Tales from Yamba (2)

We've made the most of our Yamba stay, sightseeing and going to the beach.

Another day in paradise-Pippi Beach


Yamba across the river from Iluka


Iluka boat harbour-can you spot the sunken yacht?

No luck with work though, locals get the jobs which is fair enough. The girls have been having a great time, with lots of trips to the beach and the breakwater.

The weather has been really bad, can't remember so much rain for a long time. At times the bar is spectacular. A fishing boat got rolled last week and a catamaran got hit on it's stern by a freak wave which flooded into its saloon. The owner spent a week at the marina drying out. The fishing boat was wrecked.

We both celebrated birthdays at Yamba as did Ruby. Pearl is sure it's her birthday as well. We spent the day at Spooky Beach at Angourie, for a picnic, one of the few fine days we have had.

Spooky spooky Beach



Our day tent, gee it gets crowded

We also managed a few dinners at the Pacific Hotel at Yamba, which has amazing views as it's perched on a cliff. Great food too! The scene at dusk is great, as the fishing fleet leave the river, lights on. Highly recommended.

Yamba lighthouse from the Pacific


The beach below the Pacific

Skooter from Skooter Sails at Yamba is making us a boom tent which will double as a water catcher. We don't want to be reliant on marinas for our water any longer. Our stay at Yamba Marina has been a little strange. It's got great infrastructure, is in a beautiful spot and the folk with boats berthed are interesting and friendly. Pity about staff/management. Seems people are a bit of an inconvenience really (except front office staff who really know customer service). Never experienced such rudeness in our lives, an experience felt by all we talked with. After a wild storm we had, cruisers were adjusting ropes of the permanently berthed (vacant) boats so they weren't damaged as it didn't seem to be in the job description of staff. Strange! Recommended? Hell no!

The guy who was moored near us on Sydney Harbour and warned us about the sand banks, appeared one morning knocking on our hull. Mike on his 53' steelie (Bacchanalia) has been at Yamba preparing for his big trip. What a small sea!

Maclean which is about 1/2 inland from Yamba is Australia's "scottish town". The telegraph poles have tartan strips and on the Easter weekend it had it's "highland gathering". The sound of bagpipes could be heard for miles and kilts were the fashion of the day.

The Clarence at Maclean

There has been plenty of wild storms. The Clarence is a murky muddy slush, so Marg has given up on fishing, much to Idgi's disappointment. Canned fish is just not the same.

We've seen lots of films up here, even going to a short film festival which we loved. Yamba has 2 cinemas, one of which is in a converted Bunnings. The owner/staff are film buffs and it's a pleasure going to their cinema. Great fun when it rains on the tin roof. Well worth the experience if you're up this way.