Thursday 13th

With Ballina only 40nm away, and a low tide early in the afternoon we wanted to time our arrival around 5:30/6pm.

We topped up water and got Lazuli ready for departure. We left the marina at 10:30am and headed for the bar crossing.
There was still a little water flowing out, but otherwise good conditions.

There was zero wind, but still about a 1m swell.

Motor on, autopilot on, enjoyed some coffee. The girls like it when we motor as we have the infill on; and more importantly they’re allowed to watch their iPads up top!

At one point on the journey we had a pair of Osprey’s try and land on us! They weren’t successful. Cool to see though.

We got to Ballina around 5:30pm (a bit earlier than I had originally planned), but the bar crossing looked ok.
We checked the bar cam and couldn’t spot any trouble. There were no breaking waves.

There was still quite a bit of water flowing out the Richmond River (nothing like it would have been a few days prior) but nothing to stop us.
The ride in was a lot more rolly than we would have guessed looking at the bar cam.

Slow motor down the channel into town, with Kristie and Kristina looking out for floating logs; this became harder as we were heading into the sunset.

Got to the main public pontoon with the outflowing water it was easy to crab the boat sideways onto the pontoon. No other boats about.
Signage suggested we shouldn’t stay, but other boats we’ve met have stayed there and Zulu also suggests it shouldn’t be an issue.

“Wharf Bar and Restaurant” is conveniently located at the top of the pontoon, and given it was 6:30 by the time we tied up it made sense to go there.

We could enjoy a drink, tasty dinner, and keep an eye on Lazuli. Quite a few people walked down the ramp to check her out. One guy even paced out the length to see how long she is.

The girls needed a quick run around in the grassy area next door before we got back onboard.

Early start tomorrow.

Friday 14th

Ballina to Southport was going to be a much longer day. With the same wind forecast as yesterday we’d be motoring most if not all of the day.

We left at 7:15 and got out the bar without too much issue. Motor on, autopilot on, enjoyed some coffee.

There were still a few logs flowing out in the ocean and had to keep an eye out for them.

The water was still pretty brown, we got a bit of blue water up towards tweed.

The wind picked up a bit in the afternoon, so off Kingscliff we got the sails up and sailed the rest of the way to the Seaway.

It was close to 6pm by the time we got through the bar, and dropped anchor just north of Seaworld by about 7:15pm.

Quick dinner and a post trip whisky.

Saturday 15th

Breakfast, then took the tender across the channel over the Peninsula Playground. The girls enjoyed playing there while Kristie walked off to find out where a festival of colour was.

Turns out she went the wrong direction.
We got to where the festival was, and it wasn’t quite what was advertised. It was also really hot, too hot to be running around getting covered in colour.

We got fish ‘n chips from the Fish Shack, and then our location ice cream.

Back to the tender and across the channel.

Sunday 16th

Breakfast, then picked up anchor and moved further down just off the Boardwater parklands and out of the boat chop.
(where we were is in the 40knt zone and plenty of boats zoom past all day).

I dropped Kristie in with a load of washing. One of the locals let me know we were too close to his boat.

Kristie took the girls into the pool for a swim after lunch

When Kristie was back we moved the boat further out, but as he had 40m of chain out (in 3m water) we still got pretty close.

We moved back up to where we were last night and had a quieter night.

Monday 17th

With the strong winds forecast, we wanted somewhere a) out of the wind, and b) out of the boat chop.
Thankfully Southport Yacht Club had a space for us :)
We got a single berth which was a first for us. It’s nice knowing you’re not going to hit other boats by mistake.
We had also timed it for slack water, and we had minimal tide differences, so we had a pretty easy time getting Lazuli docked.

Quick school, then an early lunch.

Now that we could safely leave the boat, we bought tickets to SeaWorld. 20min walk from the marina to SeaWorld.

We could walk straight in, and straight into the Penguin area to get out of the heat.

We had plenty of fun.

We enjoyed the shark and fish tanks!

Tuesday 18th

School and work, then off to Seaworld again. Cooler day today thankfully!

Wednesday 19th

Kristina’s Birthday!

Breakfast - bacon and eggs.

