Wollongong

After much tossing and turning during the night while both of us lay in our bunk wondering what was about to unfold on the 8-9 hour trip to Wollongong, we left our secure anchorage in Jervis Bay at 0600hrs and headed off into the unknown..

We’d checked and double checked Buoy Weather and Coastal Waters forecasts. The winds were meant to be 8-10 kts which was a little less than we would have liked, the waves were meant to be 2.5- 3.0m which was a little more than we would have liked (but they were 12 seconds apart so, you can win some!!) I’d prepared a thermos and the bread rolls I’d baked the day before. Mike decided these would also double as ammunition if the guys at H.M.A.S.Creswell began firing at us as we passed. (cheek they weren’t that hard !!).

We nosed our way out between the headlands and followed the same course we’d taken 2 days previously. This time it was much less lumpy and the decision was made by us and Sentosa to ‘go for it’.

Gunnery practice was not on that day, so we ended up spending a pleasant day eating and drinking our way past Kiama, Port Kembla and into Wollongong Harbour, where we now sit.

It’s a picturesque little harbour: ‘little’ being the optimum word. Unfortunately because it is so compact we are compelled to raft up next to the local charter fishing boats whose habit it is to take the paying public out at the extremely unsocial hour of 0530. Naturally we have to get up and move our boats or be towed along side to the deep seas for a day of fishing!!!

The entrance to the harbour... scary!

Our plan is to leave tomorrow (at 0530hrs of course!) and make our way to Sydney, 42 miles to the North.

We’ve been told and judging by articles read, there seem to be a few good anchorages in and around Sydney Harbour. We look forward to finding them…and Ben, Mike’s youngest stepson, who is currently serving time oops! I mean serving in the Army in the Harbour City.

Jervis Bay

We left Ulladulla at 11.45 for our 27NM trip to Jervis Bay. What a lumpy trip that was!!! The winds were once again coming from the SE and the swells as well.

Mike poling out the heddie

Job done!

Looking very pleased with himself!

I spent some time below trying to sleep and hoping it would all be over soon. (just this leg of the trip ie, not life itself) I can never really sleep below because I’m always worried that Mike will go up on the foredeck and fall overboard and I wont know anything about it. I have my man overboard rescue plan all worked out and it would be a great pity if the occasion arose for me to put it into practice and I slept through the whole thing.
We arrived in this Bay with much relief and some not feeling 100%, but we were here and it was calm!

The 'Hole in the wall'

The plan was to leave for Woolongong early next day and that’s what we did. We got out of the bay and were immediately hit by large swells coming from the side and winds gusting up to 25kts. It was proving to be even lumpier than the previous day, so Mike decided we should turn around.

A relieved Jo returns to the anchorage...

Very soon Sentosa and Meander had returned to our calm anchorage very aptly named “Hole in the Wall”. Gary and Somoya kept going as Gary needed to be back in Melbourne the following day for his daughter’s graduation (he arrived in Woollongong safely after a very rough trip). Here we remain having a nice quiet “make and mend” day ( I made bread rolls and Mike mended, he’s always mending something or other) with plans to attempt Woolongong again tomorrow.

Jo bakes!

Mike and I put the dinghy in the water and paddled over to Sentosa and had a nice cup of coffee with Andrew and Marie and made plans for the morning’s departure. We then paddled to the beach and had a walk along the shore……. just beautiful…

Ulladulla 25 April

Ulladulla 25/4/06

Eden to Ulladulla

We left Eden on Saturday 22^nd at 0700hrs with the intention of heading to Narooma. 56NM away. The winds were meant to be SSW 15 to 20 Kts. Then later increasing to 25 Kts which would have been quite pleasant.

We spent a fantastic half hour or more playing with a pod of 8-10 dolphins who swam alongside Meander jumping up and even squirting us then turning on their side to look at our reaction!!!! It was an amazing experience.

After 9hrs of motor sailing we decided to turn into the little fishing harbour of Bermagui which is Aboriginal for “canoe with paddles” We had hoped to bypass this port because of the river bar at it’s entrance. It proved to be a lot less difficult than anticipated. Once we had the leads insight and a little direction from the coast watch we were soon all rafted up. We were now a fleet of 3 boats, as a couple we met in Refuge Cove with a 28 foot sloop had joined us from Eden.

