I was very careful where I placed my feet. We were met here by a water dragon who soon scurried away at our approach. Just up the track from the dock was a very basic ‘long drop’ bush toilet. We followed the recently slashed track up river for about 1.5 kms. The track was dry and parched with big cracks forming which showed that this area was in definite need of rain. The track meandered through the remnants (and remnants were all they were) of the lowland rain forest. This track had hardly any shade and we were soon very hot and the rough track seemed to go on forever and still no sign of the bat colony. As Bundaberg has its own huge bat colony we decided to turn back (we found out later that there was more rain forest further on). As we walked back we watched 2 eagles soaring high above us and it made us think of Steve again.
Once we got back to the dock area we followed the track that went down river and this was a much more pleasant walk through shady trees. It was a short walk to a picnic area that had a rough picnic table and a basic wood barbecue which wood stacked ready for use. Further down this track and you end up at a small beach where you could cool off with a dip. Would we recommend a visit - probably not unless you really want to get out and walk in absolute peace and quiet, have a secluded BBQ or want to get away from town for a while
When we got back to the dinghy we found it had decided to wedge itself under the dock so it was fun and games getting it out. Back to the jetty at Girl Guide Park to pick up the bikes and back to the boat to prepare dinner. Good nights TV viewing for a change.
Friday, 5th October 2012 - Grafton
Up reasonably early for a change and a nice day again. The river was very calm this morning and we decided to spend the day onboard doing various things. Geoff made a red lentil, bacon and curry soup and worked on his laptop as he had a slight hiccup with it and then worked on his photos. I cleaned the fridge and then also went on the computer. We then worked on an article to submit to the Readers Digest about Ebora in The Louisiades, PNG. It was harder than normal as we had to keep the article to 1000 words or less and our articles are usually around the 2500 mark. We worked with the small 12 volt fan on as it was quite a hot day, low 30’s again. By mid afternoon we were happy with the article so we sent it off To Readers Digest who will notify us within six weeks if they are going to publish it. It would be good if they do as they pay $500 for an article which would be nice to put towards the insurance.
After this Geoff wanted to play a game of Gloom and I won. I don’t think this game is a favourite of his although he is the one who researched it and went out and bought it!
Saturday, 6th October 2012 - Grafton
Heard some noises outside and went out to investigate and it was two dragon boats out practising. A very colourful spectacle!
We headed off early today before it got too hot to explore South Grafton, the other side of the bridge. Once again we got chatting to locals on the dock. They are very friendly here. We headed off over the bridge and there were a couple or short but steepish hills (for me) When we got there we found the actual shopping mall quite small with a BiLo so we went in any way to see if they had any special, and they had a couple of real bargains. Out we came $53 poorer but, at least, we had shortened our list a bit. I then played ‘follow my leader’ who turned left as he said it would lead down to the river and the route back should be flatter. I’m glad he did as we found the original area that was first settled in Grafton which is now like a sub village of its bigger neighbour over the river. If you were driving along the highway you would never know it was there. It had a quaintness about it and looked to be quite prosperous and seemed to be used, mostly, by the locals in the area.
We stopped for a coffee, as is our norm, and the service could only be described as ‘lay back’ but we spent the time reading the complimentary papers and mags. I also picked up a local map/history sheet which I found quite interesting so here is a little bit of history for you: - Grafton is known for its trees, historical buildings and the big river, The Clarence which is 400 kms long from its source to the sea. The Grafton area was discovered by Richard Craig who was an escaped convict. He noticed the abundance of Cedar trees and was able to organise a pardon and £100 to take a party of ‘Cedar Getters’ to this area. Woodford Island was the first land occupied and this was in 1838 with South Grafton the next area to be settled in 1851. Grafton soon followed and was named after the Duke of Grafton and was named a city in 1885.
Also on the same sheet was listed the Clarence River Historical Society which had a museum housed in the preserved Schaffer House in Fitzroy Street and we thought it might well be worth a visit.
First things first and it was back to the boat to unload the shopping and get the perishables away and a bit of a relax. Then it was back ashore to the bikes, which we had left locked up above the dock. En route we came across the Crown Hotel on the banks of the river so we stopped for a drink and sat on the verandah enjoying the scenery. Then we continued on passing many preserved old buildings. Alas, when we got to the museum it was only open on certain days and today wasn’t one of them, never mind. We did pop into the art gallery but it was small and they only had a Monsters exhibition on which they wanted $11 each for so we gave that a miss as we thought it was very expensive for such a small gallery. So it was onto Grafton Shopping World to pick up the rest of the shopping on the list, mostly meat and frozen stuff.
When we got back to the jetty Geoff found a couple of young lads fiddling with the lock to our dinghy so Geoff growled at them. You never know, when you leave the dinghy, whether it will be where you left it on your return, whether it will be in the same condition or usable. It is true what Alan Lucas says in his ‘Cruising the NSW Coast’ that you need to lock your dinghy up when you leave it at this jetty, especially during the school holiday which end tomorrow.
When we got back to the boat Geoff checked the GPS and we had covered 9.2 kms on the bikes. I then had a quick add up of the distances we had covered on the bikes since leaving Bundy. I have covered nearly 90 kms and Geoff must have done at least another 15% more. Sam and Shirley back in Bundy will be proud of me!
Sunday, 7th October 2012 - Grafton to Ulmarra
A hazy but a fine day but quite windy today. I weighed in and have lost another 1.1 kgs … yippee … so that’s 9.5 kgs so far. Geoff has also lost 1 kg so he is a ‘happy chappy’ too! I
rang Maryanne and had a lovely long chat and Owen has lost another 2.5 kgs since they have been away and he is now at goal.
