The passage from Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour is a relatively long one, at 76 nautical miles. We discovered that Trial Bay, located almost exactly halfway between the two ports, is dubbed as one of the coasts best open roadstead anchorages (in the right conditions!). So we decided to break the trip into two shorter days, with a brief stay overnight at Trial Bay.

We had checked and re-checked several different weather sites and the forecast for the following two days looked good. Winds were predicted to be south to southeasterly 15 – 20 knots. Seas were forecast at 1 to 2 metres. Overnight, the wind was predicted to die off and become very light. So not completely benign conditions, but well within our experience and comfort zone, we thought. The shape of Trial Bay meant that we should be somewhat protected from any swell and winds coming from the south. We knew we shouldn’t expect a completely still night, but figured it shouldn’t be too rolly.

We were wrong, so very, very wrong. The next two days and night proved to be some of the most challenging conditions we’d faced on the trip so far. It all started out ok. The bar was calm and flat as we departed Port Macquarie harbour after our breakfast with Amanda and Adam. The sea was pretty lumpy and swelly though, and we mostly motored as the winds were light, rarely more than 10 knots. A few squalls blew over, bringing heavy rain and stronger winds, but they were all fairly brief.

Although I wasn’t comfortable, I managed with my usual tactic of remaining in the cockpit and not going below deck. Thank goodness for those sea sickness pills! About an hour from Trial Bay we spotted heaps of whale spouts but the sea was so rough we didn’t have a good view of their bodies. Then a very active whale started breaching all around our boat. Matt raced to grab his camera and I steered the boat to try and keep up with the whale. We followed him for about half an hour as he continued cartwheeling all over the sea. It was an incredible experience!

It had been fairly uneventful up to this point, but that was about to change. It was nearing dark as we approached Trial Bay and the wind started to strengthen. A big squall passed over, drenching us. We arrived in Trial Bay with a sense of relief, but that was not to last for long. We had been hoping to tie onto a mooring buoy but after checking with Marine Rescue we discovered that the only mooring in the bay was for Emergency vessels. So we dropped the anchor and Matt attached the snubber line.

The boat has an anchor connected to approximately 50 metres of chain and an additional 50 metres of rope. The anchor windlass is an electric winch that is used to raise and lower the anchor and let out the desired level of chain, which is also called rode. You would normally let out at least 3 times the depth, so if the boat is in 5 metres of water, you would let out at least 15 metres of chain. If unsure, let out more. The windlass is not designed to hold the chain, so a snubber line is attached for this purpose. A snubber line is a piece of rope with a hook that attaches to a link in the anchor chain, while the other end ties to a strong point on the boat called a cleat. More chain is then let out so there is slack between the snubber hook and the windlass. This means that there are four stress points (the anchor in the sea bed, the anchor chain, the snubber hook and line, the cleat on the boat) and there is no load on the winch and it is a secure way of anchoring the boat.

The bay was choppy and the swell was rolling straight on in. The boat was rocking and rolling all over the place. We resigned ourselves to an uncomfortable night without much sleep. We checked and re-checked the forecast. It was still saying that the winds would die down overnight. But what the weather sites were predicting and what was actually happening were two very different scenarios.

Instead of the wind dying down, it strengthened. Throughout the night, squall after squall blew over, bringing heavy rain and fierce winds. Cool Change was lurching and bucking on the anchor. It was a very tense night. We got very little sleep, both of us just lying in bed, anxiously listening to the howling winds rage over, desperately hoping that the anchor would hold.

We were listening to the sounds of the anchor chain crunching and grinding, when all of a sudden there was a huge Bang and then we could hear rode being pulled rapidly through the winch due to the forces of the wind and the swell. Matt threw clothes on and raced up top. He turned on the motor in case it was needed to reposition the boat and hurried to the bow. There he discovered what the bang was. The hook attaching the snubber line to the anchor chain had bent under the force and given way. He raced below deck, grabbed a spare D shackle from the nav station and rigged up a new snubber line.

It was 4 am and we were both wide awake. We decided we’d leave the bay as soon as we could, at first light. Although we went back to bed to wait, there was no need to set an alarm. We set off at 6.30 am into a crazy sea. The sea state was incredibly confused; big swell, three to four metres, with waves in all different directions and strong winds, consistently 20 to 25 knots, at times reaching 30 to 35 knots. ‘This was not the forecast,’ we kept saying to each other.

We had our full wet weather gear on, as well as life jackets and tethers attaching us securely to the boat. There was a lot of rain as well as big waves that would randomly crash over the cockpit, and all over us! The only saving grace was that the water wasn’t freezing cold! We both sat in the cockpit, not talking very much. I had to keep a constant grip on the side of the seat to prevent being thrown off as we rode the swell and lurched over the waves.

I endured. That was the word of the day. Even though I’d had a sea sickness pill I still felt terrible. Matt said I should go downstairs and lie down for a bit, but I knew if I lay down that I wouldn’t be able to get up again, and I didn’t want to leave him on his own out there. I lasted five and a half hours before I vomited. Got my sea legs?! Huh!

It was like being on a rollercoaster that you could not get off. All I wanted was for the movement to just stop. I used every pain management and attention distraction technique I knew; deep breathing exercises, rhythmic tapping. I recited a mantra in my head, over and over, willing it to be true; ‘My body and brain enjoy the motion of sailing.’ It may sound silly, but I tried everything I could think of. Anything to endure. It was a very, very long seven and a half hours.

We discussed our options and were in agreement that the only course was to continue on to Coffs Harbour. Neither of us thought going back to Trial Bay was an option, there would be no respite there. And the conditions would be just as rough heading back to Port Macquarie and since it was the same distance as heading on to Coffs, we might as well keep heading forward. Coffs was also a far easier and safer harbour to enter than Port Macquarie. Importantly, neither of us were feeling scared or worried. We were just very uncomfortable. And I think that shows just how far we’ve come. Even six months ago, I think I would have been absolutely terrified when faced with those conditions. We have trust in the boat and trust in our abilities.

We were however, doubting our ability to interpret the weather forecasts correctly. We listened to the broadcast from Marine Rescue on the VHF radio and the forecast was the same as we’d read online; 20 to 25 knot southerlies and seas of 1 to 2 metres. Nothing at all like what we were experiencing. There wasn’t even a strong wind warning! We heard a fishing trawler call in to Marine Rescue to ask for a weather check; he was just as confused by the contradiction in what he was hearing and experiencing as we were.

But finally, finally we were approaching Coffs Harbour. The biggest sense of relief washed over me when we motored into the shelter of Coffs Harbour Marina. The strong wind made berthing tricky, but some other yachties came out to help, grabbed our lines and helped us to tie up. The yachting community is a really lovely bunch of people.