Back to SeaWorld via the marina office to book in another few nights.

As were meeting both sets of parents for a dinner in the park, we left SeaWorld by 4pm after Kristina got to spend some of her birthday money!

Christine and Rod bought up chips and dips, then we picked up Fish ‘n Chips from Peter’s Fish. Great fish as always (it’s a regular post dive lunch stop).

Back to the boat, watch some TV.

Thursday 20th

Rest Day (after school!). After a few big days walking around the girls needed a rest day. It was also raining, another excuse not to go anywhere.

Kristie went off for a few walks to shops and to check out the beach.

Friday 21st

School and work.

Our yearly pass includes Wet ‘n Wild. We jumped in an Uber and got there reasonably quickly. No queue so straight into drop stuff at the lockers and set off to do everything.

We all enjoyed the various different rides. Kristie liked the Super 8 Aqua Racer the most as she beat me both times.

Not too many photos as we were too busy getting wet.

We did cover quite a bit of distance.

Uber back home and dinner onboard.

Saturday 22nd

ParkRun for Kristina and I. Emma declared the night before she would not be participating as her legs would need a rest.
This also meant Kristie didn’t have to participate :)

The start of Main Beach ParkRun is just across from the marina, so easy for us to get to.
They were doing their alternate course as the main course isn’t an option after TC Alfred.

We walked more than ran (due to sore legs from yesterday). We hadn’t realised but Main Beach was Australia’s 1st ParkRun.

Back to Lazuli for breakfast (both Emma and Kristie were still in bed!).

There was a function at the Yacht Club tomorrow, so the marina was fully booked and we had to leave today.

Filled up water, did a load of washing, had a shower and got ready to leave.
The racing yacht that was in the pen behind us had left earlier, so we had plenty of space to reverse before being able to head out.
One of the local live-aboard residents gave us a hand with lines.
The tide difference was only 0.3m between the tides we had now, and with no wind it was an easy exit from the marina.

We went up the northern side of Wave Break island, and dropped anchor not to far away from where we had stopped in December.

Girls didn’t want to leave the boat.

Sunday 23rd

Took a bit of convincing, but we eventually got Kristina off the boat to try out a few of her birthday presents.

Was nice to get in the water, as it was a hot morning and not much wind about.

Back to the boat for a shower, lunch, a few cleaning jobs then set off to Gold Coast City Marina up the Coomera River.
We found a shallow bit of water, then back tracked to Wave Break to get to the main channel.

Fairly slow trip up the river, getting to the marina about 3pm ish. We tied up to the Service Dock as we’d be 1st out of the water tomorrow.

We had a hand with the lines, then a quick unload.

My parents had picked up one of our cars (thanks for the help Simon!) and driven that down for us. We’d hoped to meet them for handover but they had to leave before we got there.
Thanks heaps Richard & Judy!

Rather than spending the night on the dock, Kristie took the girls back to her parents, and left me to get the boat ready for the morning lift out.

With the boat cleaned, stuff put away, fridges/freezers defrosted I treated myself to some 2minute noodles, whisky, and watched The Beekeeper.

Monday 24th

Up early to do final boat prep and get everything off that I/we needed for the next 2 weeks.

Undid the back stay, and then the guys turned up to turn her around and push into the slings.

They had Lazuli up and out of the water pretty quickly, to give a wash down and then move her over to where the work will be done.

We’re getting the bottom sandblasted and redone.

We’ll be land based for the next 2 weeks at least.

Thursday 27th

After a few days on the water it was back to School and Work today!

After lunch, we took the tender into the beach and walked over to the surf beach.

Being a school day and a little rough there was no flags/patrol, so we just had a splash in the shallows and in the ocean pool.
Massive rip in the shallows! And the ocean pool had sea lice, so we didn’t stay in there too much.

We got our location ice cream on the way back to Lazuli.

Also stopped by the butcher and picked up a few groceries from the spa.

Friday 28th

School and work in the morning.

My parents were coming down to Yamba for the weekend to see us (and have a weekend away).

After lunch we went into the beach and dad picked us up and drove us back to the Aston.

We enjoyed a swim in the pool/spa, before showering there and walking over to the Bowlo for dinner.

