Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Monday, 26 October 2009
25th and 26th Oct, Careel bay, Pittwater
As there was strong winds forecast for later in the day we had an early start from Manly to make the 15 mile trip up the coast to Pittwater. We have arranged a mooring buoy in Careel Bay which is going to be Newtsvilles new home.
It was a slow motor with the wind too close to sail and tide against us. The sky was very grey and as we rounded the headland at the entrance to the bay it started torrential raining and thunder and lightning! We made our way into the bay with reduced visibility and had to avoid a sea plane!
We motor around the bay looking for our buoy - no. 64. We found 62 and 63 and then realised that another boat was on 64 so we were told to pick up a different buoy. About half an hour later as we were starting to dry off we heard voices outside. It was the owner of the buoy we were on needing us to move - we were directed to a different buoy and werent asked to move again.
During the night the forecast southerly came in and it was a wet and windy night.
It was a slow motor with the wind too close to sail and tide against us. The sky was very grey and as we rounded the headland at the entrance to the bay it started torrential raining and thunder and lightning! We made our way into the bay with reduced visibility and had to avoid a sea plane!
We motor around the bay looking for our buoy - no. 64. We found 62 and 63 and then realised that another boat was on 64 so we were told to pick up a different buoy. About half an hour later as we were starting to dry off we heard voices outside. It was the owner of the buoy we were on needing us to move - we were directed to a different buoy and werent asked to move again.
During the night the forecast southerly came in and it was a wet and windy night.
In the morning we had to pack our bags to go to our hotel in the city centre. The weather was still horrible and we ended up with alot of bags (all covered in bin bags to ensure they stayed dry on the trip ashore) so we decided to get a taxi to the city rather than the bus.We got picked up by the marina launch boat and said goodbye to Newt.
We are now settled into our hotel room for 2 weeks. We are still looking for an apartment and have to buy jonny a suit before he starts work in a week.
As we have now left the boat and are at the end of our trip we will only update the website periodically. We love hearing from people about our trip and are happy to answer any questions so please keep in touch.
Love Kate, Jonny and Newtsville
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Saturday, 24 October 2009
24th Oct, Manly, Sydney
An early start this morning to go and pick up our hire car. We had a busy day looking at apartments and found some that were more what we were looking for than on Thurs. Still not found the right one but will keep looking.
We had a quiet night on the boat.
We had a quiet night on the boat.
23rd Oct, Manly, Sydney
We moved Newt up to Manly today which is the area we are hoping to rent a house in.
We had a busy day ashore getting our bank cards, doing internet jobs and researching houses to visit tomorrow.
After a brief trip back to the boat we headed back ashore for dinner with Lauren and Andy. We met them when they were crew on White Hawk. We had a great evening with them on their balcony overlooking the harbour. We met their house mate John and Nick (also crew on White Hawk) came round as well.
We had a busy day ashore getting our bank cards, doing internet jobs and researching houses to visit tomorrow.
After a brief trip back to the boat we headed back ashore for dinner with Lauren and Andy. We met them when they were crew on White Hawk. We had a great evening with them on their balcony overlooking the harbour. We met their house mate John and Nick (also crew on White Hawk) came round as well.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
22nd Oct, Sydney, Australia
We set the alarm for 7am to get up and move the boat as we were now anchored in the channel and wanted time to set the anchor in the new location before we headed off for the day. We motored over to Balls Head Bay and dropped the anchor and after speaking to another boat in the bay we were happy.
We walked up to the nearby train station to met the Relocation agent that PWC provided for us. We were spending the day looking at apartments. We visited 7 apartments - some good, some ok and some horrible!! A couple were nice but not quite right so we will keep looking. Apartments are moving really fast at the moment and hopefully we will be able to sort something out for when we move out of our PWC hotel.
As we were finishing dinner Jaime and Lisa from a local boat came over to say hello. We spent a nice evening talking to them - they are off to America in a couple of weeks to buy a boat and sail it back to Australia.
We walked up to the nearby train station to met the Relocation agent that PWC provided for us. We were spending the day looking at apartments. We visited 7 apartments - some good, some ok and some horrible!! A couple were nice but not quite right so we will keep looking. Apartments are moving really fast at the moment and hopefully we will be able to sort something out for when we move out of our PWC hotel.
As we were finishing dinner Jaime and Lisa from a local boat came over to say hello. We spent a nice evening talking to them - they are off to America in a couple of weeks to buy a boat and sail it back to Australia.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
21st Oct, Sydney Harbour
A busy first day in Sydney and a first for Newtsville!
After breakfast and showers we headed ashore. We needed to go to the chandlery which was a couple of bays away. When we left the UK we replaced our mast head lights with LED lights which have been great - bright but low power usage. Unfortunately as we have traveled across the Pacific the anchor light had started to fail and by the time we got to Tonga it wasn't worth putting on. When we contacted the manufacturer they said that when we got to Sydney they would be happy to exchange it under warranty. After walking for 45 mins we were worried that when we got to the chandlery the manufacturer wouldn't have e mailed and they wouldn't know what we were talking about but they had the bulb waiting for us.
We got the bus back to the city centre and went to the Aquarium to meet John and Monica for lunch. John and Monica are cruising friends of Jonny's parents. John had been delivering a boat across the Pacific but our paths hadn't crossed and now they were in Sydney visiting their daughter. They took us for a lovely lunch at an Italian restaurant on Darling Harbour and then came back to the boat for a drink.
After a big lunch we didn't feel we needed any dinner so we settled down to watch a dvd. Jonny happened to glance out of the hatch and noticed that we were nearly touching the boat behind us. For the first time since we left the UK we had dragged our anchor. It was just going dark so we had a quick motor around but decided where we had been was the best spot so decided to try again. After watching the boat for a while we seemed to be holding so went to carry on watching the dvd. A large gust came through the anchor and when we looked out we realised that we had dragged again. We picked up the anchor and moved to a spot that meant we were slightly in the channel but by now it was dark and we thought we could move first thing in the morning. We watched the rest of the dvd and went to bed with the anchor alarm set but we seemed to be holding.
