Forster Tuncurry

After spending 3 weeks back down South Mike and I along with Adam Emmy and Indira had a wonderful family holiday in Jabiru with Sara Marcus and Matilda. It was the first time my two beautiful granddaughters had spent time together since Indira was born last September. It was lovely to see them interacting with each other.

While Adam and Emmy stayed with Sara and Marcus, Mike and I had a lovely - albeit unusual - bungalow nearby which we could retreat to each evening. However, it was great arriving back at Sara’s each morning to be greeted with cries of ‘It’s Grandma and Grandpa Mike’ from a delighted Matilda. This was also sometimes preceded with a phone call from Adam requesting croissants and other goodies from the bakery which was very near to where Mike and I were staying. It’s nice to be wanted ???

Jo at the dooreway to
our 'bush bungalow'
in Jabiru

We did some sightseeing with Sara and Marcus (and Matilda) as our guides. We also swam in some of the beautiful rock pools. Even though Mike thought it wasn’t warm enough he was first in after the long climb to the top of the waterfall!!

And this photo
proves it!

At then end of our week in Jabiru we had a 0200 o’clock flight back from Darwin arriving in Melb at 0650hrs. Then the next day we had a 0600hr flight back to Newcastle and Meander. We stayed in Newcastle 2 days, mainly to catch up with our friend Gary who had brought his boat Somoya up from Sydney on the next leg of his journey North.

We made plans to leave early for our next stop, Port Stephens, which is 26miles ENE of Newcastle. Mike often asks me if I would like to take the boat in or out of the Marina as he feels this is good experience for me. Usually I decline but this time I asked if I could take her out: which I did but in the process, I almost took out a whole boat full of rowers (about 9 in all) including their coach. They were rowing very quickly past the arm we were just about to exit. I heard a voice calling woah!woah! and saw the centre of the rowing eight in line with our bow. Even though my heart had stopped (well it felt that way!!) I rammed Meander into reverse and revved the engine as hard as I could but it seemed like an eternity before we ceased our forward motion and began to move backwards so that the canoe would be clear of our bow. Everyone in both boats looked equally shaken by the near miss.

The rest of the day proved to be a lot less dramatic but nevertheless exciting. The most remarkable feature was that we got to sail the whole way to Port Stephens – a full day’s sailing has been a rare event on this trip so far!

Jo

After a night at a public mooring in Shoal Bay, Just inside Port Stephens Heads, we headed towards Forster Tuncurry. The wind was quite light, and so it was back to another day of motor-sailing Jo got most excited when a school of dolphins came up to us and played on the bow for about ten inutes. She took lots of pictures, sadly lost (my fault L) then we began to see the telltale jets of water that indicated the presence of whales…

Soon we were to see four whales, at a distance of about 200 meters – plenty close enough, actually.! We got a very good look at the tail of one of them waving in the air as it dived and it was not something I would like to see descending on the deck… I had great photos to show you all.. but…… Jo

Our berth at
Foster Tuncurry

We arived in Foster Tuncurry, and were allocated a pile berth on the Tuncurry side, where we now sit.

We’ve been here for a few days now, waiting for the 3 to 4 metre swells to abate. We’re waiting, not because it’s a problem getting out of this harbour, but because it’s a potential problem getting into any of the other harbours along the coast between here and Coffs Harbour. All of these have bars at their entrances, and I really don’t relish trying to get across any of them in a four meter swell!

One plus to the presence of the heavy swells, however, is the spectacle of the dolphins that inhabit the harbour surfing them! They surf in on one large set, and then swim out to catch the next large set. They are clearly having a lot of fun.

The weather forecasts suggest that we will able to move on Saturday. Here’s hoping!

Mike

Our exit path...