Manatee coasts to Coffs

The weather was kind, seas to 1M, swell 1.5 from SW, wind 10-15 from SW. Dolphins escorted us to the bar.

Manatee sprinted along making fast progress under motor. After settling in and having a coffee or two we decided to hoist sails. OOps are we out of practice or what...we spent a few hours playing and going around in circles before deciding to take them down as the winds were increasing. That's when Marg got hit by the main boom after an accidental gybe. Stoic woman that she is we continued on after ascertaining that there was no internal damage (we hoped). Trial Bay was about the only possible place to get in to the coast, after running through possible scenarios, Marg went downstairs to nap.

Marg emerged near Trail Bay and announced herself fit to continue. Waypoints set on the GPS, course mapped and VMR Trial Bay given our tracking details, we continued merrily to Coffs. Bugger, darkness fell a few NM short of the harbour...if only we hadn't fiddled with the sails!!

OK do we continue on to Brisbane or stand outside the harbour?

Drifting outside the harbour won so we went in circles or just drifted about 15nm offshore. AK kept getting the heebie jeebies as it was her first overnighter and she was stressing about Marg's injury. Marg was stoic.

Dolphins kept visiting, which was very calming, in fact we've never seen so many! One huge school of smallish blackish dolphins put on a show just off our beam, leaping and cavorting through the water. Various groups of large grey dolphins announced their presence by a loud snort before they dived under Manatee and played in her bow wave. We got out our spotlight as the night became very dark (no moon) and we looked out into the vastness of the ocean. We came across a patch of what looked like sea snakes on our first circle, sea dragons on our second circle. We are still unsure of what they were, possibly a long thin fish with a snout...longtoms??

We spent most of the night avoiding thunderstorms, with severe weather lashing the land between Armidale and Coffs. Spectacular but frightening.

Dawn broke, we contacted Coffs VMR who allocated us a berth at the marina...we were in no condition to anchor. Berth number allocated with a port tie up...OK run through how we are going to do this...get the ropes ready. Contacted by VMR, sorry we have to give you a different berth with a starboard tie up...OK change the ropes and fenders to the other side. Enter the marina...oh shit our allocated berth has a very large yacht already in it...quickly find an empty berth before we get into the very narrow confines of the marina. Yep you guessed right....quick, change for a port tie up. With very little sleep AK jogged "nicely" around Manatee without much swearing.

We crashed for a few hours until the marina office opened...when we were allocated a berth with a starboard tie up! Rob the marina manager was great...assisting us to move and giving directions to a medical centre. Marg ended up at the local hospital where she was diagnosed with cracked ribs.

Manatee hails from the land of the gay

First thing on Thursday morning, AK was heading across LUSC carpark when a young male jumped out of a car and called out (officious deep tone) "I want to have a word with you". AK spun around as he came running over "I'm from Newcastle Customs" said he "We saw your flag and need to investigate". He waved his ID under her nose. "Our flag?" said AK stunned. We were joined by another male from the car. "Yes what country are you from?" asked officious one. AK said incredulously "It's a rainbow flag, what country flies a rainbow flag?" Second male(presumably from customs also, but no ID produced) smirked saying "It looks like red, white and blue from a distance". "Oh but from here" said AK politely (ever mindful of the alleged recent trashing of possessions during a search of a yacht by Bundaberg Customs) "it clearly is a rainbow flag!" Ignoring the fact that there was no reason to "investigate" further, officious one decided a few questions were in order! "Where were we going, where was our last port" etc etc. AK answered "nicely" while chiding herself for not being up to date with customs legislation.

Anyway we finished packing Manatee, visited Gwen and Joan and got an early night for our 6am departure.

Gwen and Joan came to wave of us LUSC wharf and then raced to the bar for a final farewell. We departed Camden Haven bar around 0645, rainbow flag waving a fond farewell to the town of Laurieton.

Manatee sings "we're moving on up" North

Since our last post, we've had a busy time preparing to move on up North.

Chris (Wright Engineering) the find of the year completed some work on our dinghy davitts-raising and strengthening.

Chris attaching our amended davitts

Phil and Victoria visited and Phil helped raise our mizzen boom (so many rivet choices-monel being our pick) so that we no longer have a possible deck sweep problem.

Phil & Victoria under our newly raised boom

We met a couple of great gals-hi Rosie and Jan- who were holidaying in the area with their little powerboat and dream of a yacht....well Rosie anyway, come on Jan you can do it!

