Adelaide to Brisbane, November 2010 - Any Tips on this Trip Are Welcomed

[stillbuilding]

Port Fairy, Apollo Bay, Westernport (Flinders or Cape Woolamai if just overnight), Refuge Cove, (Gabo Island if you are hit by weather and tired), Eden, Bermagui and as above past Sydney.

[rusky]

I use a spoon lure. Successful north of brisbane - sth ???

[Rapscallion]

If you want somewhere a bit off the beaten track stop off at Bittangabee just inside Green Cape

Bittangabee Bay NSW @ ExplorOz Places

and beware of Stockton bight on your way to Port Stephens. It can bite.

Dave.

[Ozbullwinkle]

I enjoyed your pics from Broughton Island I love the place and used to spend around 10 days on board ther every year - your pics bring back some good memories. During your trip when you venture inside Port Stephens this time ,which is definitely worth it , the best anchorage is in Fame Cove which is opposite Soldiers Point - a great spot and very protected. There is also a good marina & chandelry at Soldiers Point as well.

[banyandah]

We did that trip last summer in reverse and would suggest taking the route along the Tasmanian north coast. No ships, less sea, no oil wells, plenty of anchorages and you can day hop. Read our blog, a wandering wake

Start at King Island, the port of Currie needs settled weather but Grassy on the East Coast is fine, grab a mooring, the locals are real friendly. Then across to Three Hummocks, could get bouncy on that jaunt, but beautiful scenery and safe anchorages, A hop over to Stanley to climb the Nut, then Devonport, easy entry, nice club, big town, then another hop to Georgetown on the Tamar. Take a mooring off their tiny club, or slip into the marina and a local will take you to Launceston if you want. You'll need settled weather to cruise up Flinders Island west coast. Plenty of weed there, exposed to westerlies and much more remote, but behind Prime Seal is OK, and in the south bay of East Kangaroo is great, plenty of Cape Baron Geese there, we enjoyed a day at Wybalenna, the last Tasmanian Aborignals were housed there.
Pick you weather and either make a jump straight to Eden, or attempt Lakes Entrtance. Look yu'll need slack tide to enter there. They dreged the channel a few years back, but mate the tide roars out, so neaps, or slack water or you could end up on the beach. Turn right at the first inlet, that's the town, after it gets shallow. I'd go straight to Eden unless the weather is settled. Maybe the start of a front when it blows NW turning westerly. If the swell off Eden is uncomfortable, cross over to Boyd Bay, the SW is off the land there, but no supplies there, a pub is there. The rest you know. But a couple other spots, Laurieton is grand, a few free days alonside at the RSL, climb the mountain for grand views and hitch out to the park at Point Perpendicular, wonderful seascapes, whales. Trial Bay in good weather has an interesting old goal. And we prefer Iluka over Yamba, easier entry, quieter, close walk to the pub. We're in Ballina on the Richmond, can be tricky getting in, early morning is best, stay on the leads its silting up on the south side. OK, you may want to read on our new book covering our Australian Circumnavigation, Two's a Crew
Cheers,
Jack & Jude

[dennisail]

Thanks heaps Jack and Jude. I will take that advice and we might take a look at the north coast of Tassie. Is Port Sorell navigable? When anchoring off the islands of Tassie, how deep are the anchorages?

King island. Port of curry King Island - Google Maps

King island. Grassy King Island - Google Maps

Three Hummocks island. Three Hummocks tasmania - Google Maps

Stanley. The nut. stanley - Google Maps

Devonport Devonport - Google Maps

Port sorell port sorell - Google Maps

Georgetown Georgetown - Google Maps

Flinders Island. Prime seal island. prime seal - Google Maps

Flinders Island. East Kangaroo Island east kangaroo island - Google Maps

Wybalenna Wybalenna - Google Maps

[banyandah]