What’s with water skiers and anchored boats? They have this nice wide river to operate in but always seem to come within a few feet of us, do a quick U turn right at the rear of the boat making us bounce up and down. It drives you nuts.
We decided to spend the day onboard again as Geoff wanted to work on his photos again (we have taken so many and a lot need to be stitched together) and I wanted to do some cleaning and also work on the computer, especially as we have the power due to the wind generator.
By 3 pm Geoff decided we would leave for Ulmarra as the wind was from a good direction to get in a nice sail. So, it is goodbye to Grafton, we’ve enjoyed our stay.
We soon had the motors off and just the headsail out and doing about 5 to 6 knots. You could get used to river sailing. Great sailing and no waves to contend with which is not usually the case as if you have good winds out on the ocean you get the waves and swell too! When we got to Ulmarra we saw that there were four boats on the public jetty. Three motor boats (2 rafted up) and a yacht. The yachtie called out and said we could raft up but we decided to anchor across the river as we were only staying overnight. By this time it was windy, dull, overcast with the hint of rain.
Geoff said he really enjoyed the sail down here and it reminded him of the sort of sailing we had on the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria. With just the headsail up we did a max of 6 knots and averaged 4.5 knots due to the wind occasionally dropping out.
By the time we were anchored, settled and secure it was time to prepare tea, roast chook tonight. We then put on the TV to watch the SBS news and found we had missed it. Daylight saving must have come in and we missed it. Something we don’t have to worry about in Qld. Checked on the web and, yep, it started today.
Monday, 8th October 2010 - to McLean
Up at 8.20 am (really 7.20 am). We’ve kept the main clock and our watches on Qld time as they are too fiddly to change and the smaller timer clock and my cabin clock on daylight saving time as we won’t be enjoying it for all that long, unfortunately. The sooner Qld drags itself into the 21st century, the better as far as we are concerned.
We up-anchored at 9.10 am for the 18 nm trip down to McLean. Alas, no wind for us to sail this morning so it was a motor job. When the wind did come in it was right on the nose! When we got to McLean there was a yacht on the jetty, Istana, but still room for us but we had to back in. The other yachtie was ready to catch our ropes, which is always nice. The guy from ‘Istana’ recognised us from the piles in Brisbane as he had been there at the same time. We hadn’t seen him as he was on the piles further up river where we never needed to go but he had passed us every day when he headed for the wharf.
After lunch and a cuppa Geoff got the bikes ready and we cycled down to the laundrette sign we could see from the river to have a look at whether it was still in operation. Yep … and it looks like a nice one and not so expensive as Grafton. A little further on was a small chandlery where Geoff picked up some stainless steel screws. Back the way we came to check out the camping and outdoors shop which was very comprehensive and sold a large variety of kayaks. The Clarence is an ideal place to go kayaking and a lot of people use them for fishing.
Once we got back to the boat we decided to defrost the freezer which really needed doing. Whilst I was putting all the frozen stuff back in a guy appeared at the boat wearing an apron. He was from the local soup kitchen and invited us up for soup and rolls for a gold coin donation. We wandered up to partake of cauliflower soup. The soup kitchen had only been operating, out of the CWA hall, for three months and we chatted to the people also enjoying the hospitality. Well, it was something different. Plus we were given some nice bread rolls to take with us. When we got back to the boat we only had nibbles to top up the system.
Tuesday, 9th October 2012 - McLean
Brrrrr! A cold wind is blowing in the saloon door. Of course, now we’re tied up to the jetty the wind has turned so we now have it coming in the back.
I got all the bed linen and towels together and Geoff loaded up the panniers onto my bike and I was off ‘a women’s work is never done’. Geoff was going to wash the boat down whilst I was away. I managed to fit all the laundry into one machine and it was soon done and packed back in the panniers. On the way back I went into the Vinnie’s Op Shop looking, really, for a belt to hold up my pants so I can get a bit more life out of them. No belts but a nice pair of white (white? For Maz???) ¾ length pants for $5, so that will help my wardrobe out a bit.
When I got back Geoff was still washing the boat down. He said he had been doing it for a while but kept having local visitors that wanted to chat. One guy was from the local sailing club and said the council was putting in some new toilets and the club was trying to influence them to put showers in for the cruisers as well. Geoff was also annoyed that his power washer had stopped so that will have to go back when we get to Bundy.
We popped up the street to post a letter to Wyn and also popped into the RSL on the way back for a Lemon,Lime and Bitters and sat overlooking the river enjoying the ambience.
We now have new neighbours as ‘Istana’ has left and the three little motor boats that were berthed at Ulmarra have now joined us and have rafted up. They were three very nice couples from Sydney and belonged to the Whittney Motor Boat Club, We joined them for sundowners on the dock until it got a bit chilly and we went inside to cook tea.
Wednesday, 10th October 2012 - McLean
Once again a nice day so far but we are waiting for it to break up, according to the forecast. The Whittney group returned the magazine articles Geoff had lent them and one of the ladies said they are going back to Sydney to tell their friends that they met some famous people! Ha ha … as if. They are off today but we will probably leave tomorrow. So I rang to see if there were any other boats going through the Harwood Bridge tomorrow and there was a yacht going through at 11 am so we said we would tag on then to save them opening it twice. The Whittney group left at 10.30 and Geoff blew the horn and waved them off. A great bunch and their club seem to do a lot of outings together with, sometimes over 15 boats at one time.
After they left we went up into town to partake of a coffee and made sure the café we chose had complimentary newspapers so we could catch up on the news. On the way back Geoff bought a chunky meat pie from the Pot Belly Pie Shop. $6 but he said it was one of the best pies he had ever eaten with big chunks of really tender meat in it. We had lunch on the back deck and were soon joined by a yacht called ‘Fly South’. They hadn’t made it up to Grafton as they were worried about going under the power lines as they have an 18 metre mast.