We’d briefly met Ian and Lynne from Meltemi in Pittwater. They’d been planning on leaving Coffs that day, but had woken, taken one look at the weather and decided to postpone their departure. Paul and Liz, from Amaranth, had followed us up the coast the previous day and seen us pull into Trial Bay. They’d continued motoring and arrived at Coffs Harbour at 9.30 pm, a good choice. They’d been wondering how we’d fared. We discussed the bizarre weather forecast. To our relief we hadn’t stuffed up and the others had been caught out by it too. Ian described that weather forecast as the most inaccurate predictions they’d encountered in their three years of travelling on their boat.

Matt and I both felt really proud of ourselves and of each other. Proud of how we’d coped and proud of how we’d worked as a team and supported each other. We sure are on a huge learning curve, but we are doing the best we can, and we are doing it together.

Later that day we ran into Chris and Anne from the yacht Horizons. Matt had met them in Forster-Tuncurry and they’d moored next to us briefly in Port Macquarie. They had left Port Mac a few days before us, and also stopped at Trial Bay on the way up to Coffs, only they had a couple of idyllic days in the bay. Sometimes it’s just luck of the draw!

At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.

Frida Kahlo

After our nine day stop in Port Stephens, it was a relief to be on the move again. We had good conditions for sailing, with a steady ten to fifteen knots of breeze, and so were able to sail for six out of the nine hours of passage time. Although we encountered some big swell and a few squalls passed over, both the seas and the weather calmed down when we rounded the point at Seal Rocks. The bar entrance at Forster-Tuncurry was deep and calm and we entered Cape Hawke Harbour without incident.

On the Tuncurry side of the river we tied up to a berth owned by the Wallis Lake Fisherman’s Co-op. These little berths, each with an individual jetty, are spread along the length of the river up to the bridge, and although no power or water are included, it allowed us easy access to shore without having to pull out the tender. Most convenient!

Matt was particularly happy about finally arriving in Forster-Tuncurry, as he had ordered his new hammock to be delivered to the Forster Post Office. (After much research and visiting many shops he was finally able to find one that was not made in China.) When we need to have something delivered, we get it sent to a post office further up the coast, but it is always a guessing game of when we will arrive and how long the delivery will take (very hard to predict at the moment with the increased pressure on the postal system).

Matt had received notifications estimating Friday as the day for delivery, however that eventually changed to Monday. By the time we arrived on Friday afternoon, the post office had closed, and wasn’t open on Saturday, so we would have had to wait until Monday anyway. This meant that we wouldn’t be leaving Forster-Tuncurry til at least Tuesday, and as it turned out, with gale force wind warnings and four to five metre swells predicted throughout the week, we didn’t actually leave until the following Friday. So once again our plan to ‘put the hammer down’ was scuttled, and we resigned ourselves to a week long stopover.

The weather was cold, cold, cold, even on days when the sun eventually came out for a bit. Our routine developed into spending slow mornings on the boat, often with a late breakfast of bacon and egg sangas cooked on the BBQ and a coffee run, before heading out for a walk or a cycle in the afternoon when it was a bit warmer.

We walked and cycled all around Tuncurry and Forster; up Coolongolook River, around Wallis Lake and along the beaches and coastline. We often spotted dolphins frolicking in the river and the bar entrance. Matt went spearfishing a few times and had some success at Seven Mile Beach, spearing a blackfish which we cooked up for dinner, adding it to our paella. One day I cycled up to Cape Hawke Lookout via a very steep road and then topped the afternoon off with a swim at the ocean pool in Forster. I was ok for the first ten minutes or so, after the initial face freeze, but it took hours for my fingers to completely thaw out afterwards.

On several evenings we ventured out for dinner, and found some fabulous places. The Good Grub Shack in Tuncurry had delicious burgers and over the bridge in Forster we stumbled across Cafe Toscano, a great Italian restaurant, managed by an Asian, that rivalled some of the best food we’d eaten in Italy. On an icy cold evening we discovered the deliciously warm and cosy Black Stump Steakhouse. Pubs were allowed to open again so Matt went and hung out with the locals. He met many familiar personalities, if not faces; there was a Sully and a Garbo, amongst many others he recognised.

We found Tuncurry and Forster to be very pretty and quite lovely little towns. Here are some of our favourite photos.

The passage to Port Macquarie also took nine hours, although this time we had the motor on for almost the entire trip. The sun was out but it was still chilly and we were both rugged up in our full sailing gear. The seas had settled but we still had some pretty big swell rolling through. That swell was still there when we approached the bar entrance at Port Macquarie, and we nervously watched waves breaking near the entrance. It was a bit scary for a few minutes, but Matt timed it perfectly and we made it through between sets. We both heaved a big sigh of relief when we were safely in the river!

We tied up to a courtesy mooring in the Hastings River, Matt put up his new hammock and we sat back and enjoyed the pretty sunset and watched as the full moon rose. I chatted to my friend Amanda, who was up here in Port Mac working as a locum surgeon. She was on a 96 hour shift, on-call for the entire long weekend, so we made some tentative plans to catch up over the next few days.

The following day we were up early and headed over to Main Beach so Matt could have a surf while I did some yoga on the beach. We walked up to the Lions Park Lookout where we had a bird’s eye view of the bar entrance and watched in fascination as some small fishing boats negotiated their way in while some pretty big waves and swell rolled through. Then we wandered back into town, reminiscing on the last time we were in Port Macquarie, which was for the Ironman in 2018. What very different circumstances we find ourselves in now!

Spotting the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood building, we spontaneously decided to see if we could donate. ‘Why not?’ we thought, ‘we’ve sure got plenty of time on our hands!’ We successfully booked in for a plasma donation later that day; the first donation for both of us. The ladies at Lifeblood were absolutely lovely and the whole process was pain and hassle free. I can’t believe I’ve never donated before now, and it’s definitely something we’ll try to do again whenever we can.

Luckily Amanda had a few hours free that afternoon so we took her and Adam over to the boat for a tour. Then we went back to their apartment, where I delighted in a long hot shower before we went out for dinner. It was so lovely to catch up with Amanda and to meet Adam. Amanda and I had met back in our triathlon days and hadn’t seen each other in years, so it was great to reconnect!

The next couple of days were pretty low key, it was very cold and we mostly stayed on the boat, doing a bit of cleaning and running the watermaker. We did go for a walk up the river and along some of the little canals. We bumped into Bruce from the boat ‘My Prime Time,’ an old sailor we’d first met in Jervis Bay. He is based here in Port Macquarie and gave us some tips on anchorages further up the coast. It’s always nice to get some local knowledge and insights.

After our four nights in Port Macquarie we were ready to head off to Coffs Harbour. We had an early farewell breakfast with Amanda and Adam, who were also travelling north, up to Byron Bay for a well earned week off.

