We have seen the last of the Gold Coast for a while! We said goodbye to our local friends including our cruising friends on Oceaneer, and turned right at the Seaway for the first time in two years, bound for Melbourne.
Overnighter to Port Macquarie
Having spent the last two months floating around in protected waters we needed to get our sea legs back! Starting with a 30 hour passage certainly blows the cobwebs away, especially after a cyclone! It was exhilarating to be on our way, back in our element, enjoying the movement of the boat, the brisk sail and the feel of the ocean. It was so good after weeks of being cooped up in the Broadwater!
We had a fast run on Sunday, zooming along effortlessly at 10 to 12 knot speed, with peaks at 14.5. The breeze was at the perfect angle and we had the advantage of the Australian East Coast Current, having got to the 100m depth line, about 12nm offshore. Getting that far offshore also means less worry about floating buoys, small motor boats drift fishing and getting in your way. It was great fun.
Although the wind died down during the night and we had to turn the engines on, the conditions were easy on us. We generally do two hour watches throughout the night, whereby one person is up keeping an eye on things. It gets hard when it is just the two of us. The first round is all good, but subsequent ones get a bit ordinary as you get more and more sleep deprived. But we managed!
We came into Port Macquarie at noon on Monday, picked up the last available public mooring in front of town, tidied up our abode and had a snooze. Later in the afternoon, our friends Waz and Lisa joined us for a feast on board. Lisa reluctantly left us that evening, but Waz stayed, having agreed to crew with us to Eden.
Overnighter to Port Hacking
At dawn on Tuesday the three of us took off for another overnighter, this time to Port Hacking, South of Sydney. With a SE change forecast to come in early the next morning, but a brisk NE breeze before that, we figured we might make it in time to take shelter at Jibbon Beach, 186nm further south. It was another nice passage. There were new experiences for Waz: sailing under screecher, then a long spinnaker sail, watching, the shearwater rafts and jumping dolphins, enjoying a brilliant sunset, the excitement of his first ever night passage, and the special treat: dawn at sea on his watch.
As the evening was approaching, we swapped the spinnaker for the screecher. It is always wise to reduce sails overnight, and as it turned out, the wind suddenly picked up for a short period to 25 knots and made the job of collapsing the beast interesting to say the least! Luckily, our spinnaker is stored into a sock, making deploying and dousing a bit more manageable. Waz can vouch for the power of that sail, even once it had been socked!
The night sail under screecher was a noisy affair, with a following sea and waves pushing us along, crashing under the bridge deck, and we were kept busy during our watches with many ships to dodge offshore of Newcastle. It is always a bit daunting the first time you do a night watch, as was the case for Waz. You are on your own, and for the length of your watch, you are responsible for the ship. You know that if you need, you can call for help from the skipper, but you want to do your best. You keep an eye on the navigation software, on AIS (the Automatic Identification System which transmits nearby ships’ position, course and speed and alerts you if you are on a collision course); you do a visual check around the boat every ten minutes, try to make sense of all the lights from nearby vessels, keep an eye on the sails. You also get this sense of awe as you gaze at the Milky Way, feel the boat rushing through the night, and sometimes see phosphorescence in its wake.
None of us got much sleep with the racket and busy coast line, but there is no doubt that three people sharing the night watches is much easier than the two of us doing this as a couple!
We sailed well until six the next morning. We were just off Sydney Heads when the northerly died down, then a strong SE set in, forcing us to motor into it for a couple of hours till we reached Port Hacking.
We stayed at Port Hacking for two days, waiting for the southerly to pass. We used our pause time well, catching up with Sydney friends Lucy and son Eric on the first day, and our friend Sue the next, enjoying a walk ashore together and taking the opportunity to clean up Anui’s grubby waterline from weeks of doing nothing!
One of the advantages of going south is the obvious change of temperature: it is cooler, less humid and all together much more pleasant than summer in tropical Queensland! The temperature of the ocean however is a notable drawback: from 26oC in Queensland, to 19oC in NSW, and we know it will get even colder in Victoria! Brrgh!
Today as we post this, the northerly has returned briefly so we are underway again. We are intending to do yet another overnighter to Eden, a 200nm passage. There is however a southerly change coming back on Saturday so it looks like we will get stuck at Eden for a few days. This is where Waz will be leaving us, but later next week, Murray, Wade’s brother, is keen to join us for the Eden to Melbourne leg.
We are very pleased with our progress. Although long overnight passages leave you feeling a bit wrecked, when you are on a mission, they make a huge difference to the distances you can cover quickly. We are confident we will get to Melbourne in time for our medical appointments, even with a potential week long break in the flow.