The Bowlo has some good activities for the kids:

Dad dropped us back to the beach for a night/dark run back to Lazuli!

Saturday 1st

Parkrun Day. Early morning tender ride to the pontoon in town.

Kristina and I ran/walked, Emma and Kristie walked.

Mum and dad watched us, and then we all met up at the Caperberry Cafe for breakfast.

Dad was super keen for a fish, so picked up a variety of bait on the way back to Lazuli.

We got ready, and I dropped the girls in at the beach to pick up dad. Kristie drove dads ute back to the motel for the day.

Dad and I had chop fishing along Whiting beach, but only got a few nibbles and smaller fish.

Eventually we went around the other side of the training wall and with some squid on the hook we pulled in a few keepers (my first for this trip!).

When the tide started ripping out we had to call it quits and head back to Lazuli and put the gear away and also scale/gut the fish.

Kristie picked us up back at the beach and we took the fish back to their motel for dinner.

Mum and I headed to Coles for a shop, and to pick up 2kg of massive prawns from the Fishermans Co-op (thanks Mum!).

Back for a swim/spa before we smashed the prawns. The 2kg of prawns were devoured very quickly!

Put the fish on the BBQ; Kristie and Dad went into town to pick up chips.

The 4 fish didn’t really go that far - really need one bream per person not 2 split among 4 of us!

Dad then dropped us back at the beach for another night trip back to Lazuli.

Sunday 2nd

Lazy morning, then off to the marina at high tide to fuel up; we hadn’t filled up since Port Stephens so we ended adding 120L.

We saw “Waymaker” heading into the marina. We’d last seen them in Laurieton - a Lagoon 38. We waved, said “we’re planning to head down the river, you guys?” “Yep” was the response.

Emma didn’t realy want to leave the boat, so I dropped Kristina and Kristie at the beach and they went to go to the surf beach.
They came back quickly as it was too rough to be swimming there.

I eventually convinced Emma to go for a swim, and we just went into Whiting beach for a swim/drift.

Monday 3rd

With TC Alfred approaching, we made plans to head up river. Booked the Harwood bridge to go through on Tuesday.

Looked at reports and forecasts, and then booked a spot at the marina!

Got one of the 16m berths at the end - D25 - one of the furthest away from the facilities!

“Waymaker” were still on their berth there, and not planning to go anywhere.

The marina had assured us we’d have plenty of water. Based on my calculations the depth there was 2.1m at LAT.
Thankfully the 0.3 low that evening was the lowest we’d have for a week (not counting flood water!). The lowest we saw was 2.4m depth (plenty of water for our 2.3m!)

Put out all the lines (some doubled!) and fenders!

Tuesday 4th

Rain, rain, and a lot more rain.

Spent the day inside. Too wet and windy for school, but I got in a lot of work.

Didn’t leave the boat.

Wednesday 5th

Kristie booked a room at the Aston for a few nights to get out of the rain and wind.
With the imminent 40kt winds we wanted the infill off, so it didn’t self-destruct. Having that off meant upstairs would be rather wet.

Shirley (a friend of a friend of a friend!) did us a massive favour and picked up Kristie and the girls and dropped them off at the motel.

I stayed behind to tidy up the boat and get it ready for the next few days.

Kristie wanted to head to the Bowlo for dinner and get some leftovers for the following night.

I booked the courtesy bus there; first to be picked up and last to be dropped back to the pub - so I got a good tour of Yamba!

Bowlo was quiet. Kristie ordered some lamb cutlets for her dinner tomorrow - but they came out crumbed - guess I’ll eat them tomorrow!

The girls walked home, I got the bus back - again another good tour of the other side of Yamba!

Thursday 6th

There was a small break in the rain, so running gear on and ran out to the break wall to check out the swell.

Spent the rest of the day working.

I walked over to the Aston (about 15min) to have dinner with the girls - yummy lamb cutlets :)

We all watched Shrek on the tv there.

With a big band of rain coming I decided to leg it.

I got to the main road before the courtesy busy from the Pacific Hotel saw me running and offered a lift to the marina - much appreciated!

