Dropping the mooring @ 4:45am we motored sailed for a couple of hours. The wind picked up to 15kn W, turned off the motor & enjoyed the peace, we had over 4hrs of sailing. As we neared Newcastle I was on watch, there were a few ships anchored and a couple heading in. I also spotted some water spouts ahead. I was a little concerned with one of the ships so I got Dean up from his rest and thought it would be a good time to slow down & enjoy the whales. They were within 50m of us what a sight.

We berthed at 1:30pm at NCYC.

56 nm, 9 hrs 10 mins, avg speed 6.14 kn, 15 kn W, total motor sailing 4 ½ hrs.

Sunrise on our way to Newcastle



After a peaceful night sleep we dropped the mooring to explore the many bays in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. We caught up with Beaujolais I for coffee at Cottage Point a small suburb of Sydney. It has a restaurant which can be accessed by Sea Plane from Sydney, it was a little out of our budget with mains averaging $45.00.

We motored down to Refuge Bay where we explored a waterfall, bush bashing our way up the top and also behind it. We then motored and stayed the night in Castle Lagoon, Yeomans Bay a perfect spot to hide from the wind.

 

Top of Refuge Bay waterfall

Interesting erosion

The next day we ventured into the Hawkesbury River to go ashore at Brooklyn. It looked slightly industrial but turned out to have hidden cafes and the local Anglers hotel. A great place for a beer.

We picked up a mooring in Coasters Retreat, Pittwater for the night and said goodbye to Beaujolais I & Della Rue who continued their journey to Newcastle the following day. We were so close to Palm Beach aka “Summer Bay”, I couldn’t resist but insist we visit. Before venturing to the “surf club” we climbed the stairs to the light house which gave a great view of Pittwater and Broken Bay.

It was time for some civilisation again so we headed to RPAYC for a couple of nights @$65 p/n. We also had to organise Time Flies to be slipped as the shaft seal was leaking, it’s supposed to be a dripless seal! Dean was able to purchase a replacement locally and slipping was easy. I can highly recommend RPAYC if you need anything done. We slipped Time Flies and had her back in the water within the hour.

We were fortunate to meet Kevin and his friends Georgia & Luca, he was happy to take us into Whitworths & Coles for some provisioning. Kevin had recently purchased “Silver Heels” and was planning on sailing her back to Perth then eventually to the UK. We ventured back to Coasters Retreat ready for a speedy exit to Newcastle.

Laundry – RPAYC has a little laundry $3 each for tokens 1 for wash & 1 for dryer. I give 5/5,  45min drying cycle for $3 can’t beat that.

Goodbye Sydney

We were both ready to leave Sydney for our next adventure. As there was very little wind we put our main up while still on the mooring. A ferry was just docking when we dropped the mooring. We exited the heads as the wind picked up to 11 knots from NW and the sun began to rise. Time Flies had great fun sailing with no motor and consistent wind of 10-15 kn. We only had one gust of 20 kn, a few fishing boats to negotiate otherwise a very relaxing sail to Cowen Creek.

Leaving Manly

 

We decided to head straight to Smiths Creek which had 3 little bays with courtesy moorings. My plan was to try and find a bay to ourselves. 1^st bay was too close to the entrance, 2^nd had a boat in it, 3^rd empty, yay! We had a choice of 4 moorings.

There is nowhere to land “Time Spies” our dingy so decided to enjoy the sun for a while before working on the blog and photos.

18.98 nm, 3 hrs 37 mins, avg speed 5.2 kn, 10-15 kn NW, total motor sailing 1hr.

As the wind strength keeps changing from day to day, we decided to wait one more day before heading up to Hawkesbury River. We decided on going to Manly as it was only a short trip to the heads. We waited for the 10:15am bridge opening with another 3 boats heading out & 2 heading in. It was a longer wait for the cars this time.

We picked up the last available mooring (5 in total) next to the ferry terminal. It wasn’t affected too much by the ferries as they were docking so their wake wasn’t much compared to out in the harbour.

We lowered the dingy and rowed to shore with a big load of washing. While we were waiting we went for a walk down the main street and to the beach. There was plenty of seaweed which had been washed ashore, so the beach didn’t look very nice. We came across a little Willy Wag Tail, which had a fascination to follow you, it was very cute. Dean also spotted a cat just like Krysta in a window.

 

A little bit of provisioning at Coles before heading back to the boat for dinner. Yay moving north tomorrow.

We started to get a little marina fever and wanted to move on. But as the weather wasn’t consistent we weren’t ready to leave for Pittwater/Hawkesbury River, so we decided to head to the northern part of Port Jackson to a place called Bantry Bay on the border of Garigal National Park.

