Clarence River Cruise - Step 1 - Heading Upstream Past Harwood.

The Harwood Bridge was booked to be raised at 14:00. One has to phone a day ahead (6682 8388). It requires the traffic on the Pacific Highway to be stopped so once we'd mentioned to a couple of other crews that it was all arranged, they decided to come along too. Breaker, Breaker we got ourselves a convoy!

Leaving Iluka behind.

Stumpy little prawning boats moored along the river banks. Lots of them!

 

Once an important transport link, there is still evidence of seriously large vessels in the river. 

A single riverside sugar refinery remains at Harwood.

Rumba taking the lead.

  Nervy moment.

What if the bridge hasn't been raised high enough?

 

So far, so good. Promise II following.

     

The Clarence River has extensive flood plains with rich alluvial soil, much of it devoted to growing sugar cane. From the look of some of the housing, everything is pretty sweet up here.

 

We anchored for the night within sight of the Harwood Bridge behind Ulgundah Island. This river is full of surprises including 100 charted islands one of which, Woodford Island, is the largest inland island in the Southern hemisphere!

Revisiting the Bar

If you've ever seen a golf tournament and watched a Pro-golfer bogey a hole, you'll also have seen the Pro turn their head to have a second look at the hole over their shoulder and give it 'the evil eye' as they walk off the green. It's in the same spirit that we walked out to the Clarence River mouth to have another look at the bar. We definitely feel that our crossing constituted a bogey!

Bar looking tame as a kitten.

We took a walk towards the northern sea wall and called into the Marine Rescue lookout on the way. We had a nice chat with the duty volunteer and were shown the setup which included a dedicated seat with binoculars mounted on a pole and trained on the bar entrance. All the better to see us with!

A long way to the end.

 

Eventually the path is just rubble.

 

We continued on our way and walked and walked along the sea wall but not to the the very end as it was just so very far and the last bit wasn't paved. The Clarence River was of course behaving itself and you could have gone out in a canoe without your heart even fluttering. On the other side of the sea wall, surfers were having a lovely time which demonstrates what a fine wall it is.

The view across the Clarence River mouth to Yamba on the south side.

We can hopefully forget about this bogey for the next couple of weeks while we explore the mighty Clarence River. Sadly not all 400kms of it, and not the Clarence River Gorge either. Although we'd like to get as far as Grafton there is the not-so-small matter of a bridge and some power lines that will prevent our transit much beyond Ulmarra.

Water eroded rock proving that the waves do sometimes lick over the top!

Leg 63 - Trial Bay to Iluka via Coffs Harbour.

Sometimes, a situation calls for flexibility in plans. What began as a straight forward 35nm day-hop up to Coff Harbour, ended up a 90nm over-nighter as far as Iluka. As with the previous day, the little junk rigged yacht Arion, departed a little ahead of us and acted like the target for us to catch. Despite it's considerably smaller size, it goes like a rocket.

We watched the local fishing fleet arrive at dawn and assemble at the Macleay River Bar waiting for enough water to pass. Radio broadcasts had been alerting Mariners that the leads were no longer accurate and extreme caution was required. It's not often that commercial boats stand off, the tide at the very least, needed to be right up to make the River mouth navigable.

 

Fishermen cleaning their catch while waiting to cross the river bar.

Overall, sailing conditions were glorious with 10-15 knots of SE'ish wind plus 2m swells from the E and SE which didn't end up competing against one another too much. The current that we'd encountered the previous day coming up to South West Rocks/Trial Bay seemed less in play and we were in a new weather forecasting zone. Goodbye, Macquarie Coast. Hello, Coffs Coast!

While the day settled itself from a somewhat blustery start with short period of 20knot gusts, the main came in and out a few times to compliment the heady. Instead of turning into wind to roll in the main, we got lazy and merely furled it in, resulting in a poor wrap. We were 'found out' soon after when attempting to pull it back out again. It jammed. Here are 2 approaches for resolution.  The Bloke's way: pull it harder to force it out. The girlie way: roll it back in a couple of turns to loosen the jam and try again. What do you think?