The forecast was looking pretty good, so we planned to take two days and stop for a night at an open roadstead anchorage halfway. This did not at all go according to plan. The forecast was wrong, very very wrong. We encountered some of the most challenging conditions of the trip so far. But that’s a story for the next blog!

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Arthur Ashe

As first light was rising, at 5.20am, we slipped our mooring in Coasters Retreat and left Broken Bay, heading north for Newcastle. We aren’t often up and about at that time of day, so watching the sun rise on the horizon over the ocean was pretty special! The crisp, clear morning blossomed into a lovely day with light winds, and so we alternated between sailing and motoring.

Eleven and a half hours later, we were safely and securely tied up to a berth at the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club. The first thing I did was go and check out the showers. Swanky little individual bathrooms that looked newly renovated, with an enormous, powerful showerhead and unlimited hot water, it was absolute heaven. Then we walked into town and dined in at an Indian restaurant. It’s the small things in life…..

Now that we had decided to put down the hammer down, and move up north a bit faster, we only planned to spend one day in Newcastle before moving on. However, Mother Nature had other ideas. When checking the weather forecasts, we realised that a pretty big front was on the way, predicted to arrive later in the week. We weren’t going to be going anywhere fast! So we decided to spend an extra day in Newcastle, before moving to Port Stephens, where we would wait out the storm.

The first day was very rainy, although not cold, and we ran errands and did laundry. It was a lovely treat to be plugged into power, and have hot water on demand. The second day was absolutely beautiful; warm and sunny. I have to say that Newcastle really surprised me and it has some lovely areas, including several ocean pools, lots of beaches and a lovely harbourside precinct. We hiked over to the Mereweather Ocean Bath, had a quick swim and then wandered back along coastal tracks, past lots of beaches to the Breakwall. The sun was setting over the harbour as we made our way back to the boat, and those glorious hot showers!

We left Newcastle, heading for Port Stephens, on a lovely sunny day, with the ocean about as flat as you can get it. Sunshine, light breeze, calm waters, my kind of day! We were sailing along slowly in the gentle breeze and I was sitting up on the bow, when I saw an almighty splash in the water out of the corner of my eye. I paused for a second, then realisation sunk in. There’s only one thing that could be! Whales! ‘BREACH!’ I yelled out to Matt. He rushed up on deck. There were several humpback whales only a few hundred metres from the boat. We could clearly see their dark bodies in the water and their big spouts of air. And then they put on a little show of breaches. We managed to catch a couple on camera. Very very cool! We were both ecstatic.

Then the wind swung around to the NE, directly on the nose, so we turned the motor on and pretty much motored the rest of the way to Port Stephens. The sun was beginning to set as we negotiated our way through the entrance, and followed the channel lights through the bay to Anchorage Marina, where we had phoned ahead to organise a berth. I was up on the bow with our strongest torch, and thankfully the water was incredibly flat as Matt manoeuvred Cool Change into the tiny marina and our designated berth.

The next day we were welcomed to the marina by Patrick, the manager, ‘knocking’ on our door with a gift bag of goodies. In the daylight, the marina looked pretty fancy and we were wondering what we were up for cost-wise. Turned out to be fairly reasonable, and cheaper than Newcastle too. We discussed the impending weather with Patrick and he assured us that we were welcome to stay for as long as we needed. A further check of the weather forecasts told us that we weren’t going to be going anywhere anytime soon. We resigned ourselves to that fact. It’s all part of the journey, learning to go with the flow.

And so we made the most of the mild weather, wandering into Nelson Bay via some gorgeous tracks along the beach and out to Nelson Bay Lighthouse. Stopping at a dive shop, Matt booked onto a dive for the following Wednesday, out to Broughton Island to hopefully see some grey nurse sharks. This was Thursday and we thought that surely the worst of the storm would have passed by Wednesday. It was a deceptively warm day, and there was an eerie calm about; ‘the calm before the storm’ we joked. It certainly was that!

The wind began late that night. It was super strong and the boat began rocking a bit, even in the shelter of the marina. The weather front had finally arrived. The howling wind was to last for five days. I have never been so grateful to be safely tied up in a marina and I didn’t care what it cost!

The next day was declared a ‘boat day’ and apart from a short walk into Salamander Bay to stretch our legs and have a coffee, we spent the day on the boat reading.

On Sunday, Matt assembled the bikes and we cycled out to Anna Bay to see the famous sand dunes. The largest coastal sand mass in all of NSW, it was a vast area of sand formations, and with the strong winds, sand was flying everywhere.

We cycled back around the bay via Birubi Point, One Mile Beach and a stop at Fingal Bay for fish and chips. Although we had to eat our lunch on the beach, as the restaurant had reached its designated numbers of patrons, Matt had a schooner of beer while waiting. His first beer in a glass, since all the restrictions started. Happy boy! After six and a half hours, and almost 40 kilometres of cycling in the strong winds, I was pretty exhausted. And the long hot shower later that night was highly appreciated.

For the next two days, as well as the wind constantly howling, it also rained pretty much non-stop. It got cold too and my thermals and winter woollies came out. I pretty much didn’t leave the boat for those two days. I don’t remember this being in the brochure!

Finally, the rain stopped and although it was still windy, we were busting to get out and about, so we cycled out to Shoal Bay and to Tomaree Head. The Tomaree Head Summit Walk gave us incredible views of the entrance to the bay, and we watched in amazement as the ocean churned and huge waves rolled through the entrance, where we’d passed through almost a week ago. Unless things settled down pronto, we wouldn’t be leaving for a few days yet.

Unfortunately, Matt’s dive was cancelled as the swell was still too big. He compromised by going for a snorkel in a sheltered area nearby; Fly Point, near Little Nelson Bay. That evening we met Brooke and Nick, a couple on a motor yacht several berths up from ours. We invited them for onboard for a few drinks. It was lovely to be socialising properly, and having a face to face chat. They toured our boat and then we went and checked out theirs. From Melbourne, they’d flown up to buy their boat and been stranded by the restrictions, so were living on the boat in the marina. We all agreed we’d much rather be up here in Port Stephens! They are also thinking of heading up north so might catch up with them somewhere in QLD.

The next day dawned clear and sunny and we moved on from the delightful Anchorage Marina, after filling up with diesel and fresh water. We motored around to Little Nelson Bay and just missed out on the third courtesy mooring. So we anchored beside the three other yachts already there. I blew up my SUP and paddled to shore to do a small grocery shop. Then I took the SUP over to Fly Point, the marine reserve where Matt had snorkelled the other day. Absolutely incredible, it was teeming with thousands of fish.

Incredibly, we saw a whale spout in the bay, only a few hundred metres from the boat. Amazing! The sky glowed orange on our final night in Port Stephens. We’d been in the bay for nine nights, and we were both itching to move on. The winds and sea state were predicted to be pretty good for our passage to Forster-Tuncurry the following day.