Our three yachts rafted up in Bermagui harbour

Jo.

The next day we set off for Batemans Bay, about 40 NM off. Another bar awaited us, and this time we turned out to be negotiating it direct into the setting sun . Fortunately the Coastal Patrol guys saw our plight and with me on the helm and Jo on the radio, they talked us in. However, going into Batemans Bay also involved getting out again – and that meant that we had to be back over that bar before 6 am the following morning or be stuck there all day, waiting for the next high tide…

On the way to Bermagui

After such an early start, we were in Ulladulla by midday, in good time to get fuel (I’ve become paranoid about running out again!). And that is were we are as I write. We’re rafted up against a rotting, ancient rustbucket of a schooner that originally came from Russia…

Ulladulla in the rain

Today it’s off to Jervis Bay and then Wollongong, where we leave Gary, who is flying back to Melbourne for a few days.

Mike

Some shells we collected on the beach at Eden

Eden 19^th April.

The Woodchip anchorage

While waiting for favorable weather conditions to continue our Northern bound journey we have managed to fill in a pleasant few days here in Eden

We all converged on the Fishermans Club as soon as we tied up at Sung Cove where we were able to have a shower (our first for nearly a week). We finished off the delicious fruit cake that John brought along, courtesy of his friend. For some reason, however, we didn’t quite manage to finish off the Chateau Cardboard “Red” that John also brought along...

The Easter bunny visited us on Sunday morning (I hope he had on his lifejacket when he came across to our anchorage).

Our travelling companions John and Lorraine (who were aboard Somoya) returned to Melbourne by bus on Monday and Mike Gary and myself returned to our boats in Snug Cove.

There was one urgent job to do on Meander, however… Mike made it (at last!) to the top of the mast because our topping lift had come off its sheave. Gary and I manned the ropes etc. with Mike shouting orders from above!

Does Mike’s bum look big in that bosun’s chair?

We stayed tied up to the wharves in Snug Cove until yesterday afternoon when our personal weatherman Gary announced that the winds were about to shift and create unpleasant conditions in Snug Cove, and so it would be best if we returned to the anchorage at Woodchip Warf. So here we sit!

There have been some memorable occassions so far (and lots of laughs!!) Like the time Mike and I were leaving Somoya after an evening of jollification and as I went to sit on the side of the dinghy to travel back to Meander the swell lifted the dinghy and me up in the air. When I went to sit down again the dinghy was no longer under me and I promptly landed in the drink! (no pictures of this, unfortunately!)! Luckily I had my wet weather gear on and done up tight so I didn’t get too wet. My ego was certainly dampend though. Mike did say the initial look of sheer terror on my face very quickly changed to a smile then uncontrolable laughter as I struggled to fight my way back onto the dinghy, it is impossible to do this with any semblance of dignity I can tell you.

The dinghy has been a constant source of hilarity and humiliation. Today Mike and I decided to visit the beautiful beach at East Boyd Bay and have a nice walk. As we approached the shore Mike jumped out of the dinghy and fell flat on his back in the water. Once again the initially look of horror (on Mikes face this time) soon turned to hysterrical laughter (on my part!!!!!)

After Mike’s dunking…

Protection for the mobiles after Mike drowned his old one!

Refuge Cove to Eden

Refuge Cove 13^th April

So, we left Queenscliff Mike and I on Meander, and John Hedley aboard Samoya with Gary. We went through some choppy water out through the Heads and into choppier water in Bass Straight.. Life jackets and wet weather gear on and drinks and nibblies to hand, we settled down for a long haul ahead. The sun soon set and Mike and I soon became a bit queasy - well,

Mike was queasy, I was just plain seasick as
usual (the super duper remedy from N.Z. was yet another failure!!)

We put up the sails for a couple of hours until the wind died away. About 21.00hrs we began our 3 hourly watches. Mike took the first watch and I managed to throw myself below onto the bed we had prepared in the saloon. It wasn’t long before Mike was waking me (although I think he put the clock forward) to tell me it was now my turn to sit in the cockpit and watch out for ???? I wasn’t certain what but I’d know if I saw it I’m sure. We continued this practice of every three hours one or the other of us either throwing ourselves into the cabin out in cockpit.