I was abit nervous about going to sleep but was dozing lightly at around midnight when i heard a banging on the hull. I jumped out of bed thinking we had dragged again and went to look. I could see a canoe banging against Newts hull but no one in it. I shouted to Jonny to come up when i heard this voice in the water. One of the guys off a nearby boat had tried to kayak out to his boat and had tipped it over and couldnt get back in. I lowered our swimming ladder and shouted for Jonny again. The young lad was fully clothed and absolutely soaking. He had lost his phone and wallet. He used our bathroom - leaving a wet trail through the boat and then Jonny gave him a lift to his boat in our dinghy.
By 1am we were back in bed and had a good nights sleep!!
After breakfast and showers we headed ashore. We needed to go to the chandlery which was a couple of bays away. When we left the UK we replaced our mast head lights with LED lights which have been great - bright but low power usage. Unfortunately as we have traveled across the Pacific the anchor light had started to fail and by the time we got to Tonga it wasn't worth putting on. When we contacted the manufacturer they said that when we got to Sydney they would be happy to exchange it under warranty. After walking for 45 mins we were worried that when we got to the chandlery the manufacturer wouldn't have e mailed and they wouldn't know what we were talking about but they had the bulb waiting for us.
We got the bus back to the city centre and went to the Aquarium to meet John and Monica for lunch. John and Monica are cruising friends of Jonny's parents. John had been delivering a boat across the Pacific but our paths hadn't crossed and now they were in Sydney visiting their daughter. They took us for a lovely lunch at an Italian restaurant on Darling Harbour and then came back to the boat for a drink.
After a big lunch we didn't feel we needed any dinner so we settled down to watch a dvd. Jonny happened to glance out of the hatch and noticed that we were nearly touching the boat behind us. For the first time since we left the UK we had dragged our anchor. It was just going dark so we had a quick motor around but decided where we had been was the best spot so decided to try again. After watching the boat for a while we seemed to be holding so went to carry on watching the dvd. A large gust came through the anchor and when we looked out we realised that we had dragged again. We picked up the anchor and moved to a spot that meant we were slightly in the channel but by now it was dark and we thought we could move first thing in the morning. We watched the rest of the dvd and went to bed with the anchor alarm set but we seemed to be holding.
I was abit nervous about going to sleep but was dozing lightly at around midnight when i heard a banging on the hull. I jumped out of bed thinking we had dragged again and went to look. I could see a canoe banging against Newts hull but no one in it. I shouted to Jonny to come up when i heard this voice in the water. One of the guys off a nearby boat had tried to kayak out to his boat and had tipped it over and couldnt get back in. I lowered our swimming ladder and shouted for Jonny again. The young lad was fully clothed and absolutely soaking. He had lost his phone and wallet. He used our bathroom - leaving a wet trail through the boat and then Jonny gave him a lift to his boat in our dinghy.
By 1am we were back in bed and had a good nights sleep!!
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
21st Oct AM, Sydney Harbour
We arrived at the harbour entrance as it was coming light and motored through the harbour past the opera house and under the bridge. We are now anchored in Blackwattle Bay near the fish market and Darling Harbour.
It was an amazing feeling to have arrived and to be sailing in the harbour.
It was an amazing feeling to have arrived and to be sailing in the harbour.
20th Oct, Coffs Harbour to Sydney
We had a great day sailing.
In Niue we saw whales breaching on the horizon and in Tonga we saw them swimming past the boat however this is the first time we have seen them breaching and tail slapping reasonably close to the boat. It was amazing to see.
In the evening we took down the main and sailed overnight under the genoa to ensure we arrived at the harbour at first light. At times even with just the genoa up we were doing 7 knots due to the current!!
In Niue we saw whales breaching on the horizon and in Tonga we saw them swimming past the boat however this is the first time we have seen them breaching and tail slapping reasonably close to the boat. It was amazing to see.
In the evening we took down the main and sailed overnight under the genoa to ensure we arrived at the harbour at first light. At times even with just the genoa up we were doing 7 knots due to the current!!
Monday, 19 October 2009
19th Oct, Coffs Harbour to Sydney
After a lazy morning we left the marina again at lunchtime. Today we had the light headwinds and a much calmer sea.
We made good progress motor sailing down the coast doing 7 knots with the current.
We should be in Sydney first light on wed morning.
We made good progress motor sailing down the coast doing 7 knots with the current.
We should be in Sydney first light on wed morning.
24hr run: 146 n/m
18th Oct, Coffs Harbour, Australia
After a walk round the market and having Scott, Bonito and then Jane and Matt, Lissa over for coffee we headed out into the harbour.
The weather forecast had said that we would have light headwinds so we decided to leave and motor overnight to get going on our trip to Sydney. Outside the harbour the winds were much stronger than forecast and the sea was huge. After 1/2 an hour pounding into the wind and sea at 3 knots we turned back to Coffs.
As we didnt have a marina key anymore we spent the afternoon on the boat. Jane and Matt came over to find out why we were back!!
An early night ready to head off again tomorrow!!
The weather forecast had said that we would have light headwinds so we decided to leave and motor overnight to get going on our trip to Sydney. Outside the harbour the winds were much stronger than forecast and the sea was huge. After 1/2 an hour pounding into the wind and sea at 3 knots we turned back to Coffs.
As we didnt have a marina key anymore we spent the afternoon on the boat. Jane and Matt came over to find out why we were back!!
An early night ready to head off again tomorrow!!
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