Friday 27th
With a full day ahead of us, and an early morning high tide we planned to be crossing the bar at 6:30am.
We woke the girls up, quick breakfast and then jackets on for the bar crossing.
I’d watched Ambrosia take off and head out the bar about an hour before us and it looked fine.
The winds had died down the day before, and there was zero wind when we set off: the bar was pretty calm and safe.
The wind was expected to pick up in the afternoon, but there was nothing to start with so we motored the entire morning.
When the wind did come up, it was straight behind us and with a reasonable following swell we just decided to keep the stress down and engine on.
We got into Coffs Harbour just after 2pm after tha 60nm trip from Yamba.
We did a few circles of the harbour while we got fenders and mooring lines ready, then went into the Marina.
The marina there does “stern in”, and with a 20knt Northerly wind coming over the breakwall our berth was on the “blow off” side.
Lazuli loves to catch the wind and moves out of place quite easily.
I had a few goes of reversing in from various directions but had no luck. A few of the crew Jetty Dive saw our predicament and came to help.
I had another go and almost drifted onto the boat next to us: we would have if it wasn’t for Kristie’s foot and the strength of the other guys helping!
With the boat tide up, we sat down and let the heart rate come back down to near normal. I checked in, paid and grabbed a marina key.
I had a bit of a chat with Steve one of the Jetty Dive crew about berthing and boats in general (he has a boat down the end of the row from Lazuli).
We’ll be back to dive with them on the way back up.
We all then trooped up to the facilities and made the most of unlimited hot water.
There was a fun fair running just a few minutes walk from the Marina. We headed over at 6pm, grabbed some fair food (Dagwood Dogs for the girls!).
We bought a bunch of tickets and the girls had plenty of fun.
I got a message from Justin asking if we had had dinner yet as they by chance were going to stop into Coffs on the way to Sydney.
I suggested they come to the fun fair when they arrived, and stay on Lazuli for the night instead searching for non-existent accommodation.
They turned up just after we had finished our tickets.
Justin generously purchased another round of tickets and the 4 kids spent the next hour running around and having a great time together.
With a storm approaching, we rushed back to Lazuli and close up all the hatches. We setup the side and rear walls for a bit more protection just before the storm hit.
(We found out the next day that wind gusts or near 50knts hit the boats out in the harbour)
Other than the wind generator going a bit nuts, there wasn’t too much from the storm. The kids played for a bit before heading to bed.
We sat up chatting and drinking until about 11:30pm (Justin and I had to make use of the Whisky he’d brought along for the original trip down).
Saturday 28th
Coffs Harbour has a Parkrun, so even with guests onboard we laced up and set out to the start. Emma only got a little way before calling in sick and she and Kristie headed back to the boat.
Kristina gave advance notice that her feet/ankles were sore from last night at the fair, so she would not be running (but would walk).
The course starts and ends 1.5km from our marina, but then comes right back past the marina and along the brake wall.
Kristina and I walked the entire way, so 5km for the Parkrun and 3km to get there and back.
With that effort (and Emma’s current state) meant any other physical activities were for another day!
The Meade Clan was still onboard when we got back, but they left shortly after to get to Sydney.
Kristie headed out to do a load of washing (the marina facilities were currently closed) and groceries. I got some more boat jobs/cleaning/fueling up done.
Despite motoring all the way from Yamba, we only used just over 20L of diesel.
With those jos done, it was time for an ice cream.
On the way back we saw the Ambrosia crew coming into the marina on their tender.
Guy was checking out other boats; we flagged them down and invited them onboard.
Rona and the girls had fun mucking around downstairs, whilst we sat up in the cockpit and got on with some afternoon drinks.
My Brother-in-law Trent had volunteered to help sail down from Coffs to Sydney. He’d drive to Coffs, and grab a flight back from Sydney on the 1st and then drive back home.
Trent turned up about 5pm. We unloaded his gear onto the boat, then jumped back in his car to do a quick Bunnings trip:
- I had to seal up the skylight that was leaking
- Guy also came along as he needed some parts as well.
Whilst we were at Bunnings, the girls, Cassie and Rona walked up to the lookout on Muttonbird Island.
Back to the boat and said goodbye to the Ambrosia crew and got on with dinner.
Another early bed as we were going to have two long days on the water to get to Sydney.