Adventure isn’t hanging off a rope on the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life.

John Amat

It is only a relatively short distance from Sydney Harbour to Broken Bay, less than 20 nautical miles, but it took us over six hours to sail there. There was a light southerly blowing from directly behind us and so we zigged and zagged trying to keep the wind at an optimum angle to the sails. Downwind sailing sure can be frustrating!

Just on dusk, as we made our way through Broken Bay to America Bay, a pair of Hercules transport planes flew past very low overhead. They were incredibly close to us and incredibly loud. Quite a spectacle!

We arrived in America Bay as the sun was setting and tied up to one of the courtesy moorings, marvelling at how flat and calm the water was. We could have been in a lake. There was such a feeling of tranquillity and peace.

The next morning we decided to make the most of the calm conditions and tackle some repairs to the spreader guards. This involved going up the mast in the bosun’s chair, like Matt did in Lakes Entrance, and sewing some leather patches onto the ends of the spreaders. However, since sewing was the key skill involved, this time it was my turn to head up the mast. We spent most of the day going up and down in the bosun’s chair; measuring, cutting, adjusting and sewing the new guards on. My legs ached from bracing against the mast. It was quite a workout. By the end of the afternoon, we were pretty pleased with our handiwork and thought the new leather guards looked nice and neat and kind of like big band-aids on the ends of the spreaders.

There were some absolutely huge jellyfish floating in the water all over Pittwater and Broken Bay. Matt took this photo in America Bay from above the surface.

We moved to Stingray Bay in Smiths Creek and explored right down to the end of the bay, with Matt dragging the tender over some shallow parts. We were the only boat in this area and the solitude and privacy was lovely. There was a really cool echo in this little waterway and we had a bit of fun testing it out.

At Houseboat Bay in Cowan Creek we took the tender across to the boat ramp in Appletree Bay and hiked from there to Mt Ku-Ring-Gai through the Mt Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. A beautiful, steep walk, through quintessential Australian bush, with gorgeous wildflowers scattered about. At first the colour palette appears to be just greens and browns, but then you notice a brightly coloured flower and all of a sudden, you are seeing delicate pops of colour everywhere. Red, orange, yellow, white and lots of pink and purple.

Right up the end of Houseboat Bay was this pretty little waterfall. Matt climbed right up to the top of the rocks to take photos. We then motored through Cowan Creek as the sun was setting, aiming for Brooklyn, which is on the Hawkesbury River.

We didn’t quite make it all the way before dark, so we grabbed a mooring at Fisherman’s Beach in Cowan Creek. Then we were up nice and early and headed to Brooklyn as the sun rose. It was lovely to be awake to see the sun rise, but it was a little fresh! Arvi met us in Brooklyn for a coffee. A real coffee in a proper cup! Sitting at a table, not standing up! This was the first day that restrictions eased in NSW to allow patrons to dine in. It was lovely to feel somewhat normal again. We helped the owner of the Brooklyn Milk Bar to get the stools out of his van. He was pretty chuffed to be able to serve customers properly again too.

Brooklyn is a small town at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River and is as far up as we can go in Cool Change, due to the height of the bridge. It’s quite picturesque in an industrial, working harbour kind of way.

One of the highlights for me was finding hot showers near the Hawkesbury River Marina. We delighted in our first proper hot shower in six weeks. Yep, six weeks. I think that must be some sort of record, even for Matt! It was absolutely heavenly, and we both enjoyed a good clean and a proper hairwash (me!), even if the shower facilities were pretty rudimentary and we had to keep feeding the hot water meter with dollar coins. Now don’t worry, we aren’t total ferals (yet!) and we have been washing, but jumping off the back of the boat for a quick scrub and then a cold fresh water hose down isn’t exactly luxury. The boat does have a shower, but we only have hot water after we’ve used the engine, it only lasts for a short time, and I’m always conscious of water levels in the tanks, so we don’t use it all that much.

During our time in Pittwater/Broken Bay we had limited phone and internet reception, the first time this had occurred since way down south in the Kent Group islands. Figuring this would be a good time to test our SAT phone, we tried to call my sister, but to no avail. The unit would not work and no matter how many factory resets we tried, we couldn’t get it to function. Lucky it wasn’t an emergency! Thankfully, the guys from the SatPhone Shop are incredibly helpful and arranged for a new unit to be posted up to us via express courier. We nominated Coxy’s apartment in Bondi as the delivery address.

And so we found ourselves on a train from Brooklyn back to Sydney and out to Bondi, where Coxy met us with the replacement SAT phone. Of course we had to take him out for a beer to say thanks, but none of the pubs there were allowing customers to dine in yet, so we ended up at Grill’d. No complaints from me, I devoured a burger while the boys had a few beers.

On our last day we went into Pittwater proper, which is where we bought Cool Change from almost exactly a year ago. It took about a week to sail her down to Hastings last winter, and it’s taken four months to sail back up. From here on in we are entering into uncharted waters……. well, uncharted for us!

Here’s to moving onwards and upwards!

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

Helen Keller

And so it was that on a Monday morning in May, after a leisurely brunch of French toast and bacon eaten in the cockpit while gazing across at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we found ourselves sailing slowly underneath the famous arches.

It was a gorgeous sunny day with a light breeze, just enough for a gentle sail…. perfect! We were both pretty excited, because as Matt says, ‘how much more Australian can you get, than sailing under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And we get to do it in our own yacht.’

After our sail, we secured Cool Change to one of the public moorings in Athol Bay, with an amazing view right across to the city, the Bridge and the Opera House. The view was especially magical at night, with the twinkling skyline of coloured lights. We even had a perfect view of the city skyline through our bedroom window!

Athol Bay is directly outside Taronga Zoo, and we could hear some of the animals from the boat, although I’m not sure which ones. There is a ferry wharf outside the Zoo and we caught the ferry from here across to Circular Quay. Then it was time for a little bit of regular sight-seeing around the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens, as Matt had never been there before. There was quite a strange vibe about, with the area fairly deserted. It was very different from all the other times I’d visited, when it was usually bustling with people and energy. It felt quite wrong and really sad. Hopefully things will be returning back to normal sooner rather than later.

Returning to Athol Bay on the ferry at dusk, we were again treated to some amazing sunset colours in the sky and a brilliant view of the city lights. Matt’s camera got another work-out.

From Athol Bay we also walked around to Bradley Head through the Sydney Harbour National Park and up in to Mosman for a grocery shop. We met several curious brush turkeys along the way; whilst commonplace to the people of NSW and QLD, they are quite unusual and exotic to us Victorians.

