After leaving the hustle and bustle of Sydney, after only a couple of days we motorsailed overnight to Jervis Bay. S sat up with P on watch until 0200hrs as they huddled together to stay warm as the light drizzle came down for a short time. We passed several ships in the night en route to Jervis Bay, with all being visible from several miles. Now on a timeframe to get home in early January we are taking the soonest weather windows to gain miles southward when we can, even if it means motor sailing. The sight of Point Perpendicular and sheer cliffs greeted us as we got closer to Jervis bay. There were several fishing boats out as it was a calm and dry morning. After passing through the comfortably wide entrance we made our way towards the ‘Hole in the wall’ anchorage. The moorings in place were the most robust ones we have seen on our journey so far. After picking up our mooring we enjoyed the scenery of our new anchorage and relaxed the day away.
H and J went for a swim to shore in the afternoon and enjoyed boogie boarding in the waves for an hour or two. The rest of us read books and while feeling a little bit guilty for not venturing ashore to explore, still continued through the afternoon doing very little.
Monday morning we dropped our mooring and made our way out of Jervis bay, bound for Eden. We were excited to have enough wind to sail for most of the day, but in the evening the wind died off so we had to start the engines, again! (ok so maybe we didn’t have to, but we’re on that timeframe now, so decided it best to). The night watch was calm and there was little swell so P took the opportunity to sit up and watch movies for the night. S had slept through G and P trying to wake her, so we left her to sleep, as she must have needed it, even though she loves to stay up with P on watch. If our helm wasn’t outside the cockpit we’d probably have let S do her own night watches, but I think she prefers the company and to be honest, so does P. The best part of our adventure has been the quality family time we’ve had together. Even though we may have wanted to kill each other at times, we also relied on each other and trusted that, together as a family we could handle anything that came our way. During P’s movies night, she got up every 10 minutes to survey our surroundings, and saw the most amount of phosphorescence we’d seen on passage so far. The glow in the dark plankton was billowing out from the sides and the back of the boat and whilst she tried to capture it on camera, it wasn’t meant to be so just enjoyed it every time during the checks. The mist settled over the boat as G got up at 0400 to take over the watch and P headed off to bed for a few hours. Doing a single overnight passage permits us to be a bit flexible with our watches, as you know that the next day you can go back to a regular sleep pattern. The fog was heavy and we were only able to see land from a couple of hundred metres away as we entered Snug Cove in Twofold bay. Just before we anchored a pod of dolphins crossed our bow which was the best welcome to Eden we could receive.
The following day we went ashore and had lunch on the wharf while watching the cruise ship ferry passengers back and forth to the ship. Then we walked through town, picking up a few essentials before returning to the boat. We discussed the weather, not just to make conversation but because living on a boat revolves around the weather. When will be the right time to leave a port requires some forethought. What is the wind direction and strength? How big is the swell and at what interval? How long will the passage be? Is there a bar to cross and what are the tides doing, as this an important factor when there is a bar crossing involved? What is the long range forecast? Can we make it safely to the next anchorage and if so, what will the weather be like there? How long will we have to stay? When will the weather be right for the next passage? Obviously these considerations are ever more pressing when you have a time limit. So a lot of our conversations involve passage planning. We have started preparing ourselves for life at home, albeit prematurely. But when we get home, there will be limited time before the work and school chaos we left behind a year ago will resume. So, we have been organising things from the boat like dentist check ups, school fees, and looking for a new family car.
We moved across to East Boyd bay in preparation for heading south and dropped our anchor. We dinghied to the beach in the afternoon and enjoyed a walk along the deserted stretch of sand. The next day we relaxed on board and then spent a couple of hours on the beach in the afternoon. We played hangman in the sand before having a swim. Our plan was to leave the next morning and sail overnight to Lakes Entrance, and take a berth at Paynesville for a couple of nights. It was exciting to know that we would be seeing some family for Christmas!
Anchor up, and we made our way south along the coast to Bittangabee bay, a lovely little bay with some of the clearest water we’ve encountered since arriving in Australia. It’s a fair weather anchorage and you would want it to yourself as it’d be super tight with more than one boat! We had decided to stop as we’d visited the area when we were camping a number of years before, and it’s such a pretty place. After a quick swim it was time to get moving. Gennaker flying with light winds we had a calm sail past Gabo Island and across the Victorian border. Again the wind dropped so we motorsailed through some of the night. Just after midnight S spotted the glow of something in the water, speeding towards the boat. What the? It took us a couple of seconds to figure out it was a dolphin or three. We sat excitedly watching them play in the bow waves, and darting away and then coming back again. In hindsight P probably should have woken the rest of the family, but the reality is, that by the time they would have gotten them up, the dolphins would have left (that’s what P tell herself now anyway)!