Once back I texted Neil from “Waymaker” and invited myself over for drinks. They had guests there, so had a few drinks and a good chat.
Left their boat just after 11:30pm. Boat life is great when you meet awesome boat friends.

Friday 7th

No hangover.

Rain.

Work.

One of the boats on a mooring behind us had been swinging about widely for the last few days. Got a text from “Waymaker” asking if I’d seen it’s new location.

Saturday 8th

A bit wet for Parkrun!

Walked through town to try and get some supplies (bread) and then to the Aston to help Kristie and the girls get everything back to Lazuli.

Kristie went into town to get some groceries.

I went over to “Waymaker” as they were doing some work on their watermaker, and I was keen to have a look at their system.

Ended up staying with them for a few beers.

Sunday 9th

Lazy morning.

Ended up walking to Coles (about 30min each way) to get a few needed supplies.

Monday 10th

Kristina got a message from Rupert (one of her school friends) tell her they weren’t going to school and were having a 5 day weekend.
Both girls were upset and claimed it wasn’t fair they had to do school when those in their school did not have to!

School and Work.

Neil needed a hand retrieving his main halyard from the top of the mast. Their guests had gone, so my job was to winch him up to the top.
Got a good workout. Makes me appreciate the powered winch we have to get our sails up!

Kristie had organised a play date/lunch with Shirley and her family.

I kept working, stopping briefly to help Neil back up the mast to reattach the halyard after he’d successfully (to be seen I guess!) spliced it back together.

Kristie got back around 4pm, and we headed over to “Waymaker” for afternoon sips ‘n dips.

We’d left the girls on the boat; I got a message at 6:30pm (when their iPad time runs out) from Kristina telling me they were out of time, hungry, and demanded I come back and cook them dinner.
As it was raining, I requested they bring umbrellas over.
They made their way over, and we spent a bit more time on the cat.

We left them around 7:30 and had a late dinner back on Lazuli.

Tuesday 11th

School and Work.

At about 3pm or so we got off the boat and walked out to the break wall.

We’d been trying to make plans of where/when to go next and I wanted to check out the river/bar.

It was nuts. So much water flowing out - flowing out much faster than we were walking. Breaking/standing waves!

However, while it wasn’t great for boats - it was on for the fishermen. The Jewfish were going off on the south side of the wall.

We saw a few around the 1-1.2m length being landed.

Another ice cream on the way back to Lazuli.

Looked at lots of reports of stuff in the rivers around the gold coast - didn’t look good to be heading up.

The following is Kristina’s write-up of the walk out to the break wall (written on the 12th)

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The breakwall walk.

Yesterday we did the long walk out on the breakwall. 
The first part was very hot as were hidden behind the hill.

We got a bit of entertainment when the seagulls decided to make their own roller coaster by floating don the rapids and over the waves. 
Then when they got to the boat crossing they'd fly up then back to the start to do it all over again. 

There were lots of people at the end who had their fishing rods out. 
I was wondering why on earth they were fishing because the flooded water was brown, poopy and was contaminating all the nearby sea water.
Then I saw why. 
They were catching meter long Jewfish! I'm pretty sure that's what Dad wants to  catch.

We watched in astonishment when another person started to reel one in. 
They nearly had it but then the fish tugged on the rod. 
The man slipped and cut his head on the sharp rocks.
They still got the fish in and it was even bigger than the other one. 
For the man's head he used his shirt as a cloth and a cold water bottle as an ice pack.

We then decided that it was time to end out walk after we found out that some of the adults weren't very good with only using good language infront of kids.

Over all it was a nice walk which hopefully won't be out last.

Wednesday 12th

Running gear on, and out to the break wall to see what conditions were like on the incoming tide.
Water was still running out, but slowly and no breaking waves.

School and work.

“Waymaker” had set off mid-morning and were aiming for Ballina.

We spent a bit of time looking at forecasts. Next week wasn’t looking that good, the best day being Kristina’s birthday - and she really didn’t want to be sailing/sick on her birthday :)

We decided that if everything went ok for “Waymaker” that we’d head off to Ballina tomorrow, and then the Seaway on Friday.

With that decision sort of made we needed to get some supplies and do some prep for two days on the water.

Kristie went shopping.