We reached Coffs Harbour right behind Arion and tried calling the local Marine Rescue but there was no reply. No matter, they'd be called again after we had anchored. We circled the recommended anchoring area while being lifted up and down by 2 metre swells which then surged up the beach. The Bloke and I took 2 minutes to sum up the situation. We were only going to stop for a meal and a bit of kip with a plan to head out at 22:00 to enable a dawn arrival with incoming tide at Iluka/Yamba. There was no way we'd rest in these conditions and besides, right now, sailing winds were perfect and forecast to drop away overnight. The Take it While it's Going motto kicked in. We had plenty of suitable food for an overnight passage as I'd half guessed it as a possibility and we'd have a full moon from sunset onward courtesy of Easter!

Inside the Coffs Harbour southern break wall - Just to proved we'd been there.

We had another go at contacting Marine Rescue Coffs Harbour to inform them of both of our arrival and change of plans but being unable to reach them, phoned Marine Rescue Trial Bay instead. Sorted! 45 minutes later Coffs Harbour radioed. Alarmingly, the operator could not hear our transmission. No problemo, we phoned them instead, but then we became concerned. What if our radio was not working? Not a good thing in an emergency. The outcome? Radio working just fine. The operator had the volume down and couldn't hear ANY transmissions of any kind. Lol!

Passing inside South Solitary Island.

There was plenty of 'marine furniture' to negotiate north of Coffs Harbour with shoals and obstacles like the charmingly named Pimpernel Rock. If we passage through here again we might head outside all this as the uneven sea floor created mysterious eddies. We did however benefit from a counter current which together with the wind, which did not drop away after all, plus the push provided by the SE swell, had us making a much quicker journey than we needed. As the nautical miles melted away we furled our heady further and further in an attempt to slow down until it seemed that we were flying little more than the UV strip having mastered origami with sail cloth. Arriving early was pointless. The Bar needed to be visible and a minimum of 3 hours after low tide to avoid over-run.

  

Sun down: Moon up.

By the time we were in position to cross the bar the sun was just up, the swell was now 2m and was  from the north. At the last moment, the wind swung to off-shore. The Northern entry had been recommended and although the southern approach was clearly a no-go, the north was smooth, until that is, we were at the point of no return. The fishing fleet were on their way in too and we took a position in the convoy and fanged it to sit right up the 'jaxie' of a boat we were confident would know their way in. Grateful that the Bloke had tightened the belts on the motor in preparation for this crossing, the 54hp metal topsail didn't let us down. Where did those waves come from? It was like being shot out of a cannon and we were doing 9.5kn at one stage.

 

Assessing the bar at dawn.

We are not sure if this bar is really a much longer one than the others we've crossed or if it was illusory. Time seemed to stop and we thought this nasty ride would never end.

Our track into Iluka.

 

 

The Bloke's shaking hands after we'd anchored.

The doctor ordered a nip, even if it was only 07:30 am.

Then a second, 30 minutes later; followed by bed rest.

We'll stay in Iluka until after Easter, then explore the mighty Clarence River for 2-3 weeks. By then, we'll hopefully have forgotten all about this bar crossing!

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Download our Track Across The Bar

Leg 62 - Port Macquarie to Trial Bay

The best time to exit through the bar was early. Not quite stupid O'clock but just after. The Bloke was itching to get across that bar, his anxiety having caused a poor nights sleep, so it was a case of throwing off the lines at 08:00.

Looking out towards the bar. Quite benign today.

We had half a notion to leave the day before but we both felt extremely fatigued and elected to sleep in and let the strongest of the Southerlies pass. There were still a few more days of more moderate Southerlies predicted. Plenty to facilitate a downhill ride as far as Yamba/Iluka 3 day-sails away. What a relief to say goodby to the weeks of Northeasterlies and to be able to sail and not be driven by the Yanmar. As it turned out, we enjoyed an 8hour passage with 10-15kn Southerlies to make good the 35nm which was quite good considering the current.

Passing South West Rocks and into a new forecast zone. Hooray!

   

Norfolk Island Pines always give away habitation. The goal at Trial Bay coming into view.

The Junk rigged yacht Arion, sharing our destination at dusk.

The anchor snatched like a beauty in the wide and sandy Trial Bay.

