Sydney to Moreton Bay

Monday, 1 April to Saturday, 13 April 2019
We left our mooring in Middle Harbour in beautiful weather in time to go under the Spit Bridge at the first opening at 1015. We headed off with a forecast of 10-15 knots so set the main and genoa for the short trip to Broken Bay. A rain squall that saw gusts over 30 knots hit us as we rounded North Head so we quickly furled the genoa and ran downwind with the squall.

Unfortunately that kept us in the squall as it headed up the coast so it was a wet trip all the way to Coasters Retreat in Pittwater. On Tuesday, we headed into the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club Marina for 2 nights to catch up with Jenny and David on Kailani who had circumnavigated Tasmania with us in 2015. We celebrated my birthday with dinner at their home on Tuesday night. Warren sorted through some boat maintenance issues and we did the necessary washing and shopping while we waited for the northerlies to pass.
On Thursday afternoon we left the marina and picked up another mooring in Coasters Retreat in readiness for a early start the next morning. It is about 80nm to Port Stephens, so we were glad of the 10-15 knot SSE wind that pushed us along. More squalls meant we didn't fly the spinnaker but we still had the anchor down in Shoal Bay at 1800.

On Saturday morning we climbed Tomaree Head. This is a popular walk on good tracks that include lots of steps. The track rises 160m but the effort is rewarded with spectacular 360 degree views from the summit.

On the way down, we detoured to Fort Tomaree and the remains of the WWII gun emplacements. These are all that is left of the fort that was built in 1942 to prevent enemy forces entering Port Stephens and reaching the steelworks in Newcastle.

In the afternoon we sailed further into Port Stephens and anchored in Fame Cove. This is a popular all weather spot with 5 public moorings (all taken unfortunately).

On Sunday we got our exercise by kayaking up the creek as far as we could go. When we came back a few boats had left so we picked up a mooring.

Fame Cove

On Monday we motored 2nm to Soldiers Point to see if we could buy some fresh bread. We enjoyed the walk along the foreshore however no luck with the bread so returned to our mooring.

We spent our last day in Port Stephens with a long paddle across to North Arm Cove where we found a nice spot for morning tea where we could watch the yachts participating in the Sail Port Stephens regatta. With over 100 yachts it was quite a spectacle.

On Wednesday morning, with a good southerly forecast, we left Port Stephens bound for the Gold Coast Seaway, 330nm away. 53 hours later, we entered the Seaway. It was a good passage but not particularly fast with the wind directly behind and a 1-2 knot current against us much of the way.

Seal Rocks

Second evening at sea off the NSW north coast

With an incoming tide we decided to push on to Canaipa where we dropped anchor for a good sleep before the final leg home. On Saturday we sailed the last 13 nm home to be greeted as always by Mum on the rock wall of Raby Bay. We had traveled 2651nm in the 3 months we were away.

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