Yay, Sunshine Coast here we come! We expected 15-20 kn winds so we had prepared a reef in the main. We took some time to study the charts again thinking that we may need to head over to the Main Channel to exit Moreton Bay, however checking our numerous charts (Navionics & CMAP) we were able to plot a more direct course thru the north of the bay.

Dean and I like to be well prepared, we like to get up at least an hour and half before our departure, we re-check the weather & swell and make any changes needed. Sometimes this leads to us being early to our destination, we prefer this than be late & navigate challenging conditions.

Bridge to Bribie Island
 

The winds didn’t pick up as expected, we motor sailed navigating our way to the south end of Bribie Island as the sun was rising. We had depths ranging from 3-8m. We turned the corner to head north but the wind was slightly on the nose, this NE wasn’t predicted it was supposed to be WNW. Eventually it turned more westerly and we enjoyed a very comfortable sail to Mooloolaba. I would say this was our best sail of our whole trip averaging 6 kn no swell & very slight wind chop. It felt like a good day on the bay back home.

While we were making our way to Mooloolaba, we heard that dredging works were being done on the bar. Dean contacted the Coast Guard to discuss the dredging and was told to follow the leads in and if there were any issues to contact the dredger. As we were approaching all seemed ok until the dredger decided to move.

 

We did a couple of circles waiting for him to reset & then headed in. We had plenty of room under the keel. The anchorage was a little busy but we managed to find a spot 200m from the dingy beach.

35.82 nm, 5 hrs 30 mins, avg speed 6.52 kn, 10-15 kn SW, total motor sailing 2 hrs

WOW! I cannot believe how big Moreton Bay is, this place is huge and you have to be alert to navigate any sand banks. We were fortunate as we were heading over to Deception Bay, Scarborough to anchor before heading to Mooloolaba, the depth was a consistent 5-8m, we only had to navigate around a couple of Islands. We had a great sail over with 5-10kn W full sails.

 

 

27 nm, 5 hrs 30 mins, avg speed 5 kn, 5-10 kn W, total motor sailing 1 hrs 15 mins.

It was time to leave the Gold Coast and navigate our way thru the seaway to Peel Island. You need to pick the right tides as it can be quite shallow getting down to under 1m in parts. It’s also good to have the tide running with you to gain an extra knot or two. We chose to go via Jacobs Well, we left Southport 3 hours before high tide, when we reached the shallowest part we had a depth of 1.6m. We didn’t manage to touch but we must have been close as we draw 1.67m. We also had our very first overhead high voltage power lines. We crossed under it around the 20.3m part Time Flies is approx. 15.5m with including the hull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After navigating our way thru the seaway we still need to be careful navigating to Peel Island as there are many sand banks in Moreton Bay. We anchored at Horseshoe Bay, Peel Island a very peaceful anchorage with very slight movement from the passing ferries.

 

 

Della-Rue told me to keep an eye out for the dugongs & turtles. I did see a dugong in the distance, although Dean says it can’t be counted as a sighting as it can’t be confirmed by 2 or more people. We ended the day with a beautiful sunset & some very musical birds.

34 nm, 6 hrs 30 mins, avg speed 5.34 kn, total motoring 6 hrs 30 mins.

We decided to have a break from sailing & weather watching and book in for a week. We spent the week catching up with family & friends. It was really nice to invite them to see Time Flies and have a chat about our journey so far.

First up was Kate, Mike & Elaine, lots of laughs and a few drinks in the club. Feels like it was only weeks ago we caught up not over 10yrs.

Currumbin Waters

Thanks to John & Carol we had a car for the week, which allowed us to run around and get some jobs done. We also had a chance to enjoy the warm sunshine & have a swim. Dean was keener than me, but eventually I jumped in and was surprised at how warm the water was.

 

We enjoyed a beautiful dinner on Della-Rue steak & salads finished with Chocolate Bavarian cheese cake and a few wines.

Early morning walk with Della-Rue

The weekend saw us head up to Mount Nebo to visit Ray & Mel. We left John & Carol’s after a slight delay to find the keys. When I asked John where his spare key was he said “in the glove box”, not very helpful with the doors locked. We were taken along the “Goat Track” which is a one way track along the mountain edge. I was warned about it by Carol so I made sure Dean was on the edge side of the car. I have full trust in John’s driving but it’s a little scary when you hear that earlier that day a car had gone over the edge somewhere on the mountain. We had exited where the recovery of the vehicle was under way. John had to do a U-turn on a very narrow road in his Ford F250, another heart stopper for me!

