Year 2 – 14 February 2025 -Still Port Stephens Area
If anyone reading this and is free in June- mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew for that month fully at present.
It was a reasonable morning when we woke and the wind had calmed down. We had some mango and melon for breakfast which was very tasty. We decided to go ashore to the Koala Sanctuary and then assuming the weather was ok we would head out to the Broughton Island before we would leave for Port Macquarie. We needed to get a bus so we planned around that time and headed ashore. In the end we got an Uber as the bus was not for another 40 minutes.
The Koala sanctuary was very good and I learnt a lot about Koalas (The Aboriginal name which means (“No Drink”). They are mammals (as they feed off mother’s milk) and marsupials as they have a pouch. They live for about 10-15 years and only live in Eastern Australia and weigh as an adult 8-10kg. They have an exceptional sense of smell which helps them select the best Eucalyptus leaves which they feed on. They eat one leaf at a time and eat 500g to 1kg a day. They have a good sense of hearing but their eyesight is poor. They have razor sharp claws and a big bite. They are essentially grey and have a good fur coat and sleep for about 18-20 hours a day. Their front paws have 2 thumbs to assist grabbing the trees and 3 fingers.
They tend to live high up in trees and have their own territory which is about 1000 Eucalyptus Trees and that is their problem as trees are being cut down. They do climb down and go from tree to tree but can jump about 3-5 metres and can run in short bursts up to 30km an hour. They mate from about age 3 and pregnancy is only 34-36 days. Babies are called Joeys and are only about 20cm long when born and weigh about 0.5g. They crawl into the pouch where they stay drinking their mother’s milk until they are about 6-7 months old. They then start to come out of the pouch and start to eat normally. After about a year they will leave the mother and try to find their own patch. This can be difficult.
The Koala sanctuary had about 26 Koalas who were either ill or unable to live outside the sanctuary. They had a hospital area and then a walkway through the trees where we could see the Koala’s sleeping or staying high up in the trees. This made getting a picture difficult so the picture of the day is from a real picture I saw of one. We did see several and some were moving but many were sleeping.
It had been a very interesting visit and we caught the bus back and then came back on Stormbird. The wind had begin to pick up as forecast but it was supposed to be lower. We upped anchor and started to head out when we asked Marine Rescue for the forecast and they indicated winds up to 30 kts. As we were going past Nelson Bay it was gusting 29 kts and so I decided we would go to Jimmy’s Beach to anchor and we will go early in the morning to Broughton Island. My other reasoning is that the wind overnight is to change from NE to N to NW and be SW in the morning so an anchorage safe from N winds would be exposed to the South and this was the risk at Broughton Island.
We found a spot off Jimmy’s Beach and it was not too uncomfortable and we rested and read books etc.
We then had a bangers and mash supper which was good and filling.
Need/Opportunity Year Two
I am in need of more crew from late April to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at hine.nick9@gmail.com
In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com