NSW EAST COAST - EDEN TO SYDNEY

NSW EAST COAST - EDEN TO SYDNEY

I love to watch the clouds go by
forming great patterns
across the sky

Wednesday  12th March 2014

Leaving Eden

It was a grey old morning as Alana Rose with Skipper John and Admiral/First Mate/ Best Mate Nancy on board, slipped out of Eden to make passage to Sydney Harbour via Jervis Bay, the Crookhaven Rive and Port Hacking.

The skipper is at the helm

We were followed by two yachts, a French boat and Honey Bee. These two yachts soon past us as they where making better of the wind and wave conditions.

The sea was being churned up.

Callala Bay - Jervis Bay

Alana Rose was able to take shelter from the strong NE winds in Callala Bay at the top of Jervis Bay.

We were in the good company of other seafarers.

Callala Bay is a lovely little place to be in NE weather but not in south conditions. MrJ and I would go ashore each day to walk the delightful sandy beach or take a longer stroll into the friendly shopping village. The hamburgers at the local cafe were so big that you couldn't jump over them.

It was wonderful to see the local kids sailing school. This is where it all starts.

And the numbers for the sailing races was always good.

Even though the windy weather was a nuisance, we were blessed with some wonderful colours at sunrise.

The Jervis Bay VMR had directed Alana Rose to a public mooring in Callala Bay. This mooring was among all the other moored boats and it took a couple of goes around to find it.

Our days were also spent in collection water for the boat.

To get ashore was always the fun part.

Next door to our mooring I found a couple of new friends. These little tern would come home to roost every evening. It was funny watching the terns gling to the old yellow mooring come hell or high water, even in the strong winds.

The new day would come and the little tern would be off till the next evening.

MrJ and I were able to spend some precious time with my brother Keith, who came out to the back one afternoon, and my darling big sister Phyl and her partner Ernie who live on a small acreage not far from the bay.

We sat on the shady deck with the afternoon sun casting long shadow across the boards as my sister and I remembered old time and told stories of past, present and future. 

My sister Phyl and her partner Ernie live with the wombats - Ernie's daughter cares for them. 

And the Kangaroos that Ernie helps to take care of.

Left to right, Back row, brother Keith and Ernie
Front row, me and sister Phyl

Tuesday 18th March 2014

Jervis Bay to Crookhaven

The weather had cleared, it was time to set sail once more. MrJ and I left Jervis Bay at first light to motorsail up the coast to the Crookhaven River some 20n/m away.

Don't you just love it when you get to have the sunrise at sea.

Crookhaven River

The sea was calm enough, the winds were gentle and the swell was low. But when even a small swell hits the shallow shoaling of the land it can kick up and break into wave on the shore. This was part of the entrance to the Crookhaven River.

The swell rolled in to form crashing waves on the breakwall but we kept to the port side of the entrance to the Crookhaven River and had no trouble crossing the sand bar.

The sun was new to the day and it was shining its soft rays on the crazy men out on the rocks as we came in the river entrance.

Alana Rose anchored in the Crookhaven River off Greenwell Point

The quiet little village of Greenwell Point where the waterway is usually a team with small boat coming and going.

The pelican stay close to the fishing boats hanging our for that extra little tid-bit

MrJ and I walk along the waterfront to the commercial centre of the village, a couple of cafes by the water and some shop up the hill. We had to test out the fish & chips. Yummo!

Wednesday 19th March 2014
Sailing to Port Hacking

We leave for Port Hacking. Motor sailing once again, with a calm sea and a following light breeze, not even enough to fill a sail.

Passing Port Kembla and Woolongong the weather came in with strong winds and sloppy seas.

Gunnamatta Bay

The wind increased as we were entering Port Hacking, and then we turned into Gunnamatta Bay. The entrance is guarded by a very shallow sandbar with a narrow channel to the port side. The rock face along this channel was dotted with cute little boating sheds.

Gunnamatta Bay backs onto the suburb of Cronulla in the south of Sydney,  it is also a tightly packed bay full of occupied moorings. How lucky were we, boating friend Barry Henson, allowed us to stay on his mooring for the night. MrJ and I went ashore to see Barry and ended up going to diner with him and a couple of close friends. 

morning looking out the entrance to Gunnamatta Bay

Thursday 20th March 2014
To Sydney Harbour

MrJ and I leave Gunnamatta Bay at first light. We head out of Port Hacking to be greet with the sight of a big squall out from the entrance. It was time to don foul weather gear and be prepared. Luck for us the squall went out to sea and we were able to sail north without getting dumped on with rain.

Five nautical miles north of Port Hacking in the infamous Botany Bay which I always hum that old folk song when ever I think of the bay.
Farewell to old England forever
Farewell to my rum culls as well
Farewell to the well known Old Bailey
Where I used for to cut such a swell

Singing Tooral liooral liaddity
Singing Tooral liooral liay
Singing Tooral liooral liaddity
And we're bound for Botany Bay

Our first real glimpse of the city of Sydney with Bare Island and La Perouse in the foreground. Situated at the mouth of Botany Bay, Bare Island fort was built in 1885 to protect the back door of Sydney from sea attack. La Perouse was named after the French navigator Jean-Francois de Galaup, comte de Laperouse  (1741–88), who landed on the northern shore of Botany Bay west of Bare Island on the 26th January 1788. Captain Arthur Phillip and the first fleet of convicts had arrived in Botany Bay a few days earlier.

An old  WWII gun fortresses on one of the headlands outside Sydney

Bronte Beach

Coogee Beach

The welcoming committee came out to greet us; Army, Navy and well not Air Force.

It was so exciting to be passing along the Sydney coastline but not as exciting as entering into Sydney Harbour through the Sydney Heads.

As we were entering Sydney Harbour the Manly Ferry, the Narrabeen, was steaming by.

Inside South Head looking back at the Hornby Light House. The iconic red and white striped tower is surrounded by magnificent views: Sydney Harbour to the west, Middle Head and North Head to the north, and the expansive Pacific Ocean to the east. The lighthouse was built in 1858 following the wrecking of the Dunbar at the foot of South Head. Designed by colonial architect Alexander Dawson, Hornby Lighthouse was the third lighthouse to be built in NSW.