Private trip made to the Hawkesbury River, NSW, October 2010

Photos from the event

16/10/2010
Left Cleveland at 8-00am to meet 2 others heading to the Hawkesbury river .The 3 of us were ready to depart Mount Cotton school car park at 9-00am Chris & Kaye (Reel Time)  Gerry & Betty  (Houston) & Don  & Julie (Lazy Lizard), we were to meet up with Mike &Rob (Lucy Ella) down the road somewhere. The weather  forecast  for the trip down was not all that flash, a bit of rain & heaps of wind, but the weather on Monday on the Hawkesbury was good.
Arrived at Ballina 11-00am for a break & check the trailers then on to Coffs Harbour to top up with fuel. We arrived at our overnight stop at Port Macquarie around 6-00pm. We stayed at the Sundowner   Breakwall Tourist Park and I can assure you that you get some strange looks when you pull into a caravan spot & get in & out of the boat for the night. We had a great evening meal at the local bowls club that night.
17/10/2010
Left Port  Macquarie 8-30am heading to Sydney, stoped at Bulahdelah for a break & check trailers. Mike & Rob (Lucy Ella) caught up with us here. Headed off & the 4 of us found our way through the northern suburbs of Sydney & wound our way down to Berowra Waters Marina, that was after I missed the turn into the car park & found myself in the line of traffic to go across on the ferry ( had to back up narrow road a couple of hundred meters)   then turn in to the car park. Radios are good to warn the others behind me.   We had no sooner parked cars when we were met by our NSW Whittley Club friends, Maxine & Ray with “To the Max” & Gary & Lynett with “ Sign on 4” both 700 Cruise Masters. Maxine had pre arranged marina berths & car/trailer storage for us which made things a lot easier. We had all boats in the water & tied up around 6-30 so it was into drinks and meet our hosts properly then clean up for a good evening meal .
18/10/2010
After breakfast & a quick briefing of the area and where we were heading by Maxine we left Berowra Waters travelling up Berowra Creek past numerous oyster  leases tucked up in all the small bays of each side to enter the Hawkesbury River . We headed east and had not travelled far when we came across what is left of the HMAS Parramatta, a quick look, photos  & some history on it supplied by Garry, we moved on down the river to go under the Brooklyn bridges (more info from Garry) to Refuge Bay, what a magnificent spot, we secured 1 boat to a mooring then rafted up for lunch. The bay is filled with private & a few public moorings and they tell me everyone is used on the weekend.  After lunch we went ashore for a look & a swim, water is a lot colder than Queensland but it was good, you can even have a shower under the waterfall after your swim. Back to boats & move just around to the top corner of the bay to America bay where we picked up another mooring and rafted up for the night , once again heaps of moorings defiantly the best time to cruise the river is during the week when everyone else is at work. A big day we had travelled about 29 kilometres and it was happy hour.

