Planning for our Brisbane - Sydney - Melbourne - Adelaide - Perth - Kimberley passage

[fxykty]

Advice welcomed for those with experience as we plan our cruising and passages from leaving Brisbane next month and estimated arrival Perth in March sometime. After that we’ll be heading up the coast and planning to spend as much time as possible in the Kimberley before heading up to Indonesia before the next summer cyclone season.

Our timing is based on the various races I’ll be doing on a Brisbane-based racing monohull from Southport to Sydney and Sydney-Hobart, then Port Lincoln race week and IRC nationals in mid-Feb.

- We’ll have 2 weeks to cover the NSW coast to Sydney. Must do stops? With the unsettled weather I’m not sure about any bar crossings. Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Broughton Island, Port Stephens?

- We’ll have a month in Sydney until New Years Day (assuming a reasonable Syd-Hob and return flight to Sydney before New Years Eve), so we’ll spend some time in Pittwater and Hawkesbury River, Sydney Harbour and Port Hacking.

- We spent a month coming up the coast from Eden to Sydney back in March, so we’d like to see more of Jervis Bay and some of our favourite towns on the south coast, but otherwise are happy to move faster.

- Once we turn the corner into Bass Straight and the Victorian coast, other than Lakes Entrance is there much along there as we head for Melbourne? We will spend a couple weeks in Melbourne visiting family before heading for Adelaide and Port Lincoln. Is there much between Melbourne and Kangaroo Island?

- We’ve got Jack n Jude’s guide to South Australia (we liked their Tasmania guide) and will use that to coastal hop to Streaky Bay, with a week around Port Lincoln during the race week.

- Passage across the Bight heading for Esperance - early to mid-March should still be good for easterlies?

- Breathing a sigh of relief as we reach Esperance and later Perth, are there suggestions and/or guides for cruising WA before we get to the coverage of the Kimberly Cruising Club guide to the NW coast?

Also, what is the mobile coverage for the South Australian and southwestern coasts of WA? We are planning on reactivating our IridiumGo and PW Standard weather before we leave Victoria. However, should we bother with Starlink RV (for use when anchored)? My IT contract will be extended and I will need decent connectivity through to the Kimberley.

[ChrisJHC]

Re internet connectivity, I would expect almost nothing once you are away from the main towns.

Telstra will be better but there’s a lot of nothing where you’re going.

I’ll see you on the Sydney to Hobart (I’ll be at the back )

[clownfishsydney]

Coffs Harbour and Port Stephens are not bar crossings. No problems in any sort of wind or swell that you would be out in the ocean in. Can easily do Southport to Coffs, leaving 0700 and arriving Coffs about 0700 next morning. Can easily do Coffs to Port Stephens in same time frame give or take a few hours. We did Coffs to Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) 0400 leaving and arriving Port Jackson 1600 next day.

Pittwater has so many places to explore and stay, had a great NYE there. Sydney Harbour extremely busy NYE, too much worry for me.

Port Hacking has Jibbon Beach and South West Arm and some other spots that are fantastic. However, very busy in January and limited spots at times.

Log on with Marine Rescue NSW for each trip, use the app if you can. Advice about bar crossings can be obtained from MR and most have cameras accessible via Roads and Maritime Services website.

Hope this helps.

[ChrisJHC]

Broken Bay (Pittwater) is beautiful but can get very busy on weekends, particularly in summer.
Refuge Bay is supposed to be one of the best anchorages in the world, however I prefer Jerusalem Creek and near Akuna Marina for more peace and quiet.

If you want to stay in Pittwater, RPAYC is pretty popular but the food at the Motor Yacht Club is better

Jervis Bay is worth a couple of days. If you want to go alongside in Huskisson be careful with the tides as the channel is quite shallow.
It’s probably better to anchor out and dinghy in to town.

Once you’re in Victoria, the bar crossing into Lakes Entrance is pretty simple if you are there at the right time. There’s also a camera you can check online to see the sea state in real time.

Many people stop at Refuge Cove (Wilson’s Prom) but there are no facilities.

In Melbourne, you might like to check out the City of Melbourne Marina. Reasonable rates (apart from long weekends) and it’s right in the middle of the city.

Queenscliff is also a good marina and it’s a good jumping-off point for crossing the Rip.
Make sure you read this before you cross the Rip: https://www.orcv.org.au/docman-link/...nmcguigan/file

[Galumay]

After Melbourne, Port Fairy is very pretty and then Portland is a good stop, Robe is also very pretty in SA, not much else until Victor Harbour or KI.

[JPA Cate]

Get a tinny for a temporary dinghy. Word is the crocs are very hard on inflatables.