Over the January long weekend the river was very busy with boats of all types and another Spray pulled in for a few days. Liz and Keith on Najac were inspirational, they have taken Najac to Antartica and have been around Cape Horn 5 times...wow!

the busy Camden Haven on Australia day

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence gave us this blessing "Bless AK, Margot, their critters and Manatee. May they all follow their bliss and revel in the freedom of the open seas.” during the blessing of the fleet of the Australian Sailing & Cruising Club over the long weekend. We were there in spirit and Manatee took to the water as a paper mache model.

We've slowly been pulling up our Laurieton roots....

the last dog get together on WashHouse Beach

the early morning get together

the last family barbie at the park and saying goodbye to some of the amazing people who have

befriended us (minus Charles, Linda, Gill & Astrid)

get together of friends

We have been waiting on the LUSC wharf, ready to go as a severe low with accompaning gale warnings hovered over the coast. We have good company on the wharf, with David on his little steelie heading back to Palm Island via Brisbane. We have daily discussions on the weather and Idgi joins him some evenings.

Any day now we will be heading on up!

Manatee celebrates the holiday season

We started our holiday celebrations by attending a local street party. Charles and Linda live down the river from our berth and invited us to join in with the party. We met a number of very interesting locals. Linda is an admirer of dogs, so Jacki and Ruby also enjoyed the celebrations (and the sausages!). Charles is a co-owner of witch doctor and completed numerous Sydney-Hobart races on her. Their fishing run-about is called sea witch.

AK's father Don arrived from Bateau Bay for Xmas so we enjoyed many lunches with the family. Xmas day was celebrated at Carmel's at Telegraph Point and was extremely pleasant with the contribution of Mark's cookies.



Don, AK, Joan & Gwen ready for lunch

The population of Laurieton seems to have trebled over the last 5 or 6 weeks, with the arrival of children visiting their grandparents making a big impact on the demographic. We are so used to seeing the street full of people with walkers/gophers, it's weird to avoid stumbling over toddlers.

Holiday makers have brought with them a variety of vessels and we have seen everything from jet skis to a yacht with a removable mast. We have never seen one of these masts before but apparantly they are common on the Swan River in Perth.

"lets drop the mast before we attempt this bridge"

a family sized canoe

Marg spent the eve of the new year on Manatee watching the local fireworks and keeping the dogs calm while AK was at Point Plummer State Forest working and enjoying the local fireworks. AK has worked a bit over the holiday season, enjoying the money but not the 12 hr shifts!

Early January saw our friend Jan from Sydney in the area. The girls were very happy to see their Aunt Jan as were we.

Pearl and Aunty Jan at Wauchope

We spent the day at Wauchope with Jan (at her friend Jacki's property) and we enjoyed reminising and re-connecting with gardens and the earth.

Marg, Jacki and Ruby making friends with the locals

Jan visited Manatee on her return to Sydney and we went for a swim at WashHouse Beach and had lunch at SandBar after a cuppa on the boat.

We also had a visit from the terrific twins from Port Stephens who we met at the marina at Nelsons Bay. Phil and Stu have sailed up to Qld many times. One of the great things about this life is re-connecting with interesting people that we meet along the way.

life and times of Laurieton

No we haven't been consumed by an enormous vortex, we are still mooching along at our berth in Laurieton, and managing to get a few things done!

Like the head.........

AK finally gets the electric toilet plumbed.

.......the floor has been re-built, the rust removed, ply walls varnished and lami-panel replaced, the floor fibreglassed...aagh what a job!

We are also repainting the deck and embarking on a few other enhancements.

Marg had her right hand operated on and is recovering well, everyone else is well and happy, although Pearlie's connection to this life is diminishing.

We are enjoying our time in Laurieton, the sky is clear, the air is fresh and we are peacefully settling in to our new life.

full moon over our berth

we have begun feeding Manatee's resident bream

the smiley face created by venus, moon and ??

photos

Here are some of the photos Victoria took while she was visiting.....

Marg on Manatee's jetty.

Idgi pleased with her visitors

AK & Marg pleased with their visitors

Vic was also able to download some pics off our ruined camera.....

Manatee & another Tas boat on the public moorings at Nelson Bay...yep that is the beach in the foreground

as the weeks roll by.......