Our friend Arvi, who lives in Sydney, met us here at Athol Bay with his wife Aruna and daughter Aditi. Matt ferried them across to Cool Change in the tender. It was a perfect morning to be out on the water; sunny skies, calm water and light winds. We did manage to get the sails up for a bit, and Arvi, Aruna and Aditi enjoyed sailing under the bridge and seeing the harbour from a different perspective. It was lovely to have visitors onboard. Thanks for coming guys!

After dropping Arvi and his family back, we waved goodbye and headed for Manly Cove where we spent four of the next five nights. During our time in Manly, Matt went surfing at Manly Beach, I swam in the Ocean Pool at Manly Cove and we hopped back on the ferry to Circular Quay and then caught the river ferry up the Parramatta River, just exploring and being tourists. On the return journey on the ferry we were treated to an incredible sunset again. It sure was an instance of right time, right place.

We had more visitors. Pete, a Manly local, came onboard one afternoon for Mexican and a few ciders. It was a perfect afternoon to be lazing in the cockpit with a few drinks, as Pete filled us in on local information. Including the existence of the very mooring we were tied to. Turns out, several years ago, Pete was part of a group of people who campaigned to have the public moorings at Manly Cove installed. There is seagrass in the area, an important habitat for marine life, and when boats drop their anchors they risk seriously damaging the fragile seagrass. Hence, the idea of public moorings; a win-win for boaters and the marine life. Thanks Pete!

Alex also came out for a day on the boat; we anchored at Quarantine Bay for a BBQ and snorkel, and then sailed out through the Heads. This particular day was about as idyllic as you can get; warm and sunny, flat water and nice winds for getting the sails up. A perfect day on Sydney Harbour. Once again, Matt and I thoroughly enjoyed having company onboard. Thanks so much for coming Coxy, and thanks for the very thoughtful gift of toilet paper!

One evening Matt packed up his telescope and camera and we headed across the corso to Manly Beach. There was a bright, full moon and Matt wanted to have another try at photographing the moon. The aim was to take several photos and then lay them over the top of each other using a computer program to bring out a clearer, more detailed image. Success alluded him on this occasion, and to paraphrase Thomas Edison, ‘I haven’t failed, I’ve just found more ways that don’t quite work.’

During this time we moved to Quarantine Bay for a night, which we thought would be calmer than Manly Cove, but surprisingly it wasn’t. The plan was to walk from here across the headland to Shelly Beach where we were to meet Arvi for a snorkel. The beach we were moored at borders the North Head Quarantine Station, which was all locked up due to the current restrictions. We discretely squeezed through a gate and jumped a fence to get out onto the road.

Many years ago, Harj, Shelley and I went on a ghost tour of the Quarantine Station, learning about its history and its ghosts. Although we were looking over our shoulders as we quickly walked through the complex, it wasn’t ghosts we were looking out for this time, just a possibly irate security guard!

We made it through without being challenged, and arrived at Shelly Beach to find it absolutely bustling with people. It was a gorgeous Sunday morning and Sydneysiders were making the most of it. There were people swimming, snorkelling and diving as well as plenty just standing around having a coffee and a chat. It was a lovely atmosphere.

We perched on the seawall to have our coffees, while Arvi explained a bit about the area. The entire bay, rocky shores and beaches from the southern end of Manly Beach to the northern end of Shelly Beach is known as Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve, about twenty hectares in total. Because the marine vegetation and fish are protected in this area, there is a huge range of marine life and fish species living in the bay. He promised us we would definitely see some cool fish.

And he wasn’t wrong. It was absolutely incredible! We saw an amazing array of fish, including some huge blue gropers, a fiddler ray and a pipe fish. Annoyingly, we forgot to take our underwater cameras, so no photos. After about an hour of slow snorkelling and swimming, despite my wetsuit, my hands and feet were frozen, so I reluctantly hopped out to try and warm up. Thanks so much for showing us this little piece of underwater paradise, Arvi!

As well as the water being a bit cold, it has started to get chilly in the evenings. Our spare doona has come out, as well as jumpers and trackies after dusk. I’m not quite sure why this surprises me. It is May after all, and winter is coming! We have decided to make a concerted effort to head north into the warmer weather a little faster. Time to put the hammer down. Well, as fast as the weather gods will allow us, that is.

Next stop is Pittwater, Broken Bay, where we bought Cool Change from almost exactly a year ago. What an adventure she has had so far! And hopefully lots more to come!

A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.

John Augustus Shedd

On Thursday 23rd April, we departed Port Hacking for our passage to Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour. It was a beautiful sunny day, and with very little swell and five to fifteen knot westerlies we sailed almost the entire way. Upon entering through the Heads, we got our first glimpse of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, but that’s all it was, as we turned and headed past Manly and Balmoral to the Spit Bridge, as our first destination was in the north section of bays.

The Spit Bridge spans the harbour between Mosman and Seaforth and with a height of only six metres, Cool Change cannot pass directly underneath it. Cleverly, the bridge has been built so that a section can open up for tall vessels like ours to pass through. It has several set opening times per day. With almost precision timing, we arrived just a few minutes before the 1.15pm opening and took our place in the short queue of boats. Right on time, the traffic on the road stopped and the bridge lifted up, leaving a nice big space for the boats to proceed through. It’s a pretty cool sight from a yacht.

After filling up with diesel and replenishing our water tanks at a dock on the other side of the bridge we made our way to Bantry Bay, where our friend Simon was staying on his boat with his family. A beautiful, peaceful and very still little bay, Matt was reminded of Lake Eildon in Victoria. With seven public moorings available there, we tied up and celebrated with a bottle of bubbles. Simon popped onboard to say Hi and we agreed to catch up properly over the next few days.

We ended up staying in tranquil Bantry Bay for ten nights, enjoying the calm, still water and beautiful scenery. Over the weekend, the bay became packed with boats of all sorts and sizes, more than 25 at one stage, as Sydneysiders took advantage of the gorgeous autumn weather. During the week, however, there was usually only three or four boats, and sometimes just two; ours and Simon’s.

We hiked the steep tracks through the surrounding Garigal National Park, and were rewarded with magnificent views back down onto Bantry Bay. Our stand-up paddle boards got a workout in the flat water of Bantry Bay, and we also paddled them into the adjacent Sugarloaf Bay, as far up as the Davidson Park boat ramp. Unfortunately, we did this in the middle of the day on a Sunday and it seemed that every man and his dog were out in their boats, causing lots of wake and waves, and making the paddle boarding that bit more challenging.

One day Matt tackled the nearby mountain bike trails, enjoying the rocky and challenging tracks, while I hiked to a little waterfall. Another day we walked into Seaforth, down to the Spit Bridge and then along the Spit to Manly walking trail, which is part of the famous Manly Scenic Walkway. A gorgeous walk, the trail winds along the coast all the way to Manly, past lots of little beaches and with some spectacular views over the harbour. We devoured delicious burgers in Manly, before catching a bus back to Seaforth, just as the sky coloured with beautiful shades of red and pink. After clocking up about 14 kilometres of walking, we were tired but content.