We enjoyed a fun evening with Ray & Mel joining them for a fundraising event at the local hall. It’s great to see communities coming together for these events. A few sore heads the next day we headed back home to Time Flies. A little hiccup on the way. We had just left and the car decided it wasn’t going to continue up the hill. John safely navigated us backwards with loss of power steering & limited brakes. A tap on the fuel tank it was empty. There seems to be an issue with the fuel gauge. With fuel in the tank we were off. We stopped at Yatala Pies for lunch, the car park was full and it even had a drive thru. The queue inside was long but moved quickly and the pies were big. Worth a visit.

 

Dean’s pie review – 3.5/5 star - Service & temperature of pie 5/5, pastry 3/5 bottom overcooked, filling 3/5 a little under flavoured.

Our final visitors were Aunty Di & Kevin who were up from Melbourne for a holiday. We celebrated Kevin’s birthday at the Lifesaving Club with his son & grandchildren. Finishing off with yummy chocolate cake.

We lifted anchor, which seemed to take Dean forever. I suppose we’ve never put all our chain plus rope out before. The wind seemed to have died off which wasn’t in the forecast, 5-10kn W & 1m swell from SE. We had a comfortable motor sail with 2 reefs in the main & our No. 3 headsail. We could have shaken our reefs out but knew the wind would pick up. We rounded the reefs off Point Danger a first light, this gave us the perfect angle for a broad reach, motor was turned off, “Harry” was turned on and we sighted the Gold Coast in the distance.

NSW to QLD waters

 

It was a little rough coming into the seaway, there were no breaking waves but the swell was going to be on our side if we followed the leads. We had to aim Time Flies carefully, it was a little scary for me as I felt like we were heading straight for the breakwater. Dean was a star and once we were in the water calmed and I could breathe.

We headed around to “Bums Bay” near Sea World but it was very crowded and we didn’t want to anchor near the seaway so we decided to go into Southport Yacht Club a day earlier.

45.82 nm, 11 hrs, avg speed 5 kn, 5-10 kn W, 10-15kn W, total motor sailing 8.5 hrs.

We lifted anchor at first light, with 10-15kn W-SW winds and the swell 2-3m dying to 1-2m later in the morning.  We exited the Clarence River bar without a hitch. While leaving we had 4 fishing trawlers come in to the river with another 2 making their way back to port in the distance.

We sailed with full main until 2:30pm when the wind died. Arriving at Byron Bay at 4:00pm, with another 2 boats anchored. We anchored in 10m, Dean put out 33m of chain as well as rope. We seemed to hold quite well and settled in for an early night before heading to Gold Coast Seaway at 2am. Byron Bay is prone to swell, so it took me a while to trust our anchor & fall asleep.

56.45 nm, 11 hrs, avg speed 5.2 kn, 10-15 kn W-SW, total motor sailing 1.5 hrs.

Iluka is a small town on the north side of the entrance with a very calm & roomy anchorage. The local pub has a little jetty to tie your tender up to. Dean was most impressed with the pub, he loved the Australiana Style.

At the end of the bay there was a park with a BBQ so we decided to enjoy dinner on shore. We encountered many crabs on our way back to the tender.

We caught the local ferry over to Yamba ($16 p/p return) which was a lot busier than Iluka particularly as it was still school holiday time.

We didn't explore the Clarence River this time as the weather was looking good to continue on to the Gold Coast. We did hear that they will be renewing the bridge which could result in stopping yachts from exploring up to Grafton. I hope this isn't going to be the case.
 

 

 

 

With much discussion over the past few days, we decided with Della Rue & Fly South that we would leave. We were unsure as to whether we would stop at Coffs Harbour & anchor or continue on to Yamba/Iluka. This decision would be made while we were underway.

When we came out over Camden Haven bar, all was going well. We headed out to the south as there were waves breaking to the north. As we had already crossed the bar and were heading out slowly, we had a 6 foot wave right in front of us. Not once did we see waves break in this area, but guess what? This one decided it was, with a few expletives from me, Dean put more into the motor and we were on top of the wave just as it started to break. Time Flies came down with a big thud! This followed with another one but this one was kind to break after we were over it. My comment to Dean was “I don’t want to do that again, I didn’t like it”, Dean’s comment was “did you get that on video?” Um “nope I was too busy holding on”. This was our first undies changing moment.