We arrived at the Lakes Entrance bar around 1130am and after watching a couple of boats come out, made our way in. We had already checked the tides, so knew the safest time to enter the lakes system. Constantly watching our depth and making sure we entered with the lead in navigation marks correctly we zoomed in at 9 knots. There was at least 2 knots of current behind us! We navigated our way safely through the channel, passing by the lovely village of Metung. We kept on and approached the north end of Raymond Island only to discover the overhead cable. Checking the height of the cable (we would have hit it with our mast) we turned around and went all the way back round to the south end of the island. Rounding the corner we spotted our welcoming party on a nearby jetty. Nana, Papa, Hope and Rudi were waving madly to us and we returned those waves with fervour, all so excited with the lovely homecoming to our first Victorian Port.
As we motored up McMillan strait, they moved too, stopping to wave to us, and moved again to meet us on the dock to help with our lines. We have encountered some interesting marina berths but this one looked downright impossible! G was amazing, as was the crew, in parking our boat in between 4 poles! And we’d better mention the welcoming party, they also did a great job of catching our lines and keeping us on the dock, while G tied us up properly to the poles that surrounded us. The family came on board and we had a relaxing couple of hours before Matt, Shell and the kids arrived to greet us too. Then we all headed out for dinner together and had a nice time catching up on the last few months. At the end of the night H and J had already scammed a sleepover at Nana and Papas house so it was quiet evening for us on the boat.
Christmas Eve morning saw us (ok just P) up and busy cleaning. The sheets hadn’t been washed for about 4 weeks, aargh! They just about walked to the machine by themselves, and after about 6 loads of free washing we were ready to go into town. Nana had loaned us her car while we were in Paynesville which was a great help. We stopped in Bairnsdale to pick up a few Christmas things before going to the farm. H and J had been having a great time hanging out with their cousin, riding the motorbikes and helping Papa and Nana with the farm jobs. On return to Be and Be we cooked dinner and exchanged our KK gifts, a tradition we started last Christmas. We were up by 7am on Christmas morning and after excitedly opening our presents we packed for a sleepover at the farm.
Arriving in time for brekky, everyone was in the Christmas spirit. Nana and Papa had prepared some yummy food with the help of Aunty Lisa, Uncle Paul, Lachie, Jade, Cassie and Taylor, who were camping down the river. Nana and Papa later went out to lunch and we spent the afternoon down the river. J tried out his remote controlled speedboat and then G, H and J went for a kayak up the river for a couple of hours. S, E and P sat around chatting, reading and relaxing with Lis and Paul. What an excellent way to spend the day. Matt, Michelle, Sam and Jimi, Lisa and Justin arrived with their kids (Ryan, Lucy, Faith, Hope, Rudi, Ben, Leo, Tilly, Isla, Maia, and Pia) in the evening for dinner. The kids were keen on a swim so in the dusky light I walked down to the dam to supervise and got them out before total darkness had set in. After a delicious dinner of the traditional roast meats, salads and pudding and a play, we tucked the kids up in their beds in the tent they were sharing and everyone headed off to bed.
Boxing Day we spent mucking about on the farm. G and Justin had been given the task of building the slide for the dam, which took them most of the day. Papa had to bring a huge log using the tractor so they had something to bolt the slide on to. While they were busy building, Lisa, Nana and P took the kids over to Jan and Trev’s to pick some apricots and plums. The cousins all had a great day together, riding motorbikes, swimming and hanging out. In the late afternoon we headed back to the boat, as we were going to leave the next day. A quick stop to provision in town and we were ready to go. Lisa, Justin, Sam, Jimi, Lisa and Paul and the kids all joined us on the boat for fish and chips for dinner.
The following day we dropped our dock lines and G expertly manoeuvred the boat out of our tricky parking space. Then we filled up with diesel and made our way towards Lakes Entrance. We crossed the bar again and once clear of the entrance, pulled our sails up. Though the mainsail was jammed somewhere. G climbed up on the boom to discover a loose screw in the sail track. Fortunately it was discovered before the whole piece of track fell out, as this happened on our way to Tonga. And it resulted in losing a sail car, which we had to wait to replace before we left the country, so we could raise our mainsail. Anyway, screw tightened and we were off, bound for Wilsons Promontory.
