There’s a large protected bay just north of Newcastle which looked worth exploring, and the short (6hr) hop up there took a bite out of the longer passage to Coffs Harbour later.
A straightforward passage with easy sailing (including some spinnaker time) brought us in to Shoal Bay mid afternoon, where we anchored off the beach. Tilly mastered casting with her new fishing rod and seems to be hooked; she loves it! No fish here though.
After a peaceful night at anchor we went ashore in the morning and climbed Tomaree Head; one of the hills guarding the entrance to the bay. Amazing views from the top; into Port Stephens and out to sea. Even found a little coffee cart for Rose to get her morning fix! Had lunch on a remote beach, played in the sand, then headed back to the boat to move on to the next spot, deeper in the bay.
Bad weather was on the way so I wanted to find somewhere more sheltered, and Fame Cove looked perfect. A small protected bay a couple of hours upstream. No wind, so we motored, coming in at dusk. Picked up one of 5 moorings, one other boat there, with a couple of kids aboard.
Tilly tried her hand at fishing again, this time trolling gently behind the dinghy, and we picked up three fish. Now she’s really hooked! Not big enough to eat though, so we put them back. “But I want to keep one as a pet!”
The next morning we headed over the way to Soldiers Point marina to see if we could find our way into town; yet another trip to the hardware store, and to try and find some fishing gear for the offshore passage to New Caledonia and for in the islands. Larger lures, stronger line etc.
We tied up to the visitors dock and walked for ages; no buses or easy rides round here. Found what we needed, headed back to the boat, spent the afternoon sorting things out, then treated ourselves to takeaway pizza from the marina restaurant. Mmm.
It was dark when we left the dock, heading back to Fame Cove, but dead calm and I had our previous GPS track to follow in, so it was straightforward to get in safely and we found the same mooring ball easily enough.
The forecast gale came in overnight and through the next day, keeping us aboard. I tried out various rainwater collection methods; once we leave Australia and access to marinas, we will need to be self sufficient for as long as possible and collecting rain is an important way to extend our range. In a short break in the weather tilly and I headed over to say hi to the other boat in the bay; a young family living aboard and gradually heading north to the Whitsunday islands.
We explored a little up the creek in the dinghy; in the drizzle. Saw a few birds but not a lot else; and couldn’t go ashore as the rocks were all covered in sharp mussels which would damage the dinghy (and our feet!).
Checked the forecast again, and decided that if the wind had abated by the morning, we’d catch the (narrow) weather window and head up to Coffs Harbour. At this point the Fosters (our buddy boat from Ballina) had been toying with the idea of sailing for Noumea from the Gold Coast, which would have added another 130 miles to our journey north … but they chose the same weather window to go south instead to Coffs for a rendezvous with us.
Road and Ocean 