Just before the sun started to rise, and halfway through my last watch, I noticed a flashing light just off the starboard bow. I watched it for a while (so that’s where the term “watch” comes

from) but then had to call Mike on deck as I wasn’t sure how close we were to it. It turned out to be a beacon on one of the Islands of “The Glennies”, which is a group of Islands to the West of Wilsons Prom. The Isand was in actual fact about 20 miles away but it looked much coser to me!!

Gary and John were consistently about a mile astern of us, which for me was quite reasuring during my watch as I raised my seasick head every 15 mins or so and checked ahead for ??? and then saw the running lights atop Samoya’s mast. We watched the sun slowly rise and The Glennies approaching. As we passed by the rocks we could see seals basking in the early

morning sun and a few adventurous ones swimming just off our boat.

As we came around the bottom of The Prom we passed in between 2 Islands of the Anser Group. Mike pointed out a rock formation on our starboard side which was called Skull Rock for very obvious reason as you can see by the photo. We then came around the South East coast and past South Point Lighthouse.

South Point lighthouse

Skull Rock

As Mike had been around this part of the world not long ago he knew that if we went into Waterlo Bay we would have mobile access. We diverted slightly and made a few phone calls. Mike had already downloaded our last 7 day weather forcast from Buoy Weather during the early hours of the morning.

Gary and John were lagging behind a bit at this stage as they had gone in for a closer look at the seals at The Glennies.

After leaving Wterloo Bay it was just a short motor up to our destination Refuge Cove. So it was that on Monday 10^th at 11.00 we arrived at this beautiful cove, where we will probably stay until Thursday, which won’t be too hard to take, I can tell you! After anchoring off the beach we immediatley put the dinghy into the water and went ashore to explore.

Refuge cove

Mike didn't quite have time to kneel aswell before the self timer went off!!!

John and Gary enjoying a nice meal of sate (and a drop of amber liquid) after a long trip across the 'paddock'

Eden

Easter Sunday 16^th April

Well, we are now in Eden, after a very long trip from Refuge Cove, most of which was spent with the engine running and the mainsail up as we headed along the coast right into the wind. In fact for most of the 40 hours that we were at sea in Bass Strait, the winds were too light to sail and the seas were, well, calm enough for Jo not feel at all seasick…

After a run of nearly 36 hours, we finally reached Gabo Island, which is on the corner of the continent, and where we would at last stop travelling East and begin travelling North. It should have been a moment of triumph, but instead it becamse the moment when the engine stopped the first time… I had known that the fuel was low, but not that low – and therefore assumed that the fuel filter was clogged, as we were getting close to the bottom of a tank that had been in use since the mid nineties. So I changed the filter and added the contents of our last jerry-can. The engine started, and ran on, and I deduced that in fact what happened was that the boat had been heeling over too much (we had been sailing with engine support) for the fuel take-up pipe to reach the diesel.

Ah well, we thought, when we get round the corner we’ll be able to sail, as the wind will no longer be ‘on the nose’. Wrong. As we went round the corner, so did the wind, and so it was still on the nose. But we started sailing anyway, and headed out to sea intending to make a few tacks up the coast to Eden, some 30 nautical miles off. We had plenty of time – it was still only about 2.00 pm.

We soon gave up on that, as the wind was still too light. On went the motor, and into the wind we went.

All went well until we got just off Eden, by now in the dark (about 10.00 pm), when the engine died for the second time. Now it was not because of a heel. It was just that there was no fuel! No worries – the sails were up and we could just sail into the harbour. At precisely that moment a strong front hit us, and for a brief moment of exhilaration, we were flying into the bay. But the wind was really too much for full sail, and a reef was in order.

However, reefing was not possible, as it transpired that the topping lift had jammed in the sheeves at the top of the mast. The only option was for us to take the mainsail down and go the rest of the way in a reefed jib alone. This was safer,but not much fun at all, as we couldn’t get close to the wind for efficient tacking, and were really sailing quite slowly relative to the wind strength.

