East Coast Cruising

The last week and half has been brilliant sunshine and around 20-24 degrees, still cold at night, although tonight will be a low of 12 degrees which is getting warmer at night too. I am sure we have had it close to zero some nights. The sunny weather makes a change after our long period of rain a couple of weeks ago.
We stayed in 'Newport' (sounds familiar) at Pittwater which is where we purchased the boat from. She has spent her whole life there and a few people welcomed her back! The previous owners Bob and Sandy came on board for a drink and a look at their old boat. Bob and Sandy are a wonderful couple who have helped us a great deal with the boat and also running us around. They have become like surrogate grandparents even bringing the kids a goodie bag on our departure, containing pop tops, chocolate teddies, bananas and colouring books and pencils. Pittwater is a really beautiful spot. Its a harbour about 5 miles long and 2 miles wide. It is surrounded by mountains and beaches. There are a lot of bays packed with sailing boats, jetties and boat houses. Its a very popular spot. We had engine trouble going in Sydney and supposedly had it fixed so we motored to Pittwater to test the engine - it failed!! Bob who knows the boat backwards heard the sound and immediately knew it was water in the fuel. So the following day Vince and Bob spent the whole day draining the fuel and sorting out the problem. Twice Vince managed to get himself covered in diesel and stank. To get easy access to the boat they had the life lines down and poor Rayner, who has always been told to hang onto the life lines, grabbed them and fell in the water fully clothed and squealed like a pig! He was up to his neck still holding onto the life lines!! Poor Ray! It must have been a week for falling in the water because the next day Vince was taking a short cut to get out of the dinghy and lost his balance and also fell in the water fully clothed! - now that was much funnier!! Another phone gone to heaven thats two phones Vince has been through now in two months and he wants to borrow mine - no way!!
From Newport we went to Towlers Bay to anchor also in Pittwater we spent the day relaxing, messing around in the dinghy and fishing. The next day we moved about two miles to Refuge Bay, reported to be the best anchorage on the NSW coast - it was just as beautiful as the one at Wilson Promontory. It has a waterfall which, of course, was freezing but very refreshing, thats what Vince and the kids told me - I watched! We saw a familiar boat pull in to the anchorage just before dark and realised it was Peter a guy we had met at Eden and again in Bermaguie and in Ulladullah and in Jervis Bay. The chances of us both being in this anchorage at the same time was pretty amazing we haven't seen or heard from him for a couple of weeks. It was nice to catch up and we had dinner and drinks on our boat this time.
From here we decided to try and boot it up to Port Macquarie which is 160 miles north. We need to get up to the Whitsundays before we have to come back down for cyclone season so some of the places we are passing we can see on the way back down. We have sailed the last three days in great weather, stopping at Newcastle, Broughton Island and now here in Forster. Covered 120 miles and still got another 40 to go. However, we are tired and have decided to stay here for the day tomorrow to have a rest day.
We got in late at Newcastle and left early the next morning. It was interesting sailing to Newcastle because there were about 40 tankers over an area of about 20 miles off the coast, all anchored and waiting to go into Newcastle and be filled up with coal. We went through them and got really close to some. Seals were often seen on their rudders. Sailing to Broughton Island the next day was probably the best sailing day we have had so far. Mainly because we saw heaps of dolphins and whales. About ten dolphins swam at the bow of the boat and then we saw a rather large thing appear about 15 metres from the boat which seemed to be swimming with the dolphins. It took a second glance to realise it was a whale - it was so close I nearly died and the kids were screaming with delight! We saw about eight more sightings of whales that day although none as close but we have good binoculars and watching them thrashing around was amazing. Broughton Island was great. Its an Island in the middle of the ocean just north of Port Stevens. Its a national park so pretty isolated. In fact us and one fishing boat were the only boat/people there. Its classed as an 'open roadstead' which is usually a partially protected anchorage open to swell. However, we anchored on the northern side which is supposed to be protected from the winds and swell which were coming from the south. However, it was still a bit rocky! A gorgeous beach which we took the dinghy to and found all sorts of things washed up on shore including a coconut! We all went for a swim and the water was actually warm.
We are now in Forster and having a rest. The kids have been brilliant, although Laura did state this morning that she wasn't going to get up early again tomorrow to sail all day and I don't blame her, we all felt like that by the end of today. Sailing, I have decided, is like a work out without knowing it as you use all your muscles to balance and it becomes very tiring- at the same time it is very relaxing, the days sailing are passed playing cards, reading, listening to music, looking for dolphins and whales and staring at the stunning scenery that this part of the coast has. The kids often amuse themselves and are happy to play with each other all day. They are totally used to it now and walk around the boat like they are on land, even in rough weather. We haven't had any vomiting for weeks now!!