On the move heading North
Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Mon 18 Apr 2011 12:06
152:08.96 E
Hello all,
Yes, we have made some progress since we last reported on this site. Our last report came from Jervis Bay on March 28. The next day we had a bit of a bumpy sail to Greenwell Point, as the waves reverberated off the rocks. Result: notoriously tumultuous waters. Once inside it was fisherman's haven. People fishing from little aluminium boats, docks, boat ramps.... you name it! But not all was serene as we needed some time there to visit our dentist friend and not only for friendly business. Also an ideal place to do some of the smaller jobs on board.
About a week later we got permission from our dentist to move on with our pearly teeth to our next destination Sydney! Sailing past famous Bondi beach and coming into the harbour through the impressive Sydney Heads entrance. We anchored off Spring Cove on the Manly side. We had not been ashore on this side of Sydney before. We had to walk to the Manly ocean beach which was flocked with surfers and lots of groups hanging out on the beach. Apparently the surfers are active as soon as the sun rises, which is around 6 in the morning. Lots of people put in an hour of surfing before they head off to the office, we learned from some local residents.
While in Sydney we took the opportunity to fuel up Miss Molly from the fuel barge, which is more economical than from any marina. We agreed to meet up in Farmers Bay, which is right off the Sydney Opera House. Had to take some pictures with the Opera as a backdrop before the fuel barge showed up!
On April 12 we moved on to Pittwater, the busy boat haven about 20 Nm North of Sydney. It turned out to be a coincidental meeting of previously met sailing friends and a good time to catch up in beautiful calm Towlers Bay. More boat jobs on the non sailing days.
Our plan was to head to Port Stevens on Saturday. We had a good start although it was raining, with a nice wind aft of the beam. However, the wind petered out and we ended up motoring. In fact the weather was so miserable that we changed course to Newcastle, 20 miles short of Port Stevens. We managed to dock in between the heavy showers and just waited for the weather to clear. So Port Stevens had to wait until today. Not much wind to speak of, but it was a pleasant trip and there were more sailboats out there. In Nelsons Bay we managed to pick up a courtesy mooring. We are quite close to the beach and were surprised to see someone actually swim past the boat. That has not happened in a while!
We will rest up here before we make the big hop to Coffs Harbour, the most Northern port in New South Wales. After that we will get back to Queensland.
We'll keep you posted!
Cheers from Geoff & Merel