After lunch we had a game of Carcassonne. We were half way through it when the guy from the McLean Sailing Club turned up with their guest book for us to sign so we duly added our comments (all complimentary with no BS). He stayed for a while and then we finished off our game. I won’t say who won but I will say Geoff is now sulking!
Thursday, 11th October 2012 - Yamba
Rain, wind and thunderstorms overnight and I got up a few times to ensure things were under cover and the hatches were tightly shut. We left the jetty at 9am but I had miscalculated how far/near the Harwood Bridge was so we got there well before 11 am. Silly me. We could have stayed in bed longer and caught up on some missed sleep. We saw a yacht on the other side waiting to come through the bridge and he wasn’t anchored, just hovering. While we waited we sent off an email to the Clarence Tourism body complimenting them on the facilities along the river and giving them a few statistics of our stay.
We up- anchored just after 11 am in anticipation of the bridge opening and also just hovered., We should have stayed anchored as they didn’t open the bridge until 11.40 am and we just went round in slow circles in the pouring rain. We can’t really complain about the weather as it has been fine and sunny for most of our trip down from Bundy.
Once through the bridge we headed for the little harbour at Iluka and got there at 1.30 pm to sit out some predicted gale force winds. At 3.15 pm we up-anchored again to head to Yamba as we had a boat near us playing really loud music. We then remembered that he did this when we were last here and it continued throughout the night and early morning and kept us awake. So inconsiderate, especially when everyone has settled down for the night. He must live onboard here.
We wound our way up the inner channel to Yamba and found it choc a bloc with moored boats so we turned around and found a spot closer to the marina. It is not such a pretty spot as Iluka but close for exploring once the weather improves. Played Carcassonne and he won so he’s happy!
By late afternoon the rain had stopped, the wind still hadn’t arrived, the sun had shone through to give us a beautiful sunset.
Friday, 12th October 2012 - Yamba
A quiet and calm night. Also a nice sunny day and less windy so, after brekky, we loaded up the dinghy with the bikes etc and went further up the spit. We were looking for a public jetty but the Iluka/Yamba ferry used the one we thought was a public one so we were unsure whether to leave the dinghy there (we read the sign later and it is a public jetty). Just a little further on past the jetty was a sandy beach so we unloaded there, pulled the dinghy up and locked it to a mangrove. Our first destination was out to the end of the breakwater along a rough track. There was sand right over the track in one place which made you realise how rough the waves can get here as the beach was way below us and this was the only place it could have originated from. That would certainly be a sight to see. Towards the end of the breakwater the track got very rocky so I got off and pushed. We took the obligatory photo’s, of course!
It was then back the way we had come to explore this area of Yamba but, somehow, we missed the turn off to the CBD and continued on to the Yamba Fair shopping centre. It wasn’t very big but there was a café so we both had a coffee and Geoff found the complimentary newspaper. He doesn’t like going to a café if he can’t get to read the news for free (tight arse)!. I eventually left him reading and headed off to Coles to take my time as I like to read most of the labels of things I buy which drives Geoff crazy as he gets bored. I had given him instructions to go to Home Hardware to buy a spare kitchen sink plug. He met me in Coles and I spent too much money, which is usual. We loaded up Geoff’s backpack, my insulated one (great for perishables … thanks Geoff) and the two bike panniers and we were off. We took the foreshore route back and had a quick look at the Seawind cat that was in the yard that had hit the whale the day we arrived at Iluka. After three weeks they have done a lot.
We had a headwind all of the way back so it was hard going, especially loaded up like we were. When we got to the dinghy we started chatting to two local couples who were picnicking close by. As usual they were very friendly and it took a while before we headed back to 2AB to unload. We checked the GPS and it said we had covered 10.8 kms on the bikes. This means that I have covered 101.2 kms since leaving Bundy. Not bad for an overweight ‘old girl’
Time for a cuppa and to spend the rest of the day relaxing.
Sunday, 14th October 2012 - Yamba
A nice day when we got up. We weighed in and I had lost .4 kg and Geoff had lost .2 kg. Not so much for me this time but not to worry, it’s still going down. I did wish that it could have been .5 kg as then I could say I have lost 10 kg … next week!
Bacon and eggs, of course and then we headed ashore and this time we did tie up to the public jetty. It was only a very short walk into town where most, not all, of the shops were open. We mostly browsed as we didn’t want to spend any money but did buy a large jar of Damp Rid and pick up some research material from the Visitor Information Centre.
We got back to the boat just after midday and by now it was a bit overcast and a little windier and the forecast was for a possible thunderstorm. After a cuppa and some lunch Geoff got in the dinghy to take the protective cover off so we can take it in the Scooters Sails tomorrow for him to fix it for us. I then heard Geoff huffing and puffing as he tried to get the seat back in and I also heard a few choice words headed the seats way. He eventually got it in and collapsed on the saloon seat. He then got bored so we played a game of Citadels and he made sure I wrote down in this journal that HE WON
We then decided we would go over to the sand spit opposite to fish for Flathead but by the time we got ready the sky was looking dark and threatening and the wind had picked up even more so the lines went in off the back of the boat. We did get some rain but it was sharp, sharp and sweet and now the sun is out again! But for how long? No fish!