So what have we been doing since our last update you may well ask........

Marg, AK and Pearl went to Southport (by car) with stuff for the storage area that we had left with Aunt Joan. We also did a re-arrange of Manatee's storage areas with a "do we really need this" question on most things. Stuff, like books that AK isn't ready to part with, also went to the storage area. We took the opportunity to inspect our unit at the same time.

On our way back we stopped at Yamba overnight to check out the town, river and marina for our expected stay there. The town is still relatively laid back, the river is clean with good anchoring spots and the marina is huge. It was bought by Kay Cottee (solo around the world) and Peter Sutton (her husband) a few years ago and they have added a art gallery which was closed when we visited. There is a great little cafe attached and the place feels secure and clean. There is a little chandlery and a good hard stand where Derek had silver cloud out for a soda blast. The local papers talked of a proposed marina at Grafton which appeared to have the support of locals as a way to garnish the tourist dollar.

Jacki and Ruby stayed with Jean and June, sisters who live at RossGlen on an acreage. June is a dog whisperer so the girls came home very content (and better behaved!) Idgi stayed on Manatee to keep things in order. While we were away a southerly blast came through overturning dinghy's and creating havoc. Luckily we had pulled Ini on to the deck before leaving!

a good spot to anchor at Yamba

The following weekend Victoria and Phil visited from Sydney. They stayed at Diamond Head caravan park which is across the river and down a bit from Manatee. Everyone was excited to see them, so we took them to our favourite spots.......

Dunbogan beach...

art by the river.....

the river walk to North Haven (and Sandbanks Cafe!)

We also drove through to the National Park camping area at Diamond Head as Victoria has fond memories of the area and is aways on the lookout for the perfect place for camping. This spot is a little disappointing as it has got very popular so looks like a caravan park at times.

After waving farewell on Sunday we took a day off before embarking on our next project.....

the bathroom (or head).

There has been a small leak as the area didn't appear to be properly sealed. Manatee's previous owner had re-designed the area, making it smaller to give the saloon and galley more room. It is still large enough for us, but the leak gave AK nightmares.

So for the rest of the week out came the toilet, part floor, wall linings, basin etc. It appeared that the leak had caused some rusting of the floor supports...so out came the saloon...table, couch and supports. Luckily the rust didn't extend far.

On Thursday Marg had her appointment with the specialist for her carpel tunnel. He warranted it important enough to operate on the following Monday...aargh! Marg hates hospitals but the pain was unbearable.

We then had a call from Lesley who wanted to visit with a friend...aargh....had to be this weekend...aaaargh. Thinking there was something important happening AK succumbed and spent Friday and Saturday morning putting the saloon back together while Marg assisted best she could and hurried around looking for a cottage to recuperate in for a few days. We realised she wouldn't be able to get off Manatee at low tide. Without a bathroom she would need to get off lots!

Monday came, the operation went well and we moved into a little holiday cottage at

Dunbogan.

the view from the lounge room...a great place to recuperate

Marg tolerated AK's cooking for a few days and spent time sleeping and recovering. The girls went to June's as it was too hard for them to keep quiet at the cottage that allowed no pets! Idgi stayed on Manatee to keep things in order. AK kept working on the bathroom.....sanding and treating the rust, rebuilding the floor, building a pedestal for the new electric toilet, to be upgraded from a manual.

We drove to Coffs Harbour for the day as it is the closest chandlery to pick up the new toilet and the bits and pieces needed to attach it to the holding tank. We also bought a new small sink to replace the largish one we had. We decided to reposition the toilet next to the sink to give more room for the shower and to take advantage of Manatee's sloping sides.

Marg was impressed by the marina at Coffs, the area is quite beautiful and we can't wait to get close to the Solitary Islands.

Idgi wanted to stay at the cottage as the bathroom project was taking longer than expected. We had a spell of wet weather and everything took longer so we extended our time at the cottage.

We have just moved back on to Manatee and what a relief it is to be home. Life on land doesn't seem to suit us anymore. We watched far too much TV! The bathroom, although not yet finished, is going well. The new floor and pedestal has been fibre glassed (what a yucky job that is) part way up the walls to ensure no leaks. The shower plumbing has been reconnected with no leaks..yeah.

Marg is having her other hand operated on 8th Dec so she will be mobile for the large Xmas AK's family is planning.

So even though it has been ages since the last update, there has been lots happening!