To get to Bantry Bay we had to wait for The Spit Bridge to open. This is done only a few times a day as it is a main highway from the northern suburbs into the city. It never opens during peak hour. We got to the bridge a little early so we picked up a courtesy mooring to wait for the 1:15pm open. We were the only boat to go through, it took 5 mins including the bridge to open.

There are many houses built into the cliffs with some having their own boat shed & jetty. If you love climbing up and down stairs & cliffs and enjoy water views and boating then this is definitely a place to live, but I’m sure it’ll come with a hefty price tag.

Middle Harbour houses & their boat sheds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bantry Bay is beautiful, this place really got me excited to get to Hawkesbury River/Pittwater region. There are 8 courtesy moorings and all but one were taken by sunset. We enjoyed a roast beef dinner and a very calm bay even with some strong winds overnight. Dean tried his hand at fishing but no luck.

 

 



Over the next couple of days we explored a little bit of Sydney. We caught the train into Town Hall which was only two stops. Browsed some shops and walked down to Circular Quay. We decided to have a night out in Kings Cross a few beers, dinner and a theatre production all this in walking distance to CYCA.

On Saturday afternoon we decided to take Time Flies over to the moorings near the Taronga Zoo in Athol Bay. It’s quite rolley from ferry traffic but nothing beats the view you get of the Opera House & bridge. Sydney had the Vivid Light show on and Saturday night was the last night, the bridge looked amazing. Once the ferries had stopped the bay was quite calm, and being Sunday the next day they didn’t start until 8:30am.

We made our way back to CYCA as another East Coast Low was forming, mainly bringing lots of rain and 20-30kn winds. We caught the bus into Town Hall as the trains weren’t running, and caught another bus to Birkenhead Point where there was an outlet centre. I needed to get a decent rain jacket and Dean needed a warm jacket. Also we needed to get some parts from Whitworth Marine which was just a short walk down the road.

The reason for our visit to Whitworths was that we still seem to get some water in our fuel tank and our water cap jumped off the side of the boat into the marina, so Dean says. So we decided to replace the inlets for the fuel & water tanks. My new rain jacket worked a treat, not so much my Converse shoes. Note to self, wear your Gortex runners when raining.

On Monday we went for a walk over the many hills to Double Bay continuing onto Rose Bay, then back to CYCA to install the two new inlet caps. We now have attached caps so there’s no jumping off the boat again.

Sailing Time Flies Episode 01 - Port Phillip Bay

Yay today was the day we headed into Port Jackson, the home of Sydney and what a glorious day it was going to be 21 degrees & no cloud. We dropped our mooring at 6:30am, we love to leave early to enjoy the sunrise.

 

It’s only 20 nautical miles from Port Hacking to the entrance. We had a great sail with 10-15 kn NW without motor, the wind died a couple of hours into the trip, which was a little disappointing as we would have liked to have sailed into Port Jackson. When we arrived at the heads the wind was kind enough to pick up, so off went the motor. We enjoyed a great run to the corner before turning to finally set our eyes on the Harbour Bridge & Opera House. For some reason I always thought you would enter the heads and BAM the icons were there, but it was another 20 mins or more before we would have them in our sights. 

Finally we turned the corner and there they were. Before heading to our destination at CYCA (Cruising Yacht Club Australia) it was only fitting to sail pass the Opera House & under the bridge. We had a slow sail towards them, navigating the ferries and other boats. It wasn’t too busy as it was after peak hour. Unfortunately our plan to sail under the bridge came to a stop as the wind completely died, so motor went on and we motor sailed under the bridge. We couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces.

We continued on to CYCA, the home of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race. We were looking forward to a couple of days exploring Sydney and doing some small boat projects. But most of all I was looking forward to a long hot shower and boy was it bliss. The club facilities were great, we had a great hamburger before heading back to the boat for some rest. We were both feeling a bit fuzzy in the head, I think it was the last couple of days catching up.

Rolex Sydney to Hobart Trophy

 

19.26 nm, 4 hrs 11 mins, avg speed 4.6 kn, 10-15 kn NW, total motor sailing 2hrs 15min.

I set the alarm for an early start at 2am, however we were awake at 12:30am so we decided to get up and go. We motor sailed with 10-15 kn breeze which calmed to 5-10 kn. We had current against us so we only averaged 4.9 kn, as it wasn’t cold we didn’t mind going a little slower than we like.

