Manatee looks around Lake Macquarie

On Tuesday we awoke to rough weather and were all keen to explore, so we ventured to the other side of the lake in the dinghy to give ourselves and the dogs a run. Green Point has a big grassy slope for the dogs to run up and a pebbly beach and bushy walk for humans to enjoy. AK got very wet on the trip over as she was sitting on the bow to weigh down the front so we didn't tip on the waves. After a thermos of coffee(for Marg & AK) a lots of walking & ball catching (for everyone except Idge), Marg magnanimously suggested that she would sit on the bow for the return trip. The waves broke over the dinghy on the way back and everyone got wet! We finished off the day by shopping, laundry and visiting cousin Greg who is now at home recuperating.

As cousin Denise and Bruce were coming for dinner on Manatee that night we decided to berth alongside the jetty and the yacht club to avoid another soaking and to keep our laundry dry. Idge took advantage of our berth to inspect the other boats

On Wednesday morning Barry from a catamaran we had been admiring came over and introduced himself to apologise for the noise he made tying alongside in the early hours. Jacki, of course, alerted everyone in Belmont that another boat was near us. We toured his beautiful boat which he had built himself over 5 years-demonstrating maths teacher attention to detail.

After our tour we slipped our berth and headed south. Lake Macquarie is reportedly the biggest salt water lake in Australia and has a varied depth range. It doesn't have a big tidal flow, supposedly .2m but our depth sounder showed us mooring in 3m of water which increased to 3.7m in the afternoon. We avoided all the shallow water and sand banks and moored off Murray Beach for lunch. After a walk through the beautiful bushland filled with spectacular blue gums we returned to Manatee for an afternoon of fishing. Vegetarians reading the blog, this would be a good time to shut your eyes. Fish were plentiful, we pulled in about 8, 6 of which we returned to the lake to grow bigger. Marg caught 2 good sized snapper. Dusk was spent listening to cockatoos and kookaburras screeching and laughing.

The weather turned so we decided to stay put....the fact that there is a nice cafe withing walking distance had nothing to do with it!

Thursday dawned to heavy rain. Staying put has given us the opportunity to open our mail which Victoria has sent up and read.