Sunday 29th

The trip to Sydney would be about 250nm (around 450km). Predict Wind estimated we may be in around 10pm on the 30th.

Coffs is an all weather harbour with no bar or time restrictions, however we got underway at about 7:30 after showers and getting the boat ready.

We motored out and waved our goodbyes to Ambrosia who were still anchored out in the harbour.

We didn’t have much wind to start with, so we kept motoring for an hour or so.

The wind was supposed to be SE to start with, then swinging around more to the East. We had to do a few tacks before the wind backed to the East and we could round the headlands without having to tack again.

The wind picked up to about 10-12knts, and we started making good progress. By the time we passed Fish Rock Cave the wind was closer to 15knts, and we were doing 9-10knts.

We were never really to far from shore on the way down, and had many pods of dolphins come and check us out and swim alongside for a bit.
It’s a magical experience that we hope does not get old.

The three of us took turns skippering through the day.

The wind then died off completely around dusk, so time to motor again :(

We turned on the autopilot and let it do the driving through the night.

Trent and I took shifts through the night, 2 on, 2 off, while the 2 girls and Kristie slept in the cockpit.

Monday 30th

By the time dawn was on us, we were off Seal Rocks.

The wind eventually turned up around 10am and we could finally raise the sails and turn off the engine.

We were making good progress, but it was still a LONG way to go to Sydney.

We were still 20nm out from the Heads at dusk, so we dropped the sails and motored in. We’d had dinner by then so the girls went to bed: Emma in her bed, Kristina and Kristie in the cockpit.

It was about 11pm by the time we entered the Heads and started to make our way to Athol Bay (our intended anchorage for NYE).

The top NE corner of Athol Bay was already full, however there was plenty of space down the SW corner near the exclusion zone.

When we dropped anchor, there were only two other catamarans there that night.

We finally had Lazuli and ourselves ready for sleep by 1am. A very long 40hrs since we left Coffs.

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.

Wednesday 18th

With no suitable weather window to get further south, we settled in for Christmas at Yamba.

However, the first full day there was 20+knts all day with rain: we didn’t leave the boat at all that day.
I did a bit of work (good timing for a Production issue to happen) and we all just did more recovery from the trip down.

Thursday 19th

I did a bit more work, then we went to the beach for a swim after an early lunch.

We walked out along the rock wall on the way to the beach.

Friday 20th

I finally got around to transferring the diesel from the jerry cans to the main tank: we used about 30L on the trip down from Southport.

With that done we jumped in the tender to head over to Iluka for the day.

We did the rainforest walk from Iluka upto the Bluff (approx 2.5km) and had a swim there.

We walked back down along the beach, which ended up being about 5km from the Bluff back to the tender.
The girls had fun running and splashing, and we saw a (sea?) snake around the high tide mark that looked dead until I flicked some sand on it!

We’d heard good things about the fishing co-ops in this area.
The fish was tasty as, but the lady serving us seemed to object to us wanting to get lunch; and despite working in the fish co-op actually knew nothing about the fish she had on display in the counter.

We jumped back in the tender and went down to the swimming beach where the camp ground is. We (my family) used to come down to Iluka every year with another family when we were growing up.
The girls just had a play in the playground then we headed back to Lazuli.

Saturday 21st

Saturday is “Parkrun Day” on Lazuli :)
Yamba has a lovely track that starts at “Ford Park”, and runs along the path along the water. We woke the girls up and got in the tender to motor around to the public pontoon.
We had to walk the boat across one of the sections as it was low tide. We got there in time for the briefing: Kristina and I were going to run with Kristie walking (her 1st) with Emma.
Kristina and I did a good time (~32:34). They were handing out much-needed ice blocks at the finish!

After the run/walk we went to the “Caperberry Cafe” for breakfast/coffee. Good/tasty food.

Given we were going to be in Yamba for a bit, we bought some boogie boards for the girls to use at the Surf beach (that we’d be going to everyday).

Back to the boat for a rest, lunch, then back to the Surf beach to try out the boogie boards!

Sunday 22nd

I tried my hand at fishing when I woke up - only a few small fish and two stingrays :(

Yamba has their River Markets on the last Sunday of every month (also at Ford Park).
We were in there just after 9am. We got a tasty box of Cherries, some fishing gear, a few books, and some donuts.