We had a beautiful sunrise and were very excited to hopefully see our first whale. I went down for a rest while Dean kept watch. I woke to Dean yelling WHALE! I jumped out of bed we could see our first whales in the distance. From then I couldn’t stop looking. The best way to spot whales is looking out for their water spouts, which we saw quite a few. I was watching 3 water spouts ahead and thought that we wouldn’t get near them, however within 15 mins they were on our bow. They were just leasurily swimming along, they were going slower than us. They were kind enough to show us their tails and also breach. At the same time we had a large pod of dolphins swimming around us as well.

We made it to Wollongong by 9am, we were both feeling quite good so we made the decision to continue on to Port Hacking. We arrived at 3:30pm and picked up a courtesy mooring. We had a celebratory drink while watching a twilight race.

 

 

 

72.6 nm, 14 hrs 45 mins, avg speed 4.9 kn, 5-10 kn W, total motor sailing 14 hrs 45min.

We dropped the mooring at Vincentia and headed over to “Hole In The Wall” in Booderee National Park. A beautiful sunny day we were very happy to go exploring. We had stayed here in the camp ground when we did our driving holiday back prior to 2007 before digital cameras & facebook, we knew there were showers with hot water! We strolled up the beach to check the camp grounds out, asking an older gentleman how far away they were who was more than happy to help us. We found one camp ground which was all closed up, the other was a short walk away, we decided to head back and plan our showers for the morning.

 

Enjoying the warm sun and watching Beaujolais come across we were slowly making our way back, when in the distance we could see two men who must have been attending a party because they were both in their birthday suits! Oh dear I thought, where do I look? I’m quite shy when it comes to nudity, so I was finding it a little difficult not to get the giggles. As we drew closer they were kind enough to put on their bathers.

We were invited for afternoon tea on Jumping Jack Frog for freshly made scones. Bev did a great job and I got to have cuddles with Caramere their little cavalier. As the sunset it got quite cold, as we didn’t bring our warm tops we decided to row back for warmth. We said our goodbyes to them & Stephen and Jude as we decided to stay in Jervis Bay a little longer to explore.

 

We woke Monday morning to find JJ Frog had left & Beaujolais getting ready. We headed off with our back packs looking for that hot shower. We came to Green Patch camp ground and found the toilet block, oh dear no hot water. I said to Dean there must be another block somewhere as there were a number of campers being Queen’s Birthday long weekend. We found another block which sure enough had hot water. I tested the 1^st shower no hot water, then the next, still no hot water, grrr. I wasn’t leaving without washing my hair so I braved the cold water. I came out to see a very happy Dean who had enjoyed a lovely hot shower. I think the womens had run out of gas! Well at least someone got to enjoy their shower.

We decided to head over to Huskisson for the night. We rowed to shore and had a couple of drinks at the pub. We decided to enjoy dinner on board as it was a lovely night. We were warned of the possibility of an uncomfortable anchorage with lots of rolling, however we found it to be ok. Certainly not as bad as Cleeland Bight.

 

Tuesday morning again welcomed us with a beautiful sunrise, we headed to Vincentia to provision before heading out for a lazy sail across the bay. We had a nice 10-15 kn westerly with just the head sail, we sailed across to Callala Bay another beautiful part of the bay and then headed back to Hole in the Wall ready to leave for Wollongong early Wednesday morning.

After a well earned sleep we woke to another beautiful view. As much as it can be a little unnerving to come in under dark to a place you are unfamiliar with, waking up to see where you are just makes it worth it.

 

We had a lazy morning before heading into Vincentia to do some laundry and have a walk along the beach. We decided to spend another night here.

After a walk to the entrance, we decided that today was the day to leave Bermagui & head to Jervis Bay. We planned to head out at about 12pm. The bar had small waves which broke to the right but had calmed down over the few hours in the morning. 

With 15-20 kn NW calming down to 10-15 kn, we followed Jumping Jack Frog out, put up full main sail & No. 1 head sail, unfortunately the 10-15 kn didn’t come so we reefed down and furled the headsail in halfway. We settled in to a variable trip, from light winds of 10 knots to unexpected gusts of 30 knots. This became a very frustrating & tiring sail, however we sailed and that was our aim. We finally got to sail from one destination to the other with no motor.

We had a lot of water over the bow which decided to come into the boat grrrr. As much as you can do your best to leak test your boat in the marina, nothing can mimic the action & power of waves. However I think we will blame the hatch, but will have to do further investigations to be 100% sure.

We came into Jervis Bay under dark at 3:00am something we didn’t plan on as we planned on a sunrise entry. We averaged 6 knots, not the 5 knots we calculate our boat to average. Jervis Bay has a big entry so coming in under dark isn’t an issue. I did some wind direction checking and we decided to head to Vincentia across the bay. Found the courtesy mooring @ 3:45am, packed up the boat, had a well earned celebratory scotch ready for a good mornings sleep.

