Exit Sydney, Turn Left

I'm writing this as we plug along the central coast of New South Wales, motoring just a few hundred metres offshore. We are trying to shelter from the worst effects of a building northerly. We've got 16M to go before Yamba and a bar crossing at low tide. It's been a bit of a motoring slog with wind and current against us the past 2 days since leaving Forster. Other than that, things are great!

Central Coast, NSW

April 2019

So we left Sydney what already seems like ages ago. Can it only be a week??!!! We've been going fairly hard to cover some ground because in effect, this part of the trip is really like a delivery from Sydney to the Gold Coast. Paradise is going to come out of the water for 3 weeks for maintenance, updates and safety checks before we officially start the Big Lap on 6th May. 

 

It takes some time to get into the rhythm of life onboard again, particularly when you are trying to make some miles. I think I got my sea legs back straight away but the others have taken a day or two to get used to rhythm of the wind and waves. There wasn't much eating going for the first day or two! We've been stopping every night though at a mooring or marina so pretty easy from that perspective. 

It doesn't take long for the sea to throw up a challenge and our first was an interesting bar crossing into the river at Port Macquarie. Suffice to say, John said it's the first time he's had Paradise surfing. 

UPDATE

Another bumpy day at sea today after leaving Yamba and heading up the coast a few miles to Ballina for an overnight stop. We spent a few days in Yamba waiting for a southerly change to blow through and took the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. A visit to the (in)famous Pacific Hotel proved to be quite an insight for Nathalie. Playing pool there was a new experience watching how Aussie locals spend there time at the pub. Narrowly avoided seeing a fight over reserving the next game of pool. Welcome to country Oz mon amour! We visited Maclean with it's rich Scottish heritage and Angourie Point, as surfing mecca. Pretty dreary weather though, dodgy showers every hour. No complaints though. We are heading north and it's only going to get hotter.

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