I cooked sausages and pasta (staples for boating days).

The Yamba Shores Tavern was open (first night they’d opened the kitchen since Alfred) so booked the bus to pick us up at 6:15.

Lovely spot, great food, cold drinks.

Back on the last bus at 7:30pm to get back to the marina.

Ballina isn’t that far, only 35nm or so. We don’t need to leave too early, as we don’t want to get in there too early - aiming to get there for about 6pm for the incoming tide.

Sadly, we’ll have to do the Clarence another time :(

Saturday 22nd

Parkrun Day. The “Henry Kendal Reserve” Parkrun was a 3km trip by tender from where we were anchored.
This was made more acceptable by an 8am start, as the girls (to be honest everyone!) needed some sleep after the last few days.

The trip to the start was easy, we saw a few dolphins in the creek swimming back towards the river.

We pulled the tender up a bit of a ramp and chained to a tree, and then set off to the start.

It’s not a big event, maybe about 60 ppl.

I ran, while the girls walked with Kristie (Kristina’s foot still store from the stingray!).

Saw another dolphin on the way back to Lazuli.

The girls and I had a morning inside while Kristie went off to do laundry and some exploring.

There is a fish cleaning table at the jetty, and it gets frequent use by those more successful than I.

There are two public and one emergency moorings opposite the Services Club. There were yachts on all three when we had turned up.
The guy from the last yacht came past on his SUP to chat. He admitted he’d been on the mooring for 3 weeks (he’d gone to Melbourne for work!) and would vacate this afternoon if we then wanted his mooring!

Once he left we did indeed take his mooring. I’m much more relaxed on these moorings when in the river, with the boat moving about on change of tide.

At about 5pm we took the tender to the jetty at the services club. They offer a shower for visiting yachties. Free, but it’s not in the best condition… but hot water is hot water!

Made use of the facilities, then went upstairs for dinner and a drink. We sat out on the deck, cooler and a good breeze.

Back to the boat.

Whilst at dinner the girls decided to make a “monstrosity” out of the leftovers… here’s there writing task where they outline the procedure for making a nasty monstrosity.
Maybe skip this bit if your stomach is a bit sensitive ;)

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How to make a monstrosety.
** Warning: Do NOT eat this recipe Ingredients **

Food:
* 2 used pizza crusts
* 12 drops of lemonade
* 1.5 cups for rice
* 2 tbs of tomato sauce
* 3 tbs of chilly sauce
* 1 slice of lemon
* 20ml of wine
* 500g mashed potato
* 2 tbs of chocolate moose
* 1 small dsh of cider
* half a cup of water
* 10 prawn tails
* 500ml of melted icecream
* 3 cubs of ice
* 5 strawberry leaves
* 1 bitten strawberry top
* 4 tbs of garlic sauce

Kitchen ware:
* 1 strong bowl
* 2 steak knife
* 1 small spoon
* 1 peg (for your nose)
* 1 tray in the sun
* 1 measuring jug
* 1 set of tbs
* 1 scale
* 1 plastic cup
* 2 vomit bags
* 2 cutting boards

Steps to make a Monstrosety

** Warning: Do NOT eat this recipe **

1. Take your bowel and plop in 500g of mashed potato.
2. Get 1/5 of a lemon and drop it on the mash, skin and all.
3. Get out your steak knife, your cutting board and your pizza crusts to cut the crusts into thirds.
4. Next take out a plastic bup and tablespoons to measure out 2 tbs of tomato sauce, 3 tbs of chilly sauce and 4 tbs of garlic sauce.
5. Put the pizza crusts and combined sauces in the bowel.
6. Stir thoroughly using the spoon until all ingredients are properly mixed in.
7. Make sure that everything else is put in at random or it will not be a monstrosety.
8. Let your creation cook in the sun for ten minutes.
9. Take it out and feed it to your enemies.

Sunday 23rd

Another biggish day planned, but pancakes with jam and cream for breakfast first!

With that done it was time to get ready to walk up “North Brother”.

It was about 1km to the start, then another 2.7km to the top. It was a steep walk, lots of steps. Quite nice other than the effort to get up there.

Once at the top there was a great view all around.