19-10-2010
We had a good calm night apart from the mooring boy giving a friendly tap – tap on the side of the boat every now & then. We woke up to misty rain which was not on the wanted list but any way it was here for now. After every one finished breakfast & cleaned up we headed off (around 10-00am, we are on holidays) we travelled back into the main Hawkesbury river and on around to turn in towards  Pittwater leaving  Barrenjoey  Head to our port side ,idled past Barrenjoey  Beach, could not see anyone from Home & Away there. As we cruised down crossing from 1 side to the other Garry gave an informative commentary over the radio on each beach etc as we passed. We ended up in the bottom South corner where we dropped anchor for lunch, the rain had cleared but was still over cast so a few of us did a short walk from the beach to the shops at Mona Vale for some fresh bread etc. We then headed back out topping up with fuel at the Royal Motor Yacht Club (Reel Time felt very small amongst all the large yachts & cruisers) , cost was not to bad $1.45 per litre from memory. We headed to our overnight anchorage in a bay called Coasters Retreat or more commonly known as the Basin, once again heaps of vacant moorings , a very pretty bay with the National Park camping ground & facilities straight behind the beach. We rafted up for the night starting with happy hour drinks & dropped a couple of lines in the water. Betty caught the first fish followed by Gerry, both went back to grow up a fair bit.  Another big day- about 33 kilometres travelled.
20/10/2010
Another quiet night, up at 7-00am for breakfast then row into shore for a look, a very well presented camp ground & facilities, we took our wash gear in to use the shower – got undressed & shock only 1 tap & i can assure you their was defiantly no hot water mixed in with the flow, survived the shower ,read all the info , talked to skippy then back to back to the boat. Left at 9-15am and headed across the open water past Lion Island and followed the cliffs around to enter Brisbane Waters. As we wound our way following heaps of markers you pass lots of nicely done up old beach houses and some modern ones mixed in, all with pontoons or jetties out the front. We kept heading North under the Rip Bridge to Gosford, we then turned back and cruised into Woy Woy, tied up on the inside of  the local jetty ( ferry uses outside). We all went for a wander around town , had fish & chips at the local water side shop, even checked out the local pub for a beer. We left before the tide dropped to far & blocked us in travelling back south to our overnight anchorage behind an old oyster lease in Rileys Bay. We rafted up again with 3 bow anchors & 2 stern anchors out, we were not going any where.  Just in time for happy hour , another big day – around 36 kilometres
21-10-2010
Another quiet night, early breakfast then headed back south out of Brisbane Waters & into open water (Broken Bay) , across the bay  past Lion Island and around the corner back into Refuge bay for a late breakfast for some or morning tea for others. Back into the beach for a quick swim and relax before heading down past Cottage point to Akuna bay. Topped up with fuel  & then walked around looking at the facilities, very well laid out, general store, boat hire, boat maintenance etc. Just as well I did not need much fuel as that was $1.75 per litre, Diesel was $1.72 per litre. The wind had picked up & was drawing down through the hills that surround us so our intended overnight anchorage at Smiths creek was given the miss. We travelled back up Coal & candle Creek & into Castle Bay a nice little bay well protected. We did our normal raft up with plenty of bow & stern anchors out. I rowed in shore for a look & try to get a photo of the boats but to many trees in the way, found a nice little water fall. Back to boat for happy hour , yes another big day - about 35 kilometres.
22-10-2010.
Had another pleasant night, up about 7-00am for breakfast & tidy up. This morning we bid farewell & thanks to our NSW hosts, they certainly have shown what boating is all about, meeting great people & enjoying the water together. Mike & Rob had another weeks holiday so they headed off with Maxine & Ray & Garry & Lynett up to have a look at Wisemans Ferry. We pulled anchor & headed of around 9-30am cruising at the no wash speed of 8 knts . We cruised on past Cottage Point & turned into Smiths Creek, some spectacular sand stone formations & colours on the cliff faces. Back out into the main channel we headed up to Bobbin Head Marina for a look, very tidy park along side the marina. Headed back up stream, most of the water is around 20mtrs deep we turned into Jerusalem  Bay, at the end of the bay we dropped anchor and went ashore for a look, the wind was picking up so after a short look around we headed back towards Berowra Waters. On our way we turned into Sandbrook Inlet (Brooklyn) a very crowded  inlet, no vacant space to drop anchor & very shallow,don’t think I would bother coming back in here again. As a storm was brewing we kept moving back to Berowra waters, the storm hit just as we tied up and started to walk up the marina. Had the boats out & on trailers by 5-00pm, hit the showers then set up BBQ between the trailers another relaxing night before heading back up the road to home. Travelled about 65 kilometres  
23-10-2010
Left Berowra Waters about 9-00am & headed out of Sydney, had a good run on roads stopping for a break every now & then, arrived at Coffs Harbour about 4-00pm so found a caravan park for the night, more strange looks from locals.
24-10-2010
Left Coffs Harbour for home, not much traffic so a good run, arrived home at 1-30pm, cleaned boat.
Total car travelling distance – 1,852 kil, car averaged 14.5 litres per 100 Kil.
Boat travelled around 197 kil. Did 17 hours engine running at an average of 9 litres per hour
Had a great trip & would recommend it to every boat enthusiast to do.