1/ Currry is King Island's main town, has a super market and nice bakery, and TWO pubs, but it requires care when entering, there are a few rocks that are marked but it is the WEST coast so wind and swell are a factor.
2/ Grassy is easy to get in, but only has one small shop and butchery about 3km walk up the hill. Lovely spot and nice people. Take a mooring until someones says you shoudl move, and take it up to the chain, that's what the locals do, so the lead rope can be weak and they get pissed if it breaks and you lose their mooring.
3/ 3hummocks, several anchorages on the channel side. Beautiful place, supposedly a private island w/ resort, but not much there.
4/ Stanly, tight entry, and watch for side current if its blowing, its just a gap and then your in. Tie up alongside the jetty away from the fish coop, and use really long spring lines, big tide there. Climb the Nut for a woozer view, short walk through town to cemetery very interesting. Stop at the PO and say Hi to Sue. Good fish n chips near the harbour.
5/ Devonport, no worries entry, alongside at YC or take a mooring for less money. Healthy walk to big town with everything. Cheap meals just up the road from YC. Good bar at club. Just watch Bass Strait ferries leaving at sundown. Also, great naval museum on entry point.
6/ Port Sorell didn't go there.
7/ Georgetown is great. deep water until in close. There was a mooring available just off the YC. Tiny club, great folk. Watch the currents on entry. Plenty of zig-zags and tight, especially if a ships coming out. Several anchorages up river, right up to Launceston, which is a mess with silting, but a wonderful town, great parks, shopping and the gorge, a place not to miss. Take your swimmers, there's a free pool in the most glorious setting.
8/ Prime Seal Flinders, now you're in serious country. Lotsa weed. can blow round there, but spectacular scenry. We went from there to East Kangaroo and then through the straits to Lady Baron. Current plenty. You can get a mooring at Lady Barron and will need it if it blows, a bit exposed to the west. Plenty of Cape Barron Geese on the islands, no one around. Super clear water, but alas, plenty of weed.
9/ Wybalenna, Black Mans House is special to us and we're interested in history. Probably need settled weather, your google map is NOT the place. Its on Flinders. Try 40 - 01.6S 147 - 52 E
Another anchorage nearby, good in strong winds, 39 - 54.3S 1467 -47E behind Roydon, find a clear spot amongst weed.

Okay hope that helps. We'll be back in Adelaid mid-November at the Garden Island YC. Cheers They say I can't plug my new book but if you go to our blog you'll find a link, covers our Australian Circumnavigation. Photos there too. Cheers

[dennisail]

Many thanks for the tips. I appreciate it. I will be flying off in a week!

What direction do the currents go through bass straight? What might I expect the prevailing winds to be like through November?

[Bricky]

Good Luck with the voyage. We - my wife and I are thinking of doing part of the same in reverse at about the same time. With very limited sailing experience we are a bit nervous about Bass Straight, so am reading this thread with interest.
We managed to get our new (second hand) boat from Sydney to Batemans Bay a few weeks ago without any dramas. We originally were going to get someone to bring it home for us but after doing a lot of research and talking to people who have made the trip we are confident we will manage.
Cheers Daryl & Kerren

[dennisail]

I am a little nervous about bass strait and the fact this will be the boats shake down run. We would never dream of paying someone to move a boat for us. Half the fun of buying the boat so far away is that it presents a perfect excuse to go and actually use it!

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Port Fairy is definitly the cutest fishing port out side the Med. And Lauriton, Camden Haven is just a nice old fashioned country town. Anchor opposite the RSL and explore how Australia was in the 1950's... cinema and all! Its not hick, just ....

(It sounds like the threads poster might already have a fairly good knowledge of this part of the coast. Still others might benefit from the following?)

My similar favourites are Boat Beach at Seal Rocks and Crowdy Head with the anchorage at the Goal SW Rocks and sitting next to the wharf at Coffs not too far behind. In both case you don’t have to cross bars, but still beware of bombies and islands. Both are protected from southerly conditions.

I heard a really bad story the other day about a young bloke cruising alone from Newcastle who tried to take cover from a southerly in the Broughton Island anchorage. He decided it was not suitable and headed to sea. Eventually he ended up beaching his boat near Camden Haven. Maybe he considered crossing the bar?

