We had been looking forward to spending time at Port Macquarie on our way north. It is always social, with local friends there. As it turns out, with persistent northerlies, we stayed a week.
With shorter days in autumn and inconsistent winds, it was a very active 80nm sail from Broughton Island with main and jib, sometimes reefed, sometimes not, at times motor-sailing in the lulls.
It was touch and go, but we made it into Port Macquarie by dusk, picking up a public mooring at the entrance. The next morning, we caught up with our friend Meredith, a long time follower and sailor, and we managed a few drone shots while it was sunny and calm.
Then as the tide turned it was time to go up the Hastings River and anchor in front of our friends Waz and Lisa’s house. These two are like family to us. We were a little nervous motoring up, with all the rain and past flooding, but it was fine.
We get spoilt when we come all the way up the river and spend a few days there: great company, home cooked meals, fresh produce. And we like to give the guys a hand with jobs on the property. This time Wade was on wood chopping duty, splitting and stacking a large amount of logs for winter. Chris took aerial shots for Lisa to show the on-going water drainage problems to the council and discuss mitigation! It was nice for both of us to do something useful, especially since poor Waz is out of action, having snapped his Achilles tendon! No walking at all for weeks, which is an incredibly frustrating state of affairs for someone who is normally very active!
Our week in Port Macquarie was also the opportunity to get a few things sorted for ourselves. With continuing leaks following our last attempt at minimising the drips, Wade had to re-seal two of Anui’s big windows, another massive job tackled on the one day without rain; and for Chris there were physio sessions as her back, neck and state of mind aren’t flash, and she had a 4th Covid shot.
Our last dawn up river was spectacular… just before the rain to test Wade’s handy work – no more drips!
Finally, the southerlies returned. We left Port Macquarie last Sunday, 1st of May.
We did a couple of long runs to Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay, and reached the Gold Coast in Queensland on Tuesday. Yeah! Stay tuned for that part of our trek north in our next post.
Sv-Anui 
Amazing, beautiful photos as always! The second to last photo is so gorgeous, frame it! 🇦🇺
Hi John, yes that sunrise was stunning!
Welcome to Queensland. Now lets hope that the weather lives up to the promise of lovely one day, perfect the next.
Or is it lively one day, soggy the next? But good to be back anyway!
We always love seeing you both!!
Great pics Chris. Great seeing the property from aerial and enjoying our beautiful sunrises. Have a terrific journey in Qld.
Thanks again for all your help…especially Wadey’s huge lumberjack effort with a couple of tons of wood splitting. Bon Voyage!!!
Thanks Waz – always special spending time with you two. Hope healing is going well but that you are not doing too much too early, and not driving Lisa bonkers! 😂
And the puppies miss you already!!
Aww 🥰
Beautiful sunrise, pleased you had a great time at Port. Good for you Wade for doing the wood chopping and the windows. Great aerial pics Chris I hope they help with arguing with council. Enjoy the Goldie.
We had fun, Sue and it was also quite a practical stop for us, as is the Gold Coast. But as always we yearn to go further north!
Your photo, dawn at the river is wonderful! It’s my favorite. Thanks, Chris. 🙂
Thanks HJ, it was really special… peaceful, spectacular, but you know the say “red sky in the morning, sailors’ warning!”
Great pics guys. You must be glad to at last sail into the sub-tropics?
Poor Waz …. pass on our best wishes. I did that aged 48 (my last game of basketball) and the pain was mind numbing! What was Waz doing to snap his achilles?
Hi guys – yes it’s a good milestone to reach, with a marked difference in temperature! Waz was doing a step class. He thought someone behind him kicked him, other than that no strong pain. But he is out of action for ages!
As always, I love the drone shots, Chris, and it is really cool that you could give your friends that different perspective of their property and highlight the drainage issue. I chuckled a little when I realized that your social visit involved work as much as play, including log splitting and, of course, boat repairs. 🙂
Ah yes, there is always some work to do, gardening, shed building, chopping down trees….I got off lightly, but not Wade.