One of the things that we had been looking forward to in Sydney was catching up with family and friends. Although no one was able to fly up from Melbourne to join us, we have several friends living in Sydney, and restrictions eased just in time for us to be able to see them.

After almost two months, we thoroughly enjoyed our first night socialising with other people, when Simon and Caley invited us onto their boat for dinner and drinks. We had a lovely time on their gorgeous boat, and after a few drinks, it was an interesting trip back in the tender to our own yacht!

Being locals, Simon and Caley had lots of local knowledge to share and were incredibly generous with their time. One day Simon lent us his tender to drive to Northbridge Marina, where Caley met us in her car and drove us to a nearby shopping centre, saving us a long walk with heavy bags of groceries. Simon also took Matt scuba diving out near North Head. It was the first dive Matt has been able to do this trip, and a real highlight for him. Thanks so much guys!

It was great to be able to repay their kindness, having Simon and Ellie the dog over for dinner when the rest of the family had gone home. The kingfish curry was a hit. Thanks for the recipe, Bernard (and the kingfish!)

One Sunday afternoon as we were lazing in the cockpit, we heard a loud cowbell ringing, and to our surprise we saw the boat version of Mr Whippy approaching. Of course we had to experience this, so Matt flagged him over and bought us an ice cream each. Cheap, no, but convenient, yes!

Late one Friday afternoon, a very fancy looking boat anchored next to us. We promptly googled it and found out it is for sale for approximately $4 million AUD. It had a crew in uniform and everything, how the other half live! Although we aren’t complaining!

Throughout our time in Bantry Bay, we had the occasional swim, but it was usually very quick, and just involved a hasty dip and a ‘bits and pits’ wash. We had been warned by countless people about the bull sharks that are known to inhabit the area, and while the water was clean, it was also very deep and my imagination would run wild every time I jumped in. Suffice to say, long swims were not top of the list of activities in this bay.

When we finally moved on from Bantry Bay, we motored back under the Spit Bridge and out into the main part of Sydney Harbour. This time we got a great look at the bridge as we made our way to a mooring in Rose Bay. That night the sky lit up in an incredible glowing orange colour that seemed to linger for ages, and we relished our view of the city lights across the harbour.

I realise there has been a long delay since my last post, so apologies for that. A mixture of poor internet reception and some technical difficulties with the website is part of the reason. Huge huge thanks to my amazing IT support, Shelley, who always has all the answers! Thanks Shell!

The next blog post will detail our sail under the Harbour Bridge, a pretty special moment for us, and the rest of our adventures around the harbour. Oh, and probably just a few more sunset photos as well!

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

C.S. Lewis

Port Hacking lies on the southern fringe of Sydney, only 30 km from the city centre. With the spectacular Royal National Park bordering the southern shoreline and the surfing beaches of Cronulla to the north, it is a relatively clean and unspoilt waterway. We arrived after an uneventful passage from Wollongong, motoring most of the way as the winds were very light. Although we could see the forecast rain in the distance, fortunately it didn’t eventuate over us.

Jibbon Beach, our destination, was packed full of boats of all sizes, with locals enjoying the lovely sunny Sunday afternoon and calm waters. We dropped anchor for a couple of hours and enjoyed chilling in the cockpit. Matt was really missing his hammock in this perfect hammock weather!

After a couple of hours we were able to snaffle a mooring, one of only two public moorings at the beach. We much prefer the certainty and peace of mind of being securely tied onto a mooring rather than swinging off the anchor, and as we wanted to get off and explore the area over the next few days, we felt quite relieved at being able to jump onto the mooring.

The Royal National Park, which was established in 1879, is the second oldest national park in the world. It covers 15,000 hectares and the iconic Coast Track extends for 28 kilometres along its coastline. Whilst I would have loved to hike the entire track and explore all the numerous little beaches, waterfalls and secluded swimming holes along the way, unfortunately the camping grounds were all closed, and the tracks either too sandy or rocky for the bikes, so we were restricted to walking just the closest parts of the trail. Still, the coastline that we walked along was magnificent, with some pretty amazing views from the clifftops and we went as far as Wedding Cake Rock. Hiking the full Coast Track is most definitely on my bucket list now!

On another day we caught the ferry from the nearby village of Bundeena over to Cronulla. Matt was quite excited about his first ferry ride, and it was a really quaint old ferry that carried us on the twenty minute journey across the waterway. Well, now we really were in Sydney. Conveniently, there is a train station just a short walk from the ferry wharf, so using our Opal cards that we’d saved from a previous trip in NSW we jumped on a train. So easy!

We journeyed all of two stops to Caringbah, and then walked a couple of kilometres into the industrial area. We were here to visit Bunnings in order to purchase a hose and attachment for the high pressure pump on the desalinator, so that we can more easily and efficiently clean the outside of the yacht. That part was simple and Bunnings had what Matt was looking for. Harder to find was the correct adaptor that we needed, and we trooped all over the place following leads and searching for the elusive part. After a lovely tour of the industrial streets of Caringbah, we finally had success, as well as most definitely notching up our exercise for the day.

A pitstop at Cronulla Beach on the way back did not inspire the desire for a swim. The entire Cronulla beachfront area had ‘Exercise Only’ signs all over the beaches and grassy areas, so we couldn’t even just sit down either and with more walking not really high up on my agenda, we hightailed it back to the ferry and across to our quiet little beach.

Another day, Matt went spearfishing at gorgeous Shelley Beach, only a very short walk from our anchorage, while I enjoyed practising yoga in the serenity of the isolated beach. While Matt was successful in his spearfishing endeavour I’m not going to record too much more about the details here ……. take from that what you will!

I met an echidna on one of my walks and spent about half an hour watching him. Echidnas are very timid creatures, and notoriously difficult to photograph. This little guy was shy and startled very easily, but clearly wanted to be on the move. So he’d poke his head out, take a few steps and if I remained completely still he would cautiously edge out and onto the path. If I moved to try and take a photo, or as happened once, another person ran past, he’d scuttle back into the bushes and curl up. He’d wait there a few minutes and then slowly venture out again. I watched him go back and forth a number of times, before I decided I should leave him in peace to go on his way.

Matt took some more night photos, taking the tender over to Jibbon Beach and Jibbon Head late one evening.

We were also lucky enough to experience some gorgeous coloured skies during the evenings. Yep, here come some more sunset photos!

We really enjoyed our short stay here, just three days, and the only real downfall were the mosquitoes that came out as soon as dusk fell. Our new bug zapper seems to be no match for them, and I am covered in mozzie bites. We are looking forward to moving on up into Sydney and hopefully catching up with some friends….. in a proper social distancing manner, of course!