The boat beach at Seals is also fairly rolly, but in a southerly much better protected and extremely scenic. Then Crowdy Head harbour was being dredged the last time I was up there and is like slipping into a time warp. It is also protected in a southerly. Beware; there is a small connivance store at Seals and nothing except a Fish Co-op at Crowdy.

November from the Mid to Far North Coast of NSW seems to be mainly slight to moderate NE-E winds and seas often mixed with some moderate SE conditions. You do get a bit of sharp squally weather from the south.

I was reading a book published in 1969 called “Force Nine and More” and at least two of the stories concerned boats hitting extreme southerly changes/weather on this part of the coast. One occurred in May and the other November. Nevertheless, nowadays serious southerlies are visible for days beforehand on the 4 day charts, so there is no reason not to find shelter and let them pass. If there is a really big front coming through best bet is to plan getting early into somewhere like Sydney, Broken Bay (very scenic), Newcastle or Coffs where you won’t get locked in and can comfortably hang about.

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by Rapscallion

If you want somewhere a bit off the beaten track stop off at Bittangabee just inside Green Cape

Bittangabee Bay NSW @ ExplorOz Places

and beware of Stockton bight on your way to Port Stephens. It can bite.

Dave.

June seems to be the classic time of late for destructive lows forming off this area as in the recent Pasha Bulker grounding and some similar weather this year. (There are more photos of the same on my profile) The bight is fairly shallow can break well offshore and even across Newcastle harbour entrance in extreme conditions. Otherwise, just watch out you don’t run into one of the many coal boats anchored well to sea south along this stretch of coast or trawlers in the bight.

Then if you feel like you are going backwards you might just have found the East Coast Current! http://www.cmar.csiro.au/research/oceans.html & http://www.marine.csiro.au/yachtinginfo/eacyacht.htm

[dennisail]

Last time we delivered a Piver Nimble from Syndey to Yamba in Dec we had a hard time due to N winds sometime even reaching gale force. A south gale would have been welcomed! This time we hope our boat (Duncanson 35) will perform well to windward and make fast progress when the inevitable southerlys blow.

Crowdy head is a very isolated little place. We stayed there for Christmas after battling a N gale on Christmas Eve being unable to make port Macquarie from Broughten Island. We couldn't even round Camden head. A family with holiday a home invited us in for Christmas meals after they determined we weren't a Columbian Coke ship when we arrived at sunrise. We showered at the surf club.

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by dennisail

Last time we delivered a Piver Nimble from Syndey to Yamba in Dec we had a hard time due to N winds sometime even reaching gale force. A south gale would have been welcomed! This time we hope our boat (Duncanson 35) will perform well to windward and make fast progress when the inevitable southerlys blow.

Crowdy head is a very isolated little place. We stayed there for Christmas after battling a N gale on Christmas Eve being unable to make port Macquarie from Broughten Island. We couldn't even round Camden head. A family with holiday a home invited us in for Christmas meals after they determined we weren't a Columbian Coke ship when we arrived at sunrise. We showered at the surf club.

I also found the people at Crowdy extremely friendly. When I mentioned the lack of a corner shop to one elderly lady I almost had to fight her off from giving me a loaf of bread and anything else she could contribute. It might have helped that I once worked for a family who fished out of the port. Nonetheless, the people are really good hearted and welcoming.

If you are lucky the squally November conditions have a lot more east in the wind than the later December N-NE gales. It is not the same every year; however this seems to be the general pattern.

Might even see you on the way past if you drop in Newcastle and need a shower and a cup of tea. Depending on conditions it is no drama to drop an anchor at Horseshoe beach just inside the heads. (5 min walk from me) There is also a public wharf just after the pilot station. Just make sure you use big fenders especially at low tide.

[ozskipper]

Remember that there is a traffic separation zone in bass Straight. I forget where it starts and finishes, but worth noting.

Also, I am surprised that nobody (unless i missed it) has recommended Pittwater/hawksbury. Its an easy to get into harbour with plenty of marinas,clubs etc selling the usual stuff.