Slightly rolly but very secure in our southerly conditions, allowing a great rest.

Sauage Roll Table of Fame - March Update

Has 'The Bloke' given up on the sausage roll hunt, I hear you say! The answer is NO, I have been constantly sampling sausage rolls from Sydney to Port Macquarie. Newcastle had several offerings but none worthy of a rating. In Port Stephens I was forced to throw away 2 sausage rolls after just one bite. The twin towns of Forster and Tuncurry both provided opportunities but like Port Stephens they were not worth wasting calories on so they soon found the bottom of a bin. I had high hopes for Laurieton, a provincial town with multiple bakeries. Alas no idea, the concept of a tasty sausage roll evaded all. Now that we are in Port Macquarie, a city of almost 50,000 people, was I too optimistic to believe that one of the several bakeries could put together meat and pastry in a tasty and interesting combination. Yes, I was because again, the simple concept of the sausage roll got lost somewhere between including carrot in the meat to pouring in a bucket of salt and maybe flour to create some kind of 'paste'.

Our new prime minister wants an agile, clever and innovative nation, but the majority of our bakeries cannot even make a sausage roll! What is Australia's future if the simplest of tasks cannot be achieved? I am not yet in despair, however, if I do not find a good sausage roll soon am going to write to the before mention national leader and get him on the case. This is IMPORTANT!!!!!

 A Sausage Circle Roll created by Gayle who hadn't previously known about the Bloke's quest.

Examining the Bar

River Bar crossings do cause the Bloke a loss of sleep and studying what they look like and how variable conditions manifest themselves has become a new project. The crew of Nautilus considered it their duty as locals, to further acquaint us with some of their favourite spots in Port Macquarie. So this is how a Sunday tour panned out.

Coffee at Social Grind. A hipster cafe with GREAT coffee.

While having coffee every firefighting asset in the district; professional and volunteer alike, came screaming past. Sirens, lights and speed. Reports came in that the Rydges Hotel on the foreshore was on fire. So what do you do in a provincial town? You go and have a 'sticky-beak'. Setting up an incident centre wasn't a problem because the Police Station was right opposite. The Air conditioners were to blame and the fire quickly isolated but a week out from Easter, there was sure to be lots of angst.

Seeing as we had got to the sea wall by this time, we took yet another stroll out to check conditions at the bar. The local yacht club Sunday racers didn't seem to care about the adverse tide situation (strong outgoing current) and motor-sailed out to their ocean course with the tide fairly tearing out and some selecting visibly 'less optimal' exits. their destiny was dictated by the starters gun. Conventional wisdom is to use the leads and exit close to the northern wall (see Left). The water is very 'active' at the southern (R) side and those that chose it looked like they may have loosened their dentures.

 

 

We checked the beaches and general surf conditions and noticed the love locks at the lookout.

We've had a good look around. Next time we visit we'll anchor in the Hastings river. Southerlies are promised by the Bureau of Meteorology for 4 days. Time to point our bow north.

Good Looking Port Macquarie

The civic landscape in Port Macquarie is very attractive and with a number of historical buildings dating back to the early days of European settlement in Australia. Both the rivers edge and the fabulous ocean surf beaches provide even more eye candy.

The Bloke seated with Edmund Barton, our first Prime Minister

   

More sculptures on the riverside sculpture trail.

Headland viewing platform with the river bar in view.

 The Bloke and Kim, one of the gals in my Women Who Sail Australia group.

We socialised a bit, which is to be expected seeing as our chief purpose of visiting was to catch up with Rob and Henma. We squeezed 10 revellers in our cockpit and The Bloke reluctantly shared a tray of home made sausage rolls with them.

 

Henma withe The Bloke at Ricardoes.

There are 50 or more of these painted Koala statues all around the district and as far afield as Laurieton, where we saw our first one. They are a fundraiser for the Koala hospital and something of a tourist attraction; tourists being urged to visit them all.( hello-koalas-public-art-sculpture-trail). This one was adorned with strawberries as Ricardoes is a hydroponic tomato and strawberry farm. The morning tea, purchased tomatoes and hand picked strawberries were all yummy.