Ann

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Get a tinny for a temporary dinghy. Word is the crocs are very hard on inflatables.

Ann

Is that really true (that crocs will bite inflatables)?

We’ve chatted with a number of experienced NT cruisers and none of them thought a hard dinghy is necessary. OTOH, some did describe some hair raising moments as crocs got between them and their dinghies while on land.

[ahun]

The best time to leave the south west is the beginning of April. We left Bunbury in early May and it was a bit late, we were chasing the sun never really caught up with it, and barely had any southerly wind. In fact, once we were pinned down anchoring in 25+ NW wind on a leeshore behind the Ningalo reef for nearly a week nowhere to go. The Fremantle cruising guide covers the whole WA cost, free to download, make sure you get the latest one, it's updated every year.
If you like remote cruising, give some time to the Kimberly, not many places left on the Earth that matches it. North of Broome, mind the crocs. No inflatable dinghy in croc country. Silver Gull creek is a good spot for fuel and fresh water, enjoy the bath in the old concrete tank.
One word about the West coast/Indian Ocean: uncomfortable. The swell is always and everywhere. You will rest in Indonesia behind the islands in smooth waters.

[El Pinguino]

I'd put the pencil through Lakes Entrance and accept that you are going straight through to the Prom. Refuge can get busy, a better choice in my humble is tucked in behind the Waterloo Point light at the bottom end of Waterloo Bay. Go ashore and see if you can find the remains of the sealers' huts.
Good anchorage can be found - if caught out by the weather - in behind Bird Rock in Waratah Bay.

Consider Western Port rather than Port Phillip for a Melbourne excursion.

March? Easterlies? Great Australian Bight? All bets are off re that one with the current weather events. OK if we have a late autumn break in SE Australia next year. An early break = whole new game.

[BobFord]

Check out NSW Clarence River ,Iluka side. No bar to speak of ,commercial entrance , good snug anchorage , all shops. Beware sunken training walls (I know !! )

[RaymondR]

BOM has a SSB, hf weather service which covers the entire Australian coast with transmissions in a number of frequency bands every four hours and also coverage in ocean areas is you want to watch for cyclones.

[El Pinguino]

Lookee here
HF Marine Radio Services

[fxykty]

For those who are interested, we’re now on the south coast of WA. Very few cruising boats down here, with only three crossing the Bight at the same time as us (two sailboats departing from Streaky Bay and a large power launch from Port Lincoln). We left from Western River on Kangaroo Island as we didn’t want to miss the last large high pressure ridge of the season - the long range forecasts showed nothing but W winds after that - so we had an extra 150 miles and a further offshore track.

We took 4 days and had a consistent 5 day forecast of E and NE winds. We stopped at Middle Island, 80 miles short of Esperance as we still had a day of E before the expected W change.

The south coast of WA Is beautiful and remote, with just the two towns of Esperance and Albany. We’ve been day sailing and finding cool spots for overnights.

We activated our Iridium GO! for the passage, but as it turned out our Starlink dishy stayed connected even 200 miles from the nearest land. In fact, dishy has been invaluable to keeping us connected along the entire coasts of NSW, VIC and SA - cell coverage is very spotty all the way around.

[Sailingallday]

Thanks for the update. The trip across the Bight is one I will be doing next year.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Is that really true (that crocs will bite inflatables)?

We’ve chatted with a number of experienced NT cruisers and none of them thought a hard dinghy is necessary. OTOH, some did describe some hair raising moments as crocs got between them and their dinghies while on land.

Just recently completed what you are doing. Don't worry about the crocs, unless you are fishing from your tender or just floating not moving for long periods. I would hoist it up over night though.


Getting in and out of the tender on shore is where you have to be a bit more wary, especially where the visibility is poor. We were told by locals in Arnhem land that the crocs like to hang out around the concrete slips that the ferries come in on and to stay well down the beach from them.


We saw crocs on the outer Kimberley islands approx 60nm offshore and even saw a huge one swimming in open ocean 15nm further on from there. The water though is so clear there its pretty safe to paddle in the shallows as you can see for a good 50m - As long as someone always keeps watch!



Quite a lot a good anchorages North of Perth all the way to NT.


A few of many places to check out on your way:


Rottnest Island, Jurien Bay, Port Denison, Abrolhos Islands, Shark Bay, Exmouth, Montebellow Islands, Dampier, a few offshore reefs out from Dampier and Broome, Eco Beach Resort (about 20 miles South of Broome) Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, All of the Kimberleys and Just before the jump off to Darwin Honeymoon Bay (Google Maps: -14.099406896861645, 126.68149850188748)


Then Over the top - Drop me a PM when you get up to Darwin if you want