I wanted to scout the marina options for fuel/water so I walked down there while the girls walked around and found a playground.

Back to the boat for lunch, followed by an afternoon swim.

Monday 23rd

The marina has a depth of 1.8m at the fuel dock.. given we need 2.3m we had to time our activities around the high tide (~2:30pm).

We went for another swim in the morning and back on Lazuli for lunch.

We motored over to the Marina (we couldn’t have got there at low tide) and filled up about 500L of water and $120 worth of diesel/unleaded.

Kristie bought some prawns from the Prawn Shack.. $52/kg :( (the guy at the marina who caught our lines helpfully informed us there were $16/kg two weeks ago :(

We had thoughts of keeping the prawns for Christmas, but we smashed them that afternoon. I was peeling for two (turns out Emma likes prawns a lot), eating for one.

Tuesday 24th - Christmas Eve

We had dolphins swimming past us every day while we were moored at Whiting Beach.

Another morning, another trip to the beach for a swim and boogie board.
We are easily getting our daily quota of step and stairs in - there’s a nice big hill between where we pull up in the tender and the beach on the otherside.

On the way back to the tender (we’d parked on the beach, not the pontoon) we met another sailing couple (Guy and Cassie) and their young daughter (Rona) who were just pulling into the beach on their tender.
Turns out they had dropped anchor on their yacht Ambrosia next to us. We had a quick chat with them, then back to the boat for lunch and to get ready to head back in to Yamba for some shopping.
Santa was also paying a visit on the SES boat, so we needed to time shopping to be done before that.

We hit the Spar, another local groceries shop, and the butcher for our supplies and just got back to where Santa was handing out lollies.

We took our groceries back to Lazuli, then got back in togs for a swim on Whiting Beach just in from the boat. Our new boat friends joined us for a swim and play on the beach.

Kristie’s mum had FaceTimed us so we could be part of their Trevallyan Dr Christmas carol singing tradition. The 3 girls joined in a for a few songs.

It turns out one of our boat neighbours also has a (rum assisted) carol singing tradition. We could clearly hear him belting through a lot of carols all night.

Wednesday 25th - Christmas Day

Santa had no troubles finding us on Lazuli - maybe the AIS helps? We did pressies then pancakes for breakfast.

We’d bought the girls a fishing rod each, so we geared up and headed into Whiting Beach to see if they worked.
It wasn’t long before the girls were catching little Whiting and Bream:

• Emma - 2 x Whiting, 1 x Bream
• Kristina - 2 x Whiting
• Jeremy - 1 tiny Bream

I’m putting my poor results down to the fact I spent all my time baiting their hooks and removing the undersized fish (we didn’t keep any).

Guy, Cassie, and Rona then joined us on the beach for a play/swim.

We had our ham and salad lunch, and a lazy afternoon on the boat.

We went back to Whiting Beach for sip’s and dip’s. Previously when out on Lazuli we have timed them for sunset, but with an 8pm sunset it doesn’t quite work out.

Guy, Cassie and Rona also joined us on the beach.

We met Lee (our singing boat friend) who was trying to fish and had a good chat with him. He’s a local to the area, and drives the buses around here.
I got a bunch of tips off Lee for when we come back up and motor down the Clarence River (aiming to get to Grafton).

‘Small world facts’ we learnt that afternoon:

• Lee was the bus driver who picked up Justin and took him to Grafton
• Cassie works at the same place one of my sisters does.

We didn’t leave the beach until 7:30pm.

Thursday 26th - Boxing Day

Lazy morning on the boat. The girls wanted a swim, and I wanted to be back to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart (we missed being there in person, so had to watch it live).
We went back up over the hill and to the surf beach, and made it back to Lazuli and online broadcast with 1 minute to spare!

After an hour or so of watching the sailing, it was time to do some boat jobs (there’s always boat jobs!) in preparation for the sail to Coffs Harbour tomorrow.

Guy and Cassie swung past us on the way into town and invited us to the beach later to make ice cream.

We met them and the girls enjoyed helping and eating/drinking the ice cream.

Not a long stay at the beach, both Lazuli and Ambrosia were sailing to Coffs tomorrow and needed to have an earlier night and get the boat ready.

Dinner and more cleaning, then an early night.

Tomorrow we were aiming to leave at by 6:30am at the latest (due to tide times).