Later I rang Maryanne and had a long natter
Monday, 15th October 2012 - Yamba
Another nice day so far. We rang Scooter Sails to ensure he had the thick Velcro, which he did, so Geoff took the dinghy cover in to be repaired. When he came he took the outboard off and unloaded all of the loose stuff out of the dinghy and then we manhandled up onto the front deck. Geoff then elevated it off the deck tying it to the headsail and propping the back wheels over the solid safety rails. He then, with me being his assistant, stuck the Velcro back on as most of it had come adrift. He also stuck sikaflex on any bits, like plastic handles or vinyl flaps, that looked like they were coming unstuck. Once all the glug was on he cleaned it up, put some tension straps on it to keep the glued areas supported and then relaxed with a well earned cuppa. But, he was soon out again gluing the inside Velcro into place and other bits and pieces. I did a crossword and then we played Carcassonne and I won this time so I am one ahead.
Once again, I tried my hand at catching a fish but I don’t know why I bother! Bit of a boring afternoon as we can’t leave the boat without a dinghy. Before bed we lowered back onto the front deck … just in case.
Tuesday, 16th October 2012 - Yamba
After brekky we manhandled the dinghy back into the water and it was on with the outboard. Everything seems to have stuck down well. Geoff was soon heading ashore to pick up the repaired cover. He was soon back saying that Scooter doesn’t take Credit or Eftpos cards. Strange in this day and age! I quickly transferred some money over and Geoff had to head to the public jetty to go to the ‘hole in the wall’ to get the cash out. Bumma! He seemed to be absolutely ages. He got talking, of course, to two guys from the Mornington Peninsular in Victoria who were racing sailors but wanted to pick his brain and find out all about cruising. He then went to pick up the cover and it was a good 30 minute struggle to get it back on. It isn’t just a case of sticking the Velcro down but getting the seat off, putting the cover on and then struggling to get the seat back on again. Not that easy but eventually done and she fits now as Scooter had added some extra bits to make up for the shrinkage and had resewn all the seams. $85 but well worth it.
After lunch we headed back to the public jetty and wandered 600 metres straight up the road to the little Yamba Museum. It was $3 entry each and was small but interesting. The volunteer lady at the museum looked very familiar to me and it turned our she was a yachtie who stopped cruising in 2007 and had spent some months in the Gladstone Marina, which is where I probably recognise her from. We spent more time talking to her than actually looking at the museum exhibits, methinks.
From here we popped into the golf club but continued on to the bowling club where we stopped for a drink and to read the local paper. I saw that ice cream was on special at the local small supermarket so we detoured to grab some. Then it was straight back to the boat before it melted. We were back by 4.30 pm and the wind was really blowing so I got on the laptop to finish of this ‘part one’ October journal.
Wednesday,
17th October 2012 -
Yamba … Day 2,482 of living on the boat
Another
nice, warm to hot day with northerly winds.
After a morning of mucking around on the computers, reading, playing
games I made lunch and then we headed ashore.
We walked up to the Clarence Head Lighthouse park. We both found the steps up to the lighthouse
a bit of a struggle as we had various parts of our bodies complaining from all
of the walking and bike riding we have been doing. When we got there we had a look at the
lighthouse which was built in 1955, the Boatmen’s cottages built in 1904 and
the Pilot Station which was first built in 1862 (there was a modern-ish
residence in its place now). There were
great views from the top and you could see the four beaches of Yamba down
below. These were named Convent, Main,
Turners and Whiting Beach. Geoff said
that Yamba had its fair share of good beaches as there were even more we
couldn’t see. At the top, near the
cliffs, was a small private memorial in place which was a small bunch of
artificial flowers, butterflies and the letter E. We could only assume that someone, probably a
young girl, had died from these cliffs … sad!
(when I got back I went on the web but could not find anything relating
to it).
It was quite a
hot day so we decided we had walked enough so we wandered back to the dinghy,
which was on the public jetty, where we
got chatting, again to a couple from Bacchus Marsh. Wow
- that brings back memories and
we know it well. Back to the boat for a
cuppa and a snoozette for Geoff.
Later in the
afternoon it got really windy so we turned the wind generator off when we went
to bed to get some, relative, peace and quiet.
Thursday,
18th October 2012 - Yamba
A windy and
overcast day and Geoff made the decision not to leave this morning as he said
it just didn’t feel right. But then the
SW winds stayed with us and I think he regretted his decision. By then it was too late to make it to Evens
Head in time to cross the bar at the correct time. The next opportunity is Monday or Tuesday if
it is not too strong.
As it was not too nice a day to go
out we used the time to nut out a draft of our article “The Clarence Conundrum’
and spent quite a few hours on it. Alas,
my laptop has spat the dummy and won’t switch on. Geoff had a look at it and says he thinks it
is cactus. I will have to look at a new
one when we get back. I’d be happy with
a used one off eBay but I think the wise thing would be to buy a new one for
Geoff that can handle bigger graphics files and I have his old one.
In the afternoon Geoff rang the
Yamba Shores Tavern to make sure they didn’t mind us tying up at their dock as
he wants to go out in the dinghy and take a photo of us tied up to it. Not a problem they said but we said “not
today as we need some sunshine”. So we
just bummed around and then played Scrabble.
Friday, 19th October
2012 - Yamba
Back to sunshine this morning. Just as I was getting brekkie ready we had a
visit from Maritime NSW and he stayed beside us for quite a while
chatting. We swapped
boating/sailing/general stories and he was a really nice guy, as were the guys
in Ballina. In fact we’ve never had any
hassles from any of the government authorities since we’ve been on the boat.
Just before midday we up-anchored
and headed to the Yamba Shores Tavern, about 1.8 nm away, where we tied up to
their very large and modern floating jetty.
I reckon you could get at least five of our sized boats on there. Geoff went off on the dinghy to take his
photos and I went up to organise some drinks.