87.7 nm, 14 hrs 45 mins, avg speed 5.95 kn, 15-20 kn NW, total motor sailing 0 hrs.

Well it definitely looks like we are going to be bunkered down for a good few days, the East Coast Low (ECL) is about to hit the north coast. So knowing there was going to be lots of rain, I filled the water tank as I didn’t want to get wet when the rain arrived. We met a few of the guys from the fishing boats, as they were all preparing their boats for the ECL. The owner from Volition, Carmello was more than happy to offer his car for us to use. These guys couldn’t go out of their way to make us feel at home. I highly recommend stopping here being it by boat or car.

 

 

The fishermans co-op was built in 2009 and has cafes/restaurants, wine bar (which we visited only a couple of times), small laundry and a fish & chip shop which also sells fresh fish caught by the locals. We give the fish & chips 4.5 out of 5.

We met Nick, Todd & Tim who had come from Tassie on a motor boat, beautifully restored by Nick. Todd & Tim were helping with the delivery. Nick’s wife will join him cruising up the coast a little later.

The rain finally arrived Saturday and didn’t stop until Monday, we only left the boat once on Sunday which was to help Stephen keep a watchful eye on the rising tide. When we arrived we had to rig up a rope step for us to get up onto the pier as at low tide it was a good 1.5m climb up. On the king tide Sunday night we were stepping down off Beaujolais, it’s amazing how much water came down the river & from the ocean. All in all we were very safe and thankfully the tide was our only concern. We had 2 big fishing boats protecting us from the swell and wind.

Over the days we also met Gavin & Rose from “Lauren Maree” a Seawind Catamaran and Doug, Bev & Caramere their dog from “Jumping Jack Frog” who wet met briefly back in Lakes Entrance. There were many discussions over the days as to when we were all planning to leave.

 

After the rain finally stopped & the sun started to break through the clouds on Tuesday, we tried to go on the Coastal Walk which was a 16km return walk to Wallaga Lake but unfortunately the rain had flooded the track in many parts. We did do a couple of k’s which was nice just to stretch the legs, as we had a little cabin fever. We couldn’t believe the foam coming down the track & also over the land & into the wetlands. The ECL definitely caused a few issues in the area. We spoke to a lady who was releasing some birds that had been rescued a few days before as they were completely exhausted. She was continuing her watch looking for more & also any seals that may have needed help.

 

Bec our realestate agent rang giving us the sad news that our pet rabbit Bosley had crossed the rainbow bridge. Bosley was lucky enough to stay at home with our tenants. They fell in love with him. It was very sad hearing this news but I think the distance made it that little bit easier. I will miss him, but know we gave him a very happy 4 years. The night before finding out there was an amazing rainbow. I will always look back at my pictures & think of Bosley.

 

We had dinner with Stephen & Jude at the pizza shop the Lamb Souvlaki pizza was yum! More discussions on when to make our next move. We decided that Thursday was looking good, but weren’t sure what the conditions of the bar would be, so we would wait & see.

Lifting anchor at 6:00am we left Eden and headed north to Bermagui. We motor sailed with both main & head sail as the winds were light 5-10 kn Westerly with the swell coming from the south. It does get easier once you turn that corner.

We arrived at Bermagui at 1:00pm, we practiced our MOB drill before heading into the harbour, Dean had slippery fingers & lost a fender overboard. As there were a few of us, we rafted up to Beaujolais 1 which I was quite grateful for, as they being a bigger boat, it was a lot easier climbing up onto the jetty than if we had to climb from Time Flies. Although at low tide Stephen needed to rig up a climbing rope as there was no way we could get up.

We enjoyed a meal at the pub and a couple of drinks at the Wine Bar with Stephen & Jude.

It looks like Bermagui will be home for a while with an Easterly Low hitting QLD over the weekend & making its way down the coast bringing lots of rain & a very large swell.

45.6 nm, 8 hrs, avg speed 6.5 kn, 5-10 kn W, total motor sailing 8 hrs

Another glorious day we went ashore for a walk, climbing over sharp rocky terrain and enjoying the warm sun. We decided to lift anchor and head over to Eden to visit Beaujolais 1 and explore the town. We visited the Museum which had been highly recommended by several people. The story of “Old Tom” a Killer whale (Orca) working with the whalers to kill Humpbacks. Definitely worth the visit.

 

We motored back to East Boyd Bay to anchor before heading to Bermagui. We just loved this part of Eden.