Port Macqaurie and Coffs Harbour
30 June 2010
Emma
Paula, you make me laugh!! (Referring to your comment in 'Port Macquarie 25/06/2010'). I would have thought the same a few months back and believe me swimming to a bar having a few drinks would be better than what we did surfing the bar!!
We left Forster for Port Macquarie. Vince has already told you of our entry! We had a great time here. We took a mooring outside the yacht club and used their facilities. We had dinner out - a rare treat which always ends up in a drunken state! We also met up with a friend there, Louise, who I used to work with about 8 years ago. I lost contact with her a few years back so it was good to be able to get back in contact. We had a great time and I don't think we will be loosing contact again. She has a fantastic apartment overlooking Town Beach and 'the bar' so it was good to be able to wave goodbye from the water. We had a good 4 day rest here and then off we go again. We are going quite quickly at this stage as we have a bit of a deadline in getting to Mooloolaba where Vince's sister lives. His mum is also there waiting for us. His sister, Antoinette and husband Kim are going away for 3 weeks towards the end of July so we really want to get there well before then to spend some time with them. It would be a real shame if we missed them. So we have decided to pretty much make a dash for there and see the places we are missing on the way back. However, there is not that much on the northern coast where we can stop. Unfortunately, we cannot stop at Balllina or Byron Bay (cry cry). It will also be good to hit warmer weather.
We left Port Macquarie for Coffs Harbour. We stayed over night at an ocean anchorage called 'Trial Bay'. This was a good anchorage sheltering us from the south. It is a large bay with an old prison in ruins and an old breakwater wall also in ruins. Interesting story though how they built the prison so the prisoners could build a break wall in the late 1800s to make this a safe anchorage for large ships sailing from Sydney to Brisbane. The prisoners spent 10 years building a breakwater wall over and over again, which kept getting knocked down in strong storms. After 10 years and only 30 metres of wall left out of the original 130 the project was abandoned and the prison deserted. The place was never made into a safe haven for boats! However it serves well as an overnight stop if the weather is coming from the south.
Coffs harbour was magical. Its an international marina where people from overseas can clear customs and it is a bustling busy place full of interesting people. We met up with old friends Yoti and Roslyn on Veedon Fleece and we celebrated our birthdays together with a few bottle of red. Roslyns birthday is a couple of days after mine. We also saw a boat from Falmouth there which is a place in Cornwall close to where I lived and my mum still lives. They left 2 years ago! We wished we could stay here longer but the weather is perfect for a sail today so we set off for Iluka, however, we just looked at the weather and have decided to go straight through to the Gold Coast so we will be sailing over night and then tomorrow as well - might as well keep going!! Its been a good day today (my birthday!!). Vince has been treating me like a princess! I had breakfast in bed.