He took heaps as he wanted to make
sure he got a good one. When he had
finished taking the photos we ordered some lunch. The meals were from $15—$30 and I had a
chicken Caesar salad and Geoff had Fish and chips. They were both very large meals and we could
easily have shared, especially as we were only eating lunch.
When we had stuffed it in we were
very full so it was going to be a very light tea for us. The wind was blowing us onto the dock when we
left so it was quite difficult to power away from it, especially as it was such
a large dock. Unfortunately we clipped
one of our fenders that was attached by a plastic fender clip and the clip
broke and the fender plunged into to water.
Bumma … so we anchored and Geoff went and retrieved it in the dinghy. We have had these plastic fender clips since
2005 so I expect the plastic is getting quite brittle now.
We anchored almost in the same spot
back at Yamba and just relaxed as we were still full. I only had a cold sausage for tea and Geoff
had some soup. By the time we went to
bed it was blowing hard northerlies.
Saturday,
20th October 2012 - Yamba
A
warm to hot day again with northerly winds. We may be able to leave tomorrow,
if we're lucky.
About 10am we headed ashore to have a look at the
Yamba Festival. There were buskers in the CBD and acts in Flinders Park. We
walked around for a while but never did find the park. It wasn't our sort of
thing anyway so we went back to the dinghy and went to the marina to visit the
chandlery and have a coffee at the cafe there. We also bought some flathead and
went into the office for some research material but didn't find the guy very
helpful.
A
nothing sort of afternoon with nothing further to add.
Sunday,
21st October 2012 - To Evans Head
Weighed
in this morning and I have lost .4 so I have now lost over 10 kgs.
The
weather forecast is ok but I think we will be motoring. Up at 5.45 to see what
the bar looked like. Not the optimum time to cross but it is more important to
get to Evans Head at the best time as their bar is less predictable. By 6.40 we
were over the Yamba Bar and on our way. Goodbye Yamba, goodbye the
Clarence ... you were well worth the
visit! Now all we have to do is finalise our article.
We
were both feeling a bit seasick early as we had become soft from all the inland
sailing. It soon passed. We had been going about an hour and a half when our
Auto helm stopped working. Geoff will have to have a look at it when we are
next anchored. He has some spares so he hopes he can fix it. So he had to hand
steer, what a pain, until we got to Evans Head at 10.15. The bar looked fine so
in we went but after we were in a wave broke right across the bar behind us. I
thought we were going to anchor but Geoff saw the little fisherman's co-op
harbour where Alan Lucas writes that you can often get a berth, so in he went.
Not like the pontoon marina berths we are used to but a short fixed finger
where you tie up the front of the boat and a pole to tie your stern. We tied up
to one and wandered over to the co-op where a guy said we were fine where we
were and to see Norma, in the office, tomorrow. Neighbouring boat owners said
it was very cheap but very basic and short on facilities. Water is ok but only the trawler berths have
power and there are no showers and only public toilets close by.
After
we got back from the co-op Geoff had a look at the auto helm. The fault
definitely lies with the motor and not the electronic control box, thank
goodness! Whilst he was doing this I cooked up bacon, eggs and tomato for lunch
which we ate on the back deck. He then took the old motor off the auto helm and
replaced it with our spare new one that we kept back when we had to buy a
complete new auto helm unit in 2006. At that time it was only the control unit
that had died and needed replacing. Once he had the auto helm up and running again
he took the old gearbox apart and put it together again to see how it all came
together and then took the spare used one apart to see if he could get it
working, which it did. So we also have a
spare working gearbox. Now he's feeling chuffed with himself as he has saved us
forking out for a new auto helm which would be well over $1000. Geoff spent the
rest of the afternoon checking ropes as the tide fell and tying our starboard
bow off on some rocks as our port bow could trap itself under the fixed dock as
the tide rose. We don't have a dock and pole on our starboard side as the other
berths do as we are on the end. The docks are old and wooden and Geoff saw a
couple of native cockroaches so he sprayed the ropes so we don't get an
infestation. Something we have avoided all these years.
As
the tide dropped we lost TV reception, some things never change, so it was time
for bed!
Monday,
22nd October 2012 - Evans Head
Where
is this strong south wind that was forecast yesterday?
Geoff
got up a couple of times during the night to check the ropes & the boats
position to the finger. He said he has the ropes just about right so thinks we
are ok to stay here. At least we can wash the boat down easily here. It is
surprising how dirty the outside of the boat gets. Just after 9 am Geoff got the bikes out then
helped me get off the boat as it was low-ish tide and I had to climb a ladder
up to the dock. Not a task I am good at! How I miss the pontoon type of dock.
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We
cycled around to the fish co-op to find Norma in the office and she said we
were fine where we were and the cost was $27. 50 a day or $55 for the week. Of
course, we paid for a week. It is cheap
because there are no facilities here. A few trawler berths have power pedestals
close by but not this one.
Time
to head into town which was just over the bridge and not far at all. What a
surprise it was. It was much bigger than we anticipated with plenty of shops,
nearly as big as the CBD area in Yamba with an IGA and a smaller Spar supermarket.
After having a look around we bought a few supplies and then stopped at the
large RSL for a coffee. Strange, it was only just 10am and you could only buy
alcohol as the bistro wasn't yet open. We could only get coffee from a machine,
which we did but it was out of milk. We found it a strange RSL and it was
lacking something. An ambience/soul perhaps?
Back
to the boat to put the frozen stuff away and then Geoff pulled his phone to
bits as it had stopped working. He has various spares for it from an old phone
we replaced. After quite a while he got
it working again, at least for a while and has a replacement waiting for him
back in Bundy that he bought off eBay. But it really died soon after so is now
using the Nokia spare.