Stay tuned for the next instalment in our mission.
Sv-Anui 
Great sunset pictures Chris! I particularly love the one of Waz at the bows. I wish I could have joined you for this wonderful adventure. xx
Hello Lisa, we all miss you! Next time hopefully we can all sail together. 😘
Hi There. Have enjoyed your blog from lockdown in Melbourne ( although we did get to Tassy last summer). Love to see your boat when in Melbourne. Birubi 5 , our Leopard 42 , is at Royal Brighton Yacht Club . We do have casual berthing with a metro station nearby if you need.
Hi Sue – thanks for that. We will be at Docklands while in Melbourne for ease of access to our medical appointments.
Good spot
I’m glad that you’ve broken free of the harbor and are heading towards home! Beautiful photos. 😎❤️🇦🇺
Thanks John – home is where the boat is, but yes, nice to go back to our old home town!
Great progress! How is Bengie coping with the long sails?
Just snoozing!
Thanks for the greatest experience!!
Fantastic sailing and terrific guidance for my first Night Nav!! 😀
And another night sail tonight!!! Yay
Thanks Chris and Wade
Hello Waz! Chatting from the bow! Real pleasure to have you on board and share special moments à sea!
So good to see you out and about in the ocean again. Enjoy the next leg of the trip hopefully with some more wild life visitors to entertain you along the way.
Thanks Annie – it is good for the soul. Hoping we will soon see some albatrosses as we get further south. Looking forward to getting to Melbourne and giving you a hug in person!
Nice bit of sailing ….. 25kts, totally awesome!
Hanging on tight, Elgar! We have put Waz on the job for catching us a tuna, but to date no luck – blaming the Qantas lure and speed of Anui!
That sushi of Wazza’s would be almost worth slowing down for! May your downhill sailing continue ….
Going well!
Hey Chris and Wade, Visiting with you on Wednesday was definitely a highlight in this “lockdown life”! Thank you for your warm hospitality – Anui is beautiful and I feel grateful to have met her in person!? And Bengie too 😊. Wishing you safe and easy sailing back to VIC, much love, xoxo❤️🌟🌈
Glad we were able to have you and Eric on board Lucy and that you could see our watery home! All the best for the weeks ahead and we may be able to catch up again on our way back north. 😘 ⛵️
Back south, the weather here has been very humid and yuck, well for us anyway, or it could just be hot flushes, who knows. I’m not enjoying it. Safe travels.
Hi Leanne. The humidity is hard to take which is one of the reasons we did not want to spend another summer in QLD. It is easier further south. I can vouch for HRT to keep the hot flushes under control!
It’s great to read of your progress south & watch on Marine Traffic.
We may meet or make radio contact; leaving Lakes next Wednesday for Morton Bay. We want different wind direction to yourselves !
Hi Doug, suspect we will be at Eden till later in the week! Friday looks like a goer for us. Looks like the conditions won’t be ideal for you on Wednesday and you might get stopped in your track as you turn the corner! Doing a delivery?
Yes, delivery that has waited for Qld to quit quarantine !
Thanks for having me on Anui and to catch up especially after 2 years in iso. I enjoyed our walk along the cliffs and into the bush in spite of the attack by that horrible big ant. Stay safe out there on the next leg and we will talk soon. Enjoy Melbourne. Hot and humid here today, just back from walking Pepa and the washing machine repair man has just arrived to see if my machine is terminal. If it is it is off to get another one.. Luckily I did an on line search. What fun eh!
Always something to fix, Sue, even on land! Really glad we caught up. It was well overdue. Let’s hope you can join us for an adventure this year.
There was no fixing the machine so I have just had to buy another one!!!!
Bummer!
Beautiful weather, sunsets and the Rainbow Lorikeets! Thanks for sharing!
Pleasure Aletta, it is nice to be out there again!
That’s great!
Sounds like some good sailing on your mission south. Natalie and I just got back to our boat Thursday and spent Friday at Boat works. At Bums Bay tonight, it’s as crazy as ever.
We’ll be following in your wake in about a week’s time.
Have a great sail to Eden.
Hi Brad – made it to Eden this morning(Saturday). Now waiting a few days for the NE to return!
I love the sunset shots, Chris, but it was the images of the rainbow lorikeets that really grabbed me. The color of those birds are so stunning that almost don’t look real. Wow!
Hi Mike – the lorikeets are a symphony of colour and sounds – they are so raucous!