Report Number 8

Trip Report #8

Sunday 11th to Tuesday 13th we stayed in Port Macquarie. Karen's mum has recovered quite well and has returned to the nursing home from hospital, much to our relief. Much of the time we did the tourist thing - eating at cafes, visiting the attractions like the old sailing ship "Alma Doepel" (don't spend time trying to translate the name - it was built by a guy called Doepel and named after his daughter!). Also, of course, we spent A LOT of time with our new friends the gurus Alan and Patricia :). I also replaced the stereo AM/FM with a new one because the old one was no longer reliable.

Wednesday dawned clrad and sunny with a good forecast for today and Thursday so we upped the anchor (so to speak) and set forth for Trial Bay and South West Rocks. Naturally, we ran aground on the way out as we always do to show our respect for places where we have enjoyed staying. Cleared the bar (no, Ian, that's the technical term for sand that biulds up across the entrance!) at 10am and after our usual slightly bumpy trip we arrived at Trial Bay at 4pm. Tied up to a mooring in th middle of the bay and settled in for the night. Well, sort of settled in - the swell was coming in across the boat causing a constant rolling, but, hey, what do you expect on a boat? Will try a new website tonight "Buoyweather" which David at Port Marina showed us. It is American but extremely good from his experience. We checked it during our low-cost 6-7 time slot and it said tomorrow will be fantastic, so it really is a great site! Tried to watch State of Origin II but reception was just too poor to see anything, anyway, glad we didn't watch the Maroons win!

Up early - well, 7-ish on Thursday, and under weigh by quarter past. Seas bit bigger than expected and icy breeze made the start a little uncomfortaqble. BUT then the seas died right down to a supposed 1 metre wave on 1.5 metre swell, but I think they exaggerated because it was really smooth and the sun was getting a lot warmer, so by 10.30 we were driving from the flybridge and by 12 noon we were sunbaking on the front deck! Jess, of course, behaved beautifully and just kept going in the straight line where we had pointed her. Although she did give us some little worry when we saw paint lifting from small areas just above the water level along the side. Ignored it, naturally, what else could we do?, and pressed on to Coffs Harbour where we dropped anchor at 1.30. Had a few minutes settle down time and then took the dinghy in to the marina to talk to Val Crawley (name dropped David O'Brien from Port Marina) and managed to get a berth. It is actually for much larger boats than Jess and we may have to move if a big one comes in, but that's OK with us. Popped Jess in and went for a walk around the marina and surrounds. Found a few shops and a nice-looking restaurant and the yacht club. Karen had a long phone call from work and I rang my neice Carol and arranged to meet her and hers for lunch on Sunday. Weather is forecast to turn pretty ugly tomorrow night, so we paid for a week here and will leave when it looks like being pleasant out there.

Thanks again to all those who have written,

Love

Karen and Warwick