We
spent the rest of the afternoon updating and editing our Clarence River article
and it is almost done.
By
this time it had got a lot windier and from the SE and Geoff was concerned that
we were relying on a rope on the back pole that wasn't ours which meant we
didn't know how strong it was. This rope was stopping us being pushed onto the
rock harbour wall. To put his mind to rest he also added our new, strong, heavy,
never used before rope so was then happier.
He also put a piece of pipe around the rope that was around the rock to
stop chaffing. You don't feel as secure in these sort of berths. Very, very
windy when we went to bed so we turned the wind generator off.
Tuesday,
23rd October 2012 - Evans Head
It
blew and blew overnight in really strong gusts and Geoff was really glad he had
put that other rope on. We still have really strong wind gusts coming through
with some sun but also some very heavy downpours. Looking at the weather
forecast we may be here for quite a while. Today is certainly not a day for
exploring. Geoff was still in his PJ's after 10am! But he eventually got dressed and was on his
laptop for most of the morning until we played Carcassonne which he won.
It
was still miserable after lunch so we watched a pommie film on DVD called
Daylight Robbery and we really enjoyed it as we love the British dark humour.
Geoff
did get off the boat to look at the bar as you can see it if you walk a little
way towards the bridge. It looks bad, he said with large waves breaking right
across the entrance, as you would expect. Hopefully the weather will improve
tomorrow so we can do a bit more exploring.
Wednesday,
24th October 2012 - Evans Head
Less
windy today. We went on the web and looked at the predicted wind and swell
forecast to try to plan our next leg. It all depends on when and whether we can
get over the bar.
Another
lazy start to the day but not for long. Geoff soon had the bikes out and we
were off to the Razorback Lookout where the Marine Rescue was located. The ‘push’
of the word pushbike soon lived up to its name when we had to get off and push
the bikes up a very long and steep hill. The views were magnificent from the
lookout and the bar could be clearly seen down below. As we thought, you
wouldn’t want to be attempting a bar crossing today!
After spending some time admiring the view and taking the usual photos we invited ourselves into the Marine Rescue where we met John McDonald, the volunteer radio operator on duty. I think he was glad of the interruption as there wasn't any radio traffic due to the sea conditions. It turned out that he was a retired NSW cop - they’re everywhere we go. He told us he was a hostage negotiator so how interesting is that? He had many interesting stories to tell and before we knew it his shift was up and his relief had arrived. We left too and spent a little more time looking at an old anchor that was on display at the Lookout. This anchor had been caught up in a trawler net which meant the net was too heavy to haul in. They then had to drag the net back from near Ballina to here before it could be retrieved. Interesting.
After spending some time admiring the view and taking the usual photos we invited ourselves into the Marine Rescue where we met John McDonald, the volunteer radio operator on duty. I think he was glad of the interruption as there wasn't any radio traffic due to the sea conditions. It turned out that he was a retired NSW cop - they’re everywhere we go. He told us he was a hostage negotiator so how interesting is that? He had many interesting stories to tell and before we knew it his shift was up and his relief had arrived. We left too and spent a little more time looking at an old anchor that was on display at the Lookout. This anchor had been caught up in a trawler net which meant the net was too heavy to haul in. They then had to drag the net back from near Ballina to here before it could be retrieved. Interesting.
Back
on the bikes and DOWN - whoosh, this only took a couple of minutes. Turn right
to the breakwater and walk along to the end. The waves looked so much angrier
from down here. We certainly wouldn't want to try it today. There was a bit of
a headwind going back so it made pedalling a little harder. We stopped at the
fish co-op on the way back and bought a Trag (Teraglin) which is only caught
between Double Island Point and Montague island so a fish we were not familiar
with. Back to the boat for lunch.
After
lunch it was back on the bikes into town to pick up some supplies, mainly meat
and chicken in case we can leave Friday or Saturday. More chatting with the
friendly natives. In fact we have found everyone really friendly since we've
been down this way. Another 7kms covered by bike today making it 110.8 kms
since leaving Bundy! Fish was delish!
Thursday,
25th October 2012 - Evans Head
A
nice day today with a 15 knot northerly wind. Another lazy start to the day but
what's there to rush for.
By
10 ish we had loaded the dirty washing into the wheelie trolley and were
walking into town, a 10 minute walk away. The washing was soon chugging away
merrily and we went in search of a cafe with newspapers. I left Geoff reading
the paper and put the washing in the dryer and then browsed the discount shop
where he eventually found me. Back to fold the washing and wander back. We
checked the bar once again as we crossed the bridge and there are still large
breakers right across it. Geoff will check again at high tide.
Back
on the boat to make lunch for me but not for Geoff as he had consumed a mega
sausage roll with his coffee!
A
nothing sort of afternoon except for the wind which definitely was, at least,
40% more than forecast. One of the few time I have seen the BOM disclaimer
actually turn out to be true! The wind
howled so out went our last rope to another rock on the wall.
Friday,
26th October 2012 - Evans Head
The
wind suddenly died during the night and, AT THE MOMENT, there's hardly a
breeze. A nice day again. Geoff spoke to Terry on the Fastback cat, Quosimodo,
who says he is leaving Sun morning to head for Yamba. His cat is for sale and he thinks he has a
better chance of selling it down there. He says the bar should be ok to cross
by then. We are still hoping we can leave Mon if the weather forecast stays in
our favour.
Around 11am we got on the bikes and were
off again to explore the northern bike track. It started at the RSL Club and
ended just past the Surf Club, passing the northern breakwater on the way. The
track did continue on but then became a rough and sandy bush track. We walked
down to the beach and watched some interschool beach volley games.