I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.

Jimmy Dean

We arrived into Wollongong at a quarter to six in the evening, after our ten hour passage from Jervis Bay. After first tying up to the public mooring and finding that it wasn’t deep enough for us, we settled on rafting Cool Change next to several old yachts tied to the side of the wharf. The harbour was calm and still and after a month on swing moorings in Jervis Bay, it was a welcome change to be on a boat that remained flat and relatively unmoving. We placed a row of fenders between Cool Change and the adjacent boat to protect them from banging into each other. To get off our boat we clambered over the two boats next to us and then up a huge tyre to reach the wharf. Still a lot easier and quicker than having to use the tender to get to shore! Wollongong put on a spectacular sunset to welcome us and we walked into town, enjoying being somewhere new and different, to get some take-away for dinner.

We spent five days in Wollongong, enjoying some beautiful sunshine and warm weather. There were plenty of people out and about, at all times of the day. There seemed to be almost a festive atmosphere, with the sunshine and the people everywhere – or maybe that was just me, feeling so grateful to be somewhere new and sunny! Some locals we met who usually walk every day said they have never seen so many people out walking. Probably because most other forms of exercise have currently been cancelled or restricted. People were out walking, swimming, surfing, stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, and getting take-away coffees and meals, but doing so according to social distancing principles. It was nice to see. We feel that NSW has got the balance right and are very glad that we are here and not in Victoria at the moment.

Each day I would go for a walk along the beach and then do some yoga or meditation on the sand. Matt has started running again, and would set off for his five km run each morning. We swam at the North Wollongong Ocean Rock Pool, a gorgeous little swimming hole, a couple of times, but it was usually pretty packed with people so generally we preferred to swim near the harbour. Disappointingly, the Continental Pool where I’d been looking forward to enjoying a hot shower was closed as well. I’m not having too much luck on the hot shower front!

Feeling a bit peckish one afternoon, I began heating up some leftover chicken curry for a snack. Matt came downstairs, saw what I was doing and announced that he would like some too. As there was only a very small portion of curry leftovers I now had to try and bulk it up a bit to feed the two of us. I had the genius idea of combining the curry with some taco leftovers. Fusion cuisine at its best! I added the chicken to the taco shells and topped them with sour cream and half a precious avocado. It looked and smelled delicious and I popped each taco into a bowl and carried them up the stairs to the cockpit.

Well, that is what I attempted to do. Somehow, I managed to fall up the stairs (yes, up!) with a bowl of food in each hand. Food went flying and I landed heavily on the floor, hurting my back, knee and ankle. In shock and amazement I lay on the floor, somewhere between laughing and crying, while Matt regarded me with a mixture of concern and amusement. The boat must have jerked just as I was walking up the stairs, and not holding onto the railings as my hands were full, down (or up) I went. I was mostly upset that my delicious snack was ruined and now all over the floor of the cockpit, until I realised that the window into our bedroom was open. Yep, some of the food flew through the gap and ended up on the cushion and the sheets below. And do you think it was the taco shell, sour cream or avocado that went through the window? Of course not! It was pieces of chicken curry, brightly stained with turmeric and now brightly staining the cushion and the sheets. You can’t make this stuff up.

So after soaking and scrubbing the stains out of the cushion, while Matt cleaned down the cockpit, I hightailed it to the laundromat and washed the sheets. It’s lucky they were due a wash and a change anyway. A video call with the always entertaining Aden and Stella cheered me up while I was waiting for the laundry, as did the lovely G&T I had when I finally made it back to the boat and could relax. I could have worse problems to deal with!

There are many beautiful tracks and trails around Wollongong that I had been looking forward to exploring, however almost all of these walks were closed due to coronavirus restrictions. We did find one trail that was still open, and so on Saturday we caught the free shuttle bus to Wollongong University and from there hiked the Mount Keira Ring Track. The walk took us to the Mount Keira Summit lookout with sweeping views of the coastline and views over Wollongong and Port Kembla. Part of the Illawarra Escarpment, the track is very steep in parts, and passes through a range of terrains, including beautiful rainforest. The signage is a little confusing, with lots of little tracks, either not marked or confusingly labelled, all over the place, but with the aid of good old Google Maps and the Map My Run app we managed to find our way. We hiked the 10.6 km loop in four hours.

Matt has been doing lots of photography and is getting pretty good, I reckon. Here are some of his best photos of the harbour at night, taken over several different evenings.

And so we move on from Wollongong, excited to continue our journey north. Next stops will be Port Hacking, Botany Bay and Sydney Harbour. Hope you are all happy and healthy. Look after yourselves!

Act as if what you do makes a difference. IT DOES!

William James

Well, after 31 days floating around Jervis Bay, we definitely have a love / hate relationship with the place. As mentioned previously, when the sun is shining and the water is calm and flat, then it really is an idyllic place to be on a yacht. But when it is raining, windy and/or the swell picks up, being on a boat is not a particularly nice experience. So it was without reservation and a slight sense of relief that we motored out of the bay and headed north for Wollongong.

We decided to move on after talking to several other yachties and reading Government guidance for live-aboards. The advice was all that it is safe and legal to move about within New South Wales. The restrictions here in NSW are not as strict as they appear to be in Victoria and Queensland, and people are still taking boats out fishing, going surfing, swimming and stand-up paddle boarding. All whilst keeping appropriate social distancing of course!

Jervis Bay is not even halfway up the NSW coast, so there is still plenty of sailing to be done and towns to visit before we reach the Queensland border. We decided it was ok to resume our trip and keep on heading north; to warmer weather, to new places to explore and hopefully to more sheltered anchorages. When we get to Queensland we will just have to see what the state of affairs are at that time. Currently the border is closed, and we believe we would be required to quarantine for two weeks on our boat if we were allowed to cross. However, there is still a long ways to go and the situation is changing all the time, so we will just keep on moving north slowly and see what happens.

I thought I’d just do a little summary of our time in the Bay and then add a few favourite or random photos. Cool Change was moored at a public (or very occasionally, a private) mooring almost every night, except for 3 nights when we dropped the anchor. We spent 13 nights at Hole in the Wall, 5 nights at Huskisson, 2 nights at Callala Bay, 11 nights at Vincentia (3 of these on anchor) and 1 night at Cave Beach campsite. Thankfully, all the moorings were free, so the most expensive accommodation cost was the $28 campsite.

We ran the generator once to charge the batteries, and ran the watermaker twice to fill our tanks with drinking water. I did laundry twice at the laundromat in Vincentia and I had two proper hot showers off the boat (unlimited water, so total luxury!). We hiked or biked on seven days and I took the stand-up paddle board out three times. We emptied the holding tank on three occasions, and my diary notes that ten days were ‘slow, quiet, stayed on boat.’ Although we did get take-away occasionally, we mostly cooked on the boat, so the closure of pubs, restaurants and cafes has probably saved us a fair bit of money.

