Year 2 – 6 February 2025 -Broken Bay to Newcastle
We all seemed to wake early (06.40am) and had a cup of tea. It had rained quite hard in the night and the anchor alarm had gone off twice and I had got up on each occasion so I felt that I had a disturbed night. We were fine but just swinging around.
Once we had our tea we got the dinghy up on the davits and then upped anchor and headed down Pittwater for what I assumed will be the last time. There was no one else around and due to the light wind we motored on and hoped the wind will increase. We went over the shallow patch at the entrance and then we were into a bit of ocean swell about 1.2-1.6 meters. We motored on through the exit of Broken Bay and then took a course up the coast. We were aiming for Newcastle (‘Newy’) some 49 nm up the coast. There were various historic wrecks which we had to avoid as we went out of the bay and various rocks.
After a while the wind was just about a level when I thought we could sail so we put up the sails and managed about 4 kts or about that speed. This enabled me to put on the generator and the watermaker and over the next 3 hours or so I filled the water tanks. We suddenly saw a pod of dolphins who came to explore and played around the bow of Stormbird and jumped out of the water. See the picture of the day.
We sailed as far as we could and although the wind did not increase there came a time when we had to motor if we going to get there by about 6-6.30pm. We therefore sailed when we could and then motored when we could not. We also saw another pod of dolphins which was good.
I got the kilo of mince out of the freezer whilst making water made a spaghetti bolognaise which will make enough for 2 meals. Trevor fished but no luck today.
As we sailed/motored up the coast we could make out various landmarks, heads and beaches which were set out in the pilot book. We are coming into the area of large beaches with 30–50-meter sand dunes behind them which we could see. We also began to see various tankers anchored at various points up the coast which we had to dodge.
We passed the Lake Macquarie entrance some miles inshore and continued toward Newcastle. It is 46nm North of Broken Bay. The guidebook suggests that although it is a fraction of the size of Sydney it is Australia’s second oldest city and punches above its weight. There are superb surfing beaches, historical architecture and a sun-drenched climate. The city’s historic baths were revitalised in 2023. Whilst it used to be an industrial city it is less so now and it is a great place to spend a few days and it is not far from the Hunter Valley wine region.
We approached the entrance to Newcastle dodging the cargo/oil ships at anchor waiting for a cargo. As we entered the harbour it was quiet and we hugged the port markers until we could enter the Hunter River and the Stockton channel to enter the North Channel where we could anchor near some moorings. It was quite shallow but we found a spot and anchored. It was very hot and we had a cold beer to celebrate our arrival. We looked over on one side to Stockton and other side to a gas/oil refinery. In front of us was a large road bridge and behind us Newcastle itself. Not quite Cowan Creek beauty!!.
However, we were here and look forward to exploring. We had my spag bol which was eaten and there were even some compliments. We settled down to rest and will go ashore tomorrow. We can see a bus which takes us down to a ferry to take us over to the main city.
We have moved on and look forward to seeing Newcastle and exploring this new area.
Need/Opportunity Year Two
I am in need of more crew from April to September 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