Geoff
had an ice cream at the Surf Cafe (more a kiosk) and I had a coffee. We headed
back and found a very interesting 360 degree sculpture commemorating nautical
history from Captain Cook through to current surf lifesavers and then continued
on and did a circuit of North Evans Head
before ending up back in the CBD and then back to the boat. A total of
5.7 kms.
When
we got back to the boat it was dead on low tide and I had trouble getting back
on the boat as the boat was so low in the water and the dock so high. Geoff had
trouble pulling the boat in close enough for me. I have very bad balance which
has led to a phobia of bare edges so my heart was pounding. Geoff says I'm a
wimp and I suppose I am but I can't change how I am.
Geoff
spent the afternoon getting the photos up to scratch for our article and
finalising the actual article. Once we were happy with it we submitted it to
Cruising Helmsman.
We
went outside and got chatting to Steve and Vicky who were doing up an old motor
boat a couple of berths up. We had a look at it (now high tide and easy to get
off) and they've still got some way to go. They had a look at 2AB and we chatted
for quite a while. So long, in fact, that we had a very late tea.
Saturday,
27th October 2012 - Evans Head
Bit
of an overcast day today. The forecast
is for 25 knot SE winds and 3 metre seas so we hope that doesn't make the bar
worse. If the bar is ok then Sun, Mon, Tues look good. We now have to decide
whether we make an overnight run to the Gold Coast or risk getting stuck in
Ballina or Tweed Heads. We will check the forecast again at 4pm.
Anyway,
we walked into town to the little local monthly market and bought some veggies
and macadamias for a good price. Neither of us had much energy and my hips and
legs were aching. I think it is from lifting my leg over the saddle of the
bike.
We
got back before low tide so I didn't have as much trouble getting back on the
boat! By this time it was really starting to blow again. STOP!
Decisions,
Decisions! We checked the forecast and it could be ok tomorrow but Monday could
be better so we are undecided what to do. Stay in our berth one more night or
leave now whilst the wind is light and anchor in the river? In the end we
decided to leave our berth today and it was a breeze. We were worried about all
the things that could go wrong when we started to undo ALL of the ropes that
were holding us in place. We kept one on the front which I held and played out
as needed and Geoff used the engines to back up to the back pole so he could
untie the shackle holding the rope around the pole. The wind then pushed us out
of the dock arid we pulled the ropes in. and we were out and anchored in a few
minutes. Now we can leave whenever it is suitable. We will get up just before
dawn tomorrow to check the forecast.
Relaxed.
Played scrabble and watched the dolphins that seem to be here every day.
Sunday,
28th October 2012 - Byron Bay
WHAT
A DAY!
We
were up at 5am to check the weather and it was SE 15 - 20 knots so we were off,
although the swells were a little higher than I like at 2 metres. We
up-anchored and looked at the bar. It had some small occasional beakers and
looked fine and we were- over by 6am and over one breaking wave I didn't like.
We logged on for Ballina with VMR Evans Head
who called back shortly to say he had spoken to VMR Ballina who said the
bar today should be treated with extreme caution. We said we would continue on
if need be. We had been going an hour or so when the conditions worsened with
the winds gusting at 25 knots and the swell now 2.5 metres and confirmed later
by VMR. It was very uncomfortable and, even though we had both taken a
Stugeron, we were soon feeling a bit off. Geoff was okay until he looked down
at something and then threw up. He did this twice. Very unusual these days. We were 2 nm out of
Ballina when we called the VMR and they said they would not recommend trying to
cross the bar now but did say we should look at it and make our own decision.
They know their bar better than us so we said we would continue on. They said
we could stop at Byron Bay if it got worse as it was sheltered from the south.
Three and a half hours later we arrived at Cape Byron in the worst seas we've
ever been in. Worse than our PNG trip (Geoff says not). We decided we would
stop as the conditions were now scary and it was another 5 hours to Tweed Heads
with no idea whether we could cross their bar. The Gold Coast was another 3
hours further than Tweed Heads with a strong wind warning now in place. We
really had no other option and knew we would be in for a swelly night as Byron
Bay is known as an Open Roadstead and not really recommended as an anchorage.
Geoff apologised for putting me through this as he knew I wanted to wait
another day. But, you’re damned if you
do and dammed if you don't!
Once
we were anchored Geoff went off for a snoozette and I just played Scrabble on
my phone or read whilst I rocked from side to side. Boring! Geoff got up later and checked the forecast
for tomorrow and, although the winds are lighter, the swell is 2.5 metres. A
much different forecast than this morning. We will see tomorrow.
An
easy dinner and in bed by 8.30pm.
Monday,
29th October 2012 - To the Gold Coast
The
wind would die and then gust with rain overnight. As predicted, it was quite
swelly especially when the wind gusted and pushed us so we had a side swell. I
slept till midnight when the swell woke me and then till 3am and then slept on
and off till I got up at 6.30. . The anchorage was fine for an emergency stop
like ours and much better than Cape Bowling Green near Townsville but I
wouldn't use it if I didn't have to! I
must have slept as Geoff got up at 4 am and put his laptop on to check the
forecast and I never heard him. Apparently it is still S -SE 15-20 this morning
and dropping to 10 - 15 this afternoon with seas to 1.5 metres and a swell of
1.5 metres. So the swell is at least 1 metre less than yesterday (which I swear
was more than 2.5 metres) which is more like it.
We
rang Tweed Heads who said their bar was ok this morning as long as you took
care. We decided to head to the Gold Coast as then we could really relax for a
while.