Our downtime on the boat has been spent reading, studying, working on photos and blogs, listening to 3AW, and to Spotify. Matt has developed his own playlist and it really has become the soundtrack to our trip. If you’re after an awesome playlist, look up ‘Matt’s on vacation far away’ on Spotify. Check it out and let us know what you think.

And probably my two favourite things were regularly seeing the large pod of resident dolphins and the beautiful sunsets. Approximately every second or third day we would see the dolphins. They often swam right past the boat, and although Matt jumped in to swim with them on many occasions, he never really got more than a quick glimpse. These dolphins didn’t want to play with us, I think they were probably hunting for food.

People who know me well, will know that I love a good sunset, and here in Jervis Bay we sure were treated to a heap of gorgeous sunsets. The sky turned it on for us regularly in all the different locations. I can’t think of anything much better than sipping a G&T on a yacht while watching the incredible colours of a sunset develop and change (if the water is flat, that is!). Mother Nature is an amazing thing!

One afternoon in Vincentia, we watched a storm front cross the bay, and then the most incredible rainbow emerged:

When we first arrived in Huskisson, Matt made friends with the pretty tame kookaburras:

On a walk to Hare Bay, we discovered these cute little sand crabs all over the beach:

This was Matt’s favourite position on the boat; in his beloved hammock, with a bevvie, listening to the radio:

(Sadly the hammock is no more.)

Fresh trevally for dinner at Hole in the Wall:

Spectacular Sunsets:

And so we say farewell to Jervis Bay. Onwards and upwards! Next stop…… Wollongong!

Jervis Bay is surrounded by several different National Parks and Nature Reserves, so we were looking forward to doing a bit of hiking and biking and exploring them all during our stay in the Bay. Luckily, we organised our camping trip in Booderee National Park before the coronavirus restrictions started, as that National Park has now been completely closed to visitors. Booderee National Park is jointly managed by the Federal Government and the local indigenous community while the NSW Jervis Bay National Parks and Abrahams Bosom Reserve are managed by the NSW State Government, and are still open to the public at this stage.

Booderee National Park is situated off the southern coast of Jervis Bay, so with Cool Change moored at Hole in the Wall, we planned an overnight camping trip to explore some of the more remote beaches in the National Park. We obtained a permit to camp at Cave Beach campsite and then planned our route. While tallying up the kilometres, I soon realised that we weren’t going to be able to hike the route in one day, not while carrying full packs anyway.

So we decided we’d take the bikes, ride them with our packs on, and then ditch either the packs or the bikes for sections of the route, where appropriate. It worked beautifully and we covered 34 kilometres of hiking and biking in just under seven hours. The tracks alternated between sandy trails, 4WD gravel tracks, steep narrow single trails, and tight and twisty walking tracks, so was it quite challenging at times. We did the southern loop, stopping at Steamers Beach, Brooks Lookout, St Georges Head, Corangamite, Kittys Beach, Blacks Harbour and Whiting Beach. At Kittys Beach we stopped for lunch and a refreshing swim in the crystal clear waters. There were very few other people around, and we only encountered three other couples in this area.

By the time we reached Cave Beach campsite, we were both exhausted and looking forward to collapsing on the beach and then having a shower. The showers were cold, but still felt fantastic. The campsite was pretty basic and although it had been advertised as a remote campsite, there were lots of other campers there, and also a carpark that brought in a heap of day visitors the next morning. Not exactly how I’d describe remote!

There was also a large population of fairly tame kangaroos that lots of the tourists were having selfies with, and as we were to discover, a large number of very bold and very hungry possums. As soon as it was dark the possums came out to investigate and they weren’t at all shy, allowing us to come quite close. Once we’d gone to bed, they became even bolder, loudly trying to get into my pack where I’d stashed the remainder of our food. I had to get up and move it all into the tent with us. Upon waking, I discovered they had had a good rummage around the stove and washing up bag, which were the only things I’d left out overnight. No damage done.

We slept pretty well in our little hiking tent, the first time sleeping on solid ground in about a month. Weirdly, I felt a strange sensation as if I was swaying. Maybe my body is adjusting to the boat after all.

Here are some photos from the hike:

Map of trails in Booderee National Park and a map of our hike/bike:

Curious possums at Cave Beach campsite:

The following morning we left the busy Cave Beach and made our way to the more isolated Bherwerre Beach. It is a beautiful and peaceful place with kilometres of white sandy beach and enticing calm blue waters. There was only one other person there, a nudist swimming in the water, so we made our way to a different section where Matt declared, ‘Well, if he’s going nude, then I can too’ and promptly stripped off and headed for the water.

We walked a long way up the deserted beach, enjoying the space and the quiet. A big hermit crab out for a walk obliged us for some photos, and on the way back we spotted a pod of dolphins surfing in the waves quite close to the shore. Matt headed out to see if he could swim with them, and although he got quite close to a couple who were in the waves nearby, the dolphins didn’t want to play with us and headed out to sea.

A few days later we found ourselves on the opposite side of the entrance to Jervis Bay on the Beecroft Peninsula. Leaving Cool Change anchored off Bindijine Beach, we went for a walk past the very pretty but very busy Honeymoon Bay to Target Beach, Silica Cove and Longnose Point. These beaches were much quieter and absolutely beautiful. In the right conditions, Target Beach apparently has quite a good surf break, however not on this day. At Longnose Point we saw the wreck of St. Martin de Porres, a sailing boat which ended up on the rocks there in 1994.

A few weeks later we headed out to Abrahams Bosom Reserve on the North East coast of Jervis Bay. Cool Change was moored at Callala Bay so Matt put our bikes together and we cycled 12 kilometres to the little beach town of Currarong where the hike started. It was a lovely sunny day and we enjoyed being out and about after many consecutive days cooped up on the boat. We walked the 9 kilometre Coomies Circuit Walk through beautiful green forest, with numerous detours off to delightful beaches, a shipwreck, spectacular ocean views, massive sandstone cliffs and the incredible Gosangs Tunnel. At Gosangs Tunnel you need to get down on hands and knees to crawl through a cave before emerging onto a rock platform with views of the sheer cliff faces just below. Quite extraordinary!

Here are our favourite photos of the walk:

Jervis Bay certainly has an abundance of beautiful beaches and spectacular lookouts, as well as plenty of lovely hikes in the numerous National Parks. We feel fortunate that we’ve been able to experience and enjoy so many of them during our stay. We have been doing a bit more research on the current regulations for liveaboards and sailing vessels like ours and it looks as though we are free to move around NSW. So watch this space….. we might be moving on from Jervis Bay very soon. Fingers crossed!!