Coffs Harbour unfortunately was hit hard by the ECL back in early June and is currently closed to visitors. The anchorage didn’t sound appealing as it is swell prone. We decided to anchor for a few hours in Trial Bay and have dinner & a rest before the 93nm sail to Yamba/Iluka. We estimated 18 hours so we lifted anchor at 9pm.
The sea state was horrible washing machine like conditions. We had perfect wind 15-20kn SSW with 2 swells and waves, however the sail from Laurieton to Trial Bay was made better by the fact we had whales breaching & dolphins doing acrobatics. The best was the whale that breached just off our bow & then slapped its tail 20m away from us.

Trial Bay to Yamba/Iluka gave the same conditions and as “Harry” our auto helm does a great job, he doesn’t like washing machine conditions, so Dean & I helmed most of the way both days. We had one big gust of 25kn which caused Time Flies to jibe, we decided to bring the main down & pull the head sail out. We still sailed averaging 6+ kn.

When we were less than an hour away from the bar, Dean called Marine Rescue to discuss the bar conditions. We decided that we would come in from the south. It’s a little scary when you see big waves breaking near the entrance. But it becomes clearer when you get in closer. We entered easily and were happy to anchor in Iluka Bay.

As the weather was going to keep us here for a while, we had plenty of time to explore & also do some boat jobs. First up was laundry particularly the bedding $6 wash & $5 for 20min dry. Dean replaced the engine alarm & fuel filters. I also managed to put our decal on "Time Spies" our tender. I would like to thank Kwik Kopy Braeside, Harm & Kathleen for their help.

 

We tackled the climb up North Brother Mountain with Della Rue and took a bus trip into Port Macquarie where we walked to Bunnings, Jaycar & Bursons. We definitely clocked up the k’s on foot.

View from the top looking over Laurieton & Camden Haven

 

With 6 boats waiting out the weather Dazzl’n’Dawn gathered a team for the Trivia night. Our team “Grotty Yachty” didn’t win but we had fun & a good laugh.

The wind blew quite hard for a couple of days, with bullets coming around North Brother Mountain & down the river. Anchored boats had some sleepless nights but all seemed to hold quite well.

I also enjoyed the large gathering of Pelicans who were very good at spotting the fishing boats coming in. I fed them the off cuts of the Tuna we caught, this brought back memories of going fishing with dad at Shallow Inlet.

We lifted anchor at 5:20am and set sail to Laurieton (Camden Haven) knowing the breeze was going to die down we wanted to get as much under our belt as we could. We sailed with 10-15 kn W and a very calm sea. I waited patiently for sunrise & then kept my eye on the horizon for water spouts. It seems whales like to sleep in as it has been late morning before we have spotted them each time. They weren’t going to disappoint us today, we had several encounters as close as 50m away. We had a pod of 6 that were happy slapping their fins.

The wind died as we were approaching Camden Haven so we put the motor on & motor sailed. I was a little bored so I decided to recast our lure that we had out. As I let it out, I had just flicked the lever over & BANG I had a fish. Once we landed it on the boat we identified to be a Tuna, a perfect size for dinner.

 

I do like these conditions!

Negotiating the bar & channel into Laurieton was a little daunting as you had to zig zag down the channel, as we were a little earlier than expected it was an ebb tide. We slowly made our way keeping a watchful eye on our depth. 2.5m was the shallowest we crossed, we draw 1.67m so plenty under the keel.

We were able to moor up to the United Services Club jetty, where one can stay for free for a maximum of 5 days. They are happy to provide a key to the toilet & shower for $50 which is refunded on return of the key.
 
We enjoyed Roast night at the club with Della Rue, we concluded that we may have been the youngest there.

Today wasn’t the perfect day with southerly swell & westerly seas but it certainly had the 15-20kn we like as we get to sail. With 1 reef in and full headsail it was like a washing machine, we decided to furl the heady in which made it more comfortable and we were still achieving above 6kn. We were planning on heading to Port Stephens but knowing there was another possible ECL coming we didn’t want to get stuck there, so we decided to continue on to Sugarloaf bay/Seal Rocks with Della Rue for the night.

 

This was a very nice bay but you can only anchor here when the swell & winds are coming from the south. We were welcomed by more whales and a small pod of dolphins, a great way to end the day.

53.47 nm, 8 hrs 45 mins, avg speed 6.11 kn, 15-20 kn SW, total motor sailing 0 hrs.

We fell in love with Newcastle, it has great boardwalk from the marina to the breakwater (3.5km) Dean took his longboard for a ride, while I went for a run. There were also plenty of little bars hidden away in side streets. We will definitely be back to explore for longer, especially the Rum Bar!



Lazy morning



The Lucky Hotel - A very trendy pub