We
headed off at 7am with 20 knots of wind which was soon down to 10 - 15 knots
and right up our bum so Geoff had the sails gull winged. If the swell wasn't so
high it would have been good spinnaker sailing. The swell was still big but
nowhere near like yesterday. By mid-morning the engines were off and we were
sailing nicely along at 5 -5.5 knots. By
1.30 pm we were back in Qld waters after being in NSW waters for 41 days.
We
had a great sail once we had turned past Point Danger doing a max of 9.6 Knots
at one point. The Seaway was a breeze and we were soon safely anchored at
Marine Stadium (Bums Bay) at the Gold Coast and enjoying a calm anchorage
again. We had covered 47.4 nm over 9.5 hours and that's why it is called 'slow
travel'.
Geoff
checked the emails and we had received one from the editor of Cruising Helmsman
saying that our article the 'Clarence Conundrum' was very informative and they
are going to publish it and asking for high res photos etc. Wow ... And we only
submitted it last Friday! This new editor, Phil Ross, seems to be more on the
ball than the previous one. Plus it’s a big article of 3500 words. We have
another one in at Readers Digest but we haven't heard from them yet.
Easy
tea and early to bed.
Tuesday,
30th October 2012 - Bums Bay, Gold Coast
We
were awake early as we had gone to bed so early plus we no longer have daylight
saving. It was nice whilst it lasted, all 22 days of it!
An
overcast and drizzly day to start but the drizzle soon cleared. Managed to get
the scales to set and it’s another .8 kg gone making it 11.1 kgs in total. Not
that I think it notices.
Geoff
spent the morning enhancing the photos for our article, surfing and reading an
Emagazine. I was a bit more industrious and cleaned the shower/head area and it
certainly needed doing! I also did the galley and the shelf area that separates
the galley and saloon as it was getting very cluttered.
By
this time I felt in need of a rest. Geoff was still on his laptop updating his
Facebook page. How I wish my laptop was working as I don't seem to get on his
very often. When we've got the power then he's on it.
By
mid-morning it was a nice sunny day so after lunch we took the dinghy up to the
end of the bay and walked to the cafe to buy milk. We had run out of fresh and
were on UHT and all I could hear were complaints from the other half. It was
only a 5 min walk from the dinghy so you couldn't call it much exercise but at
least we got off the boat for a while.
We
didn't do much for the rest of the day. Geoff was on his laptop again as we
wanted to send off the photos etc. after hours to Cruising Helmsman. They were
all submitted by 9 pm and then it was time for bed.
Wednesday,
31st October 2012- Bums Bay
Up
at 7.30 to a glorious day. It looks like I may be getting a new (to me) laptop
if everything works out today. Geoff found a good Toshiba laptop here at the
Gold Coast that is only one yew old for $400. It had only been listed on Gum
Tree for 3 days and had a contact phone number so Geoff rang. Apparently the
guy upgrades his laptop every year- how nice! We told him our situation and he
was happy to meet us somewhere or come to us, probably this afternoon. So we
will take the bikes ashore to find a 'hole in the wall' to get some money out.
Geoff went on the web and eventually identified it and it looks like it is a
Toshiba Satellite Pro L630 PSK 05A which is now discontinued but retailed at
over $1200 a year ago so looks like a good deal and will do me. It may even
handle the graphic programs that Geoff uses. He is now trying to find a review
on it. No go!
A
lot of boats have left the anchorage now as they must only have been sheltering
during the bad weather. There was now room closer to the public jetty so Geoff
decided we would move up, which we did. By the time we had re-anchored the
glorious day had disappeared and had been replaced by an overcast one with the
threat of rain.
We
checked the bus time tables and they run from SeaWorld every 30 minutes and we
were just about to head over to the public jetty when it started to rain so we
held off until it passed. It was only a passing shower and we were soon on our
way stopping to say hi to the guys on 'Kaitoro' who we had met on the piles at
Brisbane. Geoff said it was a 5 minute walk to SeaWorld and it was, to the
SeaWorld Resort that is. The bus stop was at the entrance to the SeaWorld theme
park, another 10 minute plus walk away. I had allowed 10 minutes for the walk
which meant we watched the bus take off without us- bugga! All was not lost as
the lady at SeaWorld allowed Geoff to pop in and use the ATM whilst I stayed
outside. Nice of her. So no trip into town today just another 18 minute walk
back to the dinghy. At least we can call it exercise today.
On
the way back to the boat we stopped off to chat to John on a ketch called
'Bionicle Boy' as we were intrigued as to the origin of the name. So - this is the story- Bionicles are mythical
robot beings and were invented by Lego. Johns 10 year old son loves Bioncles
and his nickname is 'Bionicle Boy' so John named the boat after him. So there
you go. John popped over later to get some electronic navigational info on Vic
and Tassie, courtesy of Wade. A nice
bloke.
We
had some lunch and then Geoff started making a loaf of bread. Whilst it was
proving a cat came in and it was Tony on 'Incantation', a day early.
He
turned up about 45 minutes later so it was cuppas all round. He was still here
when the guy rang about the laptop and Geoff went to shire to pick him up. A
nice young man, Matt, and 15 minutes later they were both in the saloon poring
over the laptop. I ended up cooking the bread, of course. Dion from 'Unicorn'
then rang and I had a very long natter and found out he never got my message I
sent from Mooloolaba. All this time poor Tony was being neglected ... sorry
Tony.
Soon
I was the owner of a nice little laptop with a load of capabilities. But, $400
poorer. Geoff then took Matt back to shore and we spent more time with
Tony. The time got away from us so it
was a late tea. Geoff spent all evening starting to set up the new laptop and
said it will take a couple of days to get it to as it was. I know it has Office 2010 on it and I was using
2007 so I will have to get my head round it all. I expect Geoff will be
dreaming computers tonight.
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