It looks like we’ve anchored in the middle of the channel (which is how I usually roll!), but where we are is more or less on the edge of navigable waters - it gets shallow to the east of us!

The walk down was much easier :)

We also needed to get our location ice cream. We were about to go into a local takeaway to get one when a better idea presented itself: a drink at the pub instead (and ice cream for the girls!).

Back to Lazuli, then back to shore for the showers.

Sip’s ‘n dips and a movie night - we watched Nimona on my laptop and enjoyed some fresh popcorn.

Monday 24th

School and work.

Dropped Kristie to shore then spent some more time inside with the girls.
I eventually convinced them head to shore (there wasn’t much appetite for a walk after the big day yesterday!)

There aren’t any Ubers or official Taxi’s in Laurieton, but there is “Just call Scotty” (0455 199 220) who has a few cars (taxi’s!) in the area.
I called him and 15min later one of his drivers had picked us up. We were off to walk up the Perpendicular Point headland.
Kristie was at the Boat Shed which was on the way.

It’s a 5km walk from the road to the end of the point, and back down the bottom to the playground.

There were a few other lookouts on the way.

The girls had a bit of a play, and then I called Scotty, and it was Scotty who came and picked us up and whisked us back to Lazuli.

Back to Lazuli, and back to shore for showers. I thought chips and a drink wouldn’t go astray, however we ended up with full dinner instead!

We’d been chatting with another yachtie couple who’d been moored up on the jetty.

They were also heading north, but with Alfred on the way they were now planning to spend a few weeks in Laurieton.

Our options were similar: stuck in Laurieton for maybe two weeks, head to Port Macquarie and get stuck there for maybe two weeks, or keep heading further north.
We had originally wanted to stay in Coffs so Kristie could do some diving. However, Coffs marina is undergoing an extensive refit, so they’re not operating at full capacity, so we may not have been able to get a berth for the time we needed.
And staying in the harbour itself in the predicted swell and winds would be no fun at all (and quite possibly dangerous!).

The next two days had forecast light eastish winds and slight swell. It meant we would be motoring a bit, but we could get all the way to Yamba bypassing Port Macq and just a quick stop in at Coffs for a few hours sleep.

That seemed like our best option - it meant we get lots more time in Yamba, and could head up the river to escape any swell and wind.

With that decision made, Kristie and Kristina went straight to Coles after dinner to get supplies (sausages and oranges!) for the next two days.

Back to Lazuli to get a few things ready and some sleep.

Laurieton has been really nice. To be honest it’s probably never the sort of place we would have visited if we were not on Lazuli.
However, it’s a good protected anchorage with easy access to services, if you can get through the bar.

Tuesday 25th

Up at 6am to get ready for a BIG day to get to Coffs.

Lazuli was mostly ready for the trip up; I just needed to cook two batches of sausages in preparation for the next two days.

With the girls dressed and fed, we dropped the mooring at 7:30am and headed out the river entrance.

Easy bar crossing (no wind, very minimal swell - about 1m).

Slow morning motoring in the light winds and southerly currents.

I got in a few hours work, the girls had sometime on their iPads.

After lunch the wind came up a bit - maybe 8-9kts. Sails up, and we were off just a little bit faster than motoring.

Eventually the wind died off towards evening, so down they came and then motoring.

With the sun down, the girls and Kristie slept in the cockpit. I had my audiobook and with autopilot on it was an easy night.

We got to Coffs Harbour by about 12:30am and dropped anchor.

Quickly got the boat and us to bed, as we’d have another early start tomorrow.

Wednesday 26th

Up at 6am again for a 7am departure.

Another day of motoring, until lunchtime.

We got the sails up at about midday and enjoyed sailing all the way to Yamba.

Dropped sails and went through the bar at about 5:30pm.
We’d got there a bit earlier than planned, but we were still enough time after low that the bar was ok.
A few big sets came through, but no breaking waves!

We went straight to Whiting Beach and dropped anchor (probably the same spot we had been at Christmas!).

Sausages for dinner then bed!

It’s good to be back in Yamba, feels like home after all the time we spent here before heading to Sydney.

Now to enjoy Yamba, and then go exploring down the Clarence River.x