Southport

We ended up staying in Coffs Harbour for almost a week. As usual the weather was the deciding factor regarding our departure for places further north. Almost as soon as we got to Coffs the winds had started to build, and we were stuck in the harbour as increasingly heavy waves crashed over the enclosing breakwaters, occasionally soaking entire families of tourists who were walking along the paths on top of them.

We bought a printer (an idea we had been toying with since commencing this adventure!) so now we could print out our twice daily record of weather reports from The Bureau of Meteorology and Buoy Weather and sit and study them. We poured over these printouts for days before finally deciding it would be good to go. The forecast was for 10-15 knot winds all that day and for the following day, but increasing to 25-30 knots late in the second day. There was a very narrow window of opportunity, so we made the decision to do an overnighter and hightail it straight to Southport bypassing Yamba and Balina (both have river bar entrances and we’d had enough of these for a while anyway!!)

It was going to be a long haul as it was 160NM to our destination. We decided to leave very early in the morning. Thermoses filled, sandwiches made, wet weather gear, beanies, gloves etc donned, we were ready to set off at 0430hrs. We were expecting to be on the water for anything up to 36hrs. As it happened we made it to Southport in 27hrs averaging 6.5 to 7 knots most of the way (we had a lot of help from the engine, actually).

I headed back down into the cabin and to sleep as soon as we had cleared the Harbour and the sails were set. I figured there was no point in both of us sitting up there getting cold!!!!

It was a great trip. We both thoroughly enjoyed the tranquil smooth seas. We could see whales in the distance and at one stage through the night we spotted schools of fish jumping out of the water. There were literally thousands of little fish which Mike told me were being herded by bigger ones (obviously organizing their breakfast).

We saw a stunning sunset of amazing pinks and blues reflected in the water. Neither of us had seen anything quite like it before.

Jo

We took lots of pictures, but once again the bloody PC laptop decided they weren’t good enough and wiped the camera card before downloading them. Bloody thing. Now I know why I don’t like Microsoft-based machines. From now on I’ll download the camera onto the Apple and only work with copies on this PC.

So no pix –again.

The other thing that has gone wrong is the fridge compressor – which decided to die on us while in Coffs. So we’ve had to replace it, at vast cost. Mind you, it brought home to both of us how dependent we were on the fridge – not only for ice for the gin and tonics, but also for the smaller things of life, such as keeping meat from going off and veggies from turning into a limp, messy slush.

Jo looking happy
after getting
the fridge
fixed!

The winds are still strong (4 meter waves for the surfers today). We’ll wait a few more days for the winds to abate before taking the inside passage from the Gold Coast to Moreton Bay. Don’t fancy negotiating a shallow expanse of water like Moreton in 30 to 40 knot winds!

Mike

Trying to
work out
times, tides
and routes
through the
channels north
of Southport

Meander
enjoying
the Southport
sun!