Obviously we couldn’t even think of tying up at any of the wharves in Eden, so instead we went over to the far side of the bay in the relative shelter of the ‘woodchip anchorage’ and dropped our anchor close to the shore. Luckily the anchor held, and we didn’t need to pull it up and reset it, as we had had to do several times in Refuge Cove (when it had been easy to do with the help of the engine).

Turns out that Gary on Somoya had been in exactly the same predicament – he too had run out of fuel and had been tacking against the wind for longer than we had (but he’d kept that quiet on the radio!)

So here we are in Eden, anchored two miles away from the town, and have been for a day and a half, while 25 to 40 knot winds rush down the bay towards the sea. The winds are too strong to even contemplate heading across the bay, as we would be battered against the wharves by the waves.

We do have fuel, though. After a fruitless attempt to sail across in Somoya with the intention of anchoring close enough to the town to go in with a dinghy for fuel, we decided to try to get across in the two dinghies. This was a successful, but exceedingly wet experience, but at least it allowed me to pause for a cappucino in an Eden café, and purchase hot cross buns as a ‘surprise’ for Jo (she’d have preferred chocolate, actually).

Chasing across the bay for diesel Plan A

Chasing across the bay for diesel Plan B

Hopefully we can get over to the wharves later this afternoon, when the wind goes round and drops a little. The we can go ashore and have a shower and a mea in the Eden Fishermen’s Club. Other wise it’s another evening of heavy drinking and leftover food!

Mike

Into the Rip!

It’s Sunday afternoon and 3 hours to departure. (at last hooray!!!) Just waiting for slack water and we will be making our way throught The Heads and on our way to Refuge Cove. We estimate that it will take us 17-18 hours. The weather is looking good for the next 24 hrs so hopefully it will be smooth saling. I’ll take my sea sick pill though just to be sure.

We’ve been here at QCYC for six days with the kangaroos, black swans and pelicans with a bus trip into Geelong on Thursday (had to go to Pizza!!!) thrown in. It’s all very nice but now it’s time and good weather so we’re off!!!

We have enough of everything on board to last at least 2 weeks so that if the weather isn’t good we will wait it out in Refuge. Mike and I walked from Q’cliff to Pt. Lonsdale on Friday (8kms round trip) as Mike felt the 120 lts of diesel we had on board wasn’t enough and we really did need another 10lts. which Mike carried all the way back in his backpack. We were both very tired and footsore when we finally arrived back at the boat, not having done much in the way of exercise in the past week! So Mike has conned Lorraine and Jane at different times to take him back to Pt’ Lonsdale for extra petrol (for the generator) and extra two stroke (for the outboard)

This will probably be the last entry for a little while as we wont have internet access at Refuge Cove. But as soon as we do you will hear from us and hopefully it will all be dolphins, bright stars and calm seas.

Some pictures

We finally depart!
















Out trusty onshore crew bids us farewell















What Jo has to look forward to for the next few days...

Wednesday 5th April

Wednesday April 5th

So we’re on our way! Well, at least yesterday we were… Today we’re holed up at Queenscliff Cruising Yacht club watching the howling winds and the driving rain. Logging into buoyweather.com last night on our newly installed CDMA modem, we discovered that this lovely weather is likely to stay with us until early next week.

Looks like we’re going to have to get used to the delights of the QCYC… And if this weather keeps up, we’re going to get very used to them. The club is on an island, and the only way to get to the bright lights of Queenscliff is by dinghy – and with gale force winds the short trip across the cut is likely to be a rather wet and uncomfortable experience!

Mike


We left Geelong in bright sunny weather yesterday and motored all the way as there was NO wind at all. Today is different however we are (as Mike said) sitting in QCYC listening to the howling winds outside. It’s not so bad, we are both starting to slow to the cruising pace we were expecting a bit further down the track.
Last night we had a few visitors in the form of 4 curious kangaroos wandering what these two strange looking creatures were doing on their Island.
We’ve already run out of bread and it doesn’t look as though we will get over to Q’cliff in the near future. Oh well it looks like I have to practice my bread making skills. I wonder if Mike will mind damper instead not so much effort involved!! Although I do have lots of time !!!!!

Jo