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Hi All

Alas we are back in Toowoomba trimming the jungle that we once thought was a garden! The plants (and weeds) sure like the rain and they seem to be putting all the pent up growth from 10 years of drought into one season’s massive spurt

We had a nice trip up to Windsor – great river. We stopped for fuel at Dargle Waters – jerry cans, but not far to carry them. Our timing was good as we managed to complete just prior to a storm breaking. When that was over we continued on to our anchorage for the night alongside the Catti NP where we were approached by the police with flashing lights and backed up by the marine authority boat also with flashing lights – enough to make me feel guilty of something. The boat had been running roughly after Dargle – prop seemed to be slipping although I hadn’t felt I’d run over anything or banged it. I was sure I hadn’t cleaned up any of the many skiers. The police began by questioning me – was I aware that it was the annual night time canoe race from Windsor bridge to Brooklyn? No. Was I aware that there would be 600 canoeists paddling past? No. After a long silence it was my turn – what should I do? With a bit of thought the policeman realised I was anchored for the night so he said I was OK. What a relief.

We then chatted about the race and he departed happy adding a  warning that if another police boat renewed the interrogation I was to tell them I was OK. So with wine glasses in hand Rob and I watched a very strange procession of 600 canoeists paddling past in a variety of craft including one guy standing up on a paddle board doing it very tough indeed. Thinking about the rough performance of LucyElla, the strange new spray pattern of the water off the prop and up though the duck board, and examining the leg with my torch I convinced myself that one of the props was damaged – that would account for it but I couldn’t remember hitting anything, bugger –hope the insurance covers it. It rained all day in Windsor so we donned raincoats and armed with umbrellas we did the tourist thing. We collected walking tour guides from the museum and sloshed about seeing the historic buildings of Windsor. Rob was anxious about our tender as I had tied it to a disused jetty and she wanted to be sure it hadn’t been nicked or my knot had held given the tide was running strongly – we checked, knot was good, jetty hadn’t fallen apart, not nicked. More tourism then back to the boat to await our friends who were coming from Sydney for tea.

This time when I tied up to the jetty I displayed my good knot to all for common approval. We had a great meal and with the rain still tumbling down returned to the jetty in the dark – forgot the torch, Bugger!No tender! Bugger! Bugger!
After a while we made out a tender shaped object sitting on a  ramp about 40m away - it was ours! Somebody had placed it high and dry for us after having borrowed it, broken the shear pin, rowed ashore – oars were akimbo, choke on, rope unbroken.

As I rowed back to the LucyElla I was grateful that the borrowers hadn’t just cast the tender adrift or really damaged it. Next day we meandered down the river looking out for the shallow sections at low tide – it was low tide – it was shallow (felt I was back at Jumpinpin). I intended to get some fuel at Dargle, just in case, but discovered that it is only available on the weekend. Anyway we didn’t need it.
We stopped for a coffee at Wisemans Ferry only to be informed sadly that the machine went bust that morning. Anyway we didn’t need it. By this time the wind was up. We found a rocky hill to shelter behind for lunch then continued to Brooklyn for fuel and coffee – we didn’t need the coffee but it was nice. There was still a strong easterly blowing so we headed for America Bay – at least we were familiar with it and it is a great spot. Next morning was perfect.

We meandered down to Berowra Waters and when I pulled the boat out I discovered that my props were OK. Instead, hidden from view from above, a large V shaped sodden bit of tree about 60mm in diameter was wedged under the leg. I had probably hooked it in backing out from the wharf at Dargle. What a relief.

The trip back was pleasant and after giving LucyElla a good scrub and clean we arrived back in Toowoomba around 5.00pm on Thursday feeling like we had returned from a really great holiday – which it was.

So once again, special thanks to Ray&Maxine and Garry&Lynette, your expertise and knowledge certainly allowed us to appreciate the Hawkesbury. As we all know it’s the people that really make us feel great so special thanks also to Gerry&Betty, Chris&Kaye, and Don&Julie for very memorable holiday.
Looking forward to meeting again.

Mike
Mike and Rob McFarlane
LucyElla
Toowoomba
mob 0412 458 042