Our Big Sailing Adventure 2018 comes to an end

Sunday, September 23, 2018

2018 Travels

Date: 22/9/18

Location: We are home! Coffs Harbour Marina

Weather: blue sky and warm

Author: Kylie

Sorry we were too busy enjoying the last month of our trip to write a blog post. How quick the past 5 ½ months has gone. We are now back in our house and Jura is safely moored in the marina at Coffs.

The trip was everything we had hoped it would be plus more. We could easily have spent another few months (or maybe even years!) out there cruising. In fact Mia wrote in her school work "I never want to go home, its too much fun living on the boat"! And she was the one we thought would struggle the most with the trip.

So I think another adventure is on the cards and hopefully we wont have to wait another 10 years to achieve the dream!

Middle Bluff Lighthouse at Big Woody Island - Hervey Bay

I'll catch you up on what we have been up to over the past 3 weeks. Last blog we were anchored up at the north end of Moreton Bay (north of Brisbane).The bay is really shallow, so we were anchored quite a distance from the shore. We waited for a weather window to head out to Tangalooma and then had a rather rough ride across the bay. The breeze was up more than forecast but predicted to swing to the east and therefore offer good protection. So we anchored up, just off the wrecks and sat out the afternoon aboard the boat. There was light rain all day and we rolled around in the swell and wind. Unfortunately the wind didn't swing east and the small chop continued to make the boat quite uncomfortable. The following morning was not much better so we decided to do a quick trip in the ducky to explore the wrecks and then head south and back across the bay to an anchorage with more protection.

Checking out the soft corals and fishlife through the 'looking glass'

You can see how breezy it was

The aging Tangalooma wrecks have had a few modifications since our last visit. For safety reasons they have chopped or folded down any high structures.

Our next anchorage was at St Helena Island which is not far from the Manly Boat Harbour. We anchored up just before a big rain squall came through and then used our time to catch up on school work. The following day was much the same. For our first time this trip we were stuck on the boat with rain! It really didn't rain the whole trip, so really we were quite fortunate.

By this time it was 5 days aboard without touching land, I think we were all going a bit stir crazy!!!

The rain eased up enough for us to go for an explore on St Helena Island and it was fantastic. The island has been used for many things over the past but most notably a prison. There are areas open to the public but the majority of the island has to be explored in a tour :( We walked around the ruins of an old boat shed, a lime kilm and the cemetery for both the prisoners and the officers family. The island has a huge population of kanagroos and the kids loved seeing the joeys in the mums pouches. Unfortunately the rain loomed on the horizon again so we headed back to the boat but it was nice to touch land again. Oh and by the way we don't get sea legs after being on the boat. There is no swaying or unsteadiness. I think the shorter the stay on a boat the more effects what you will feel, but after 5 months on the boat we certainly don't feel it.

The light rain continued the next day as we headed across to Manly. We anchored off the harbour and went ashore for a late lunch with our friends Andrew and Rosie. The kids took the opportunity to have a play at the playground too. It was nice to be back in the real world a bit and to have a conversation with someone other than just ourselves!

We continued our journey south the next day and headed to the ever popular anchorage at Peel Island. I think this was the most boats we had seen since the Whitsundays- it was the weekend and the weather was now warm and sunny so all the locals were out and about. The last time we had been to this island Mia was still a toddler learning to walk and Joel wasn't even born! After never seeing dugongs before, we were fortunate enough to see them again at Peel Island. We were in the rubber duck heading back to the boat and caught a glimpse of a pair feeding on some sea grass. These ones were a bit shyer and not so showy as the pair in the Whitsundays but here is a photo.

We have been running a bit behind with the school work. Who wants to spend time on school work when you can be at the beach or playground! And the activities were sometimes challenging on the boat. There was a 6 week gymnastics program. Mia certainly had her work cut out try to do balances on a rocking boat! And we really didn't have the space to practice a gymnastics routine aboard Jura.

Andrew and baby Raegan (as the kids call her) came for a day visit down at Peel Island. We had a lovely antipasto plate lunch and walk along the beach before heading back to drop them off at their car at Cleveland. I caught a lift with them to pick our car up from their house (we were really nearing the end of our trip when you start planning to pick up the car). I took the opportunity to drive out to my friend Zoe's house for the night. That gave Peter and the kids time to motor Jura through the sandy straits south of Brisbane to the Gold Coast- It took them about 6 hours I think, and had to be timed for the high tide.

I am pleased to say I still remember how to safely drive a car after not driving one for close to 6 months! Even in a city I don't know, in the rain and coming onto dark too, that felt like an achievement in itself.

Peter anchored the boat up off Sea World and I parked the car at the boat ramp right near by. Wow the Gold Coast was an initiation back into the real world. Peter and I both looked at each other and said, "can we go back to our quiet life?" It was a crazy Sunday with jet skis zipping around everywhere, fishing boats and so many yachts and pleasure craft out and about. This is not our version of cruising. We like the quiet beaches, an anchorage to ourselves is even better! It was kind of a disappointing way to finish up what has been an amazing trip.

The weather forecast looked good for a sail south on Wednesday. The plan was to sail direct from Southport to Coffs Harbour. There are some places we could have stopped at along the way like Ballina but it has a bar crossing which we are not too fond of. The trip takes around 24 hours, the kids could easily have done the sail now but we had the car up there so that left Pete to sail by himself. Most people don't understand that you can't just stop the yacht to have a sleep when you get tired. On a 24 hour voyage there must be someone on watch all the time, checking for other boats (fishing boats & container ships particularly), looking for whales, keeping an eye on weather changes etc. We were lucky that my brother Rhys was in Coffs and offered to come and assist Peter sailing Jura back home. And he sat on a bus for 7 hours or something to get up to the Gold Coast so thank you very much Rhys, we really appreciate it.

So that brings us to our journey home. Mine was unremarkable in the car and Peter and Rhys had a pretty good trip south themselves. The wind was very light when they crossed the Gold Coast Seaway so they motored for three hours before the wind slowly increased to a nice Northerly. They popped up big bird and made some good time south. Actually they probably went the fastest we have been all trip. The wind continued to increase over the afternoon and they pulled in big bird and sailed under poled out headsail and main into the night. The last few hours before Coffs the wind dropped out and they again switched on the motor, coming into Coffs Harbour around 4am. 20 hours in total, with lots of whale sightings (yep they are heading south again now). Thanks again Rhys for your help.

Needless to say, the guys were pretty tired the next day! We started the big unpack, hauling car and trailer loads of stuff back to the house. I should have taken a photo of the amount of books the kids had on the boat, it was outrageous. I think even now there are more things to bring home!

Of course there were some advantages to coming home such as the washing machine, dishwasher, a proper shower and our bikes! Plus the space to spread out and not be right on top of each other 24/7. My garden was a priority of course. I am pleased to say that all my hard work prior to leaving paid off. The garden beds were not inundated with weeds and there has been some lovely growth on my lavender. My veggie garden was in quite a state though! Oh and how I missed the lawn mower haha, its my quiet time away from the kids.