We left Pittwater at 6.15am heading for Newcastle. The trip was cool and lumpy and then the rain came. What the?... maybe I did need wet weather gear after all...:)! The wind was 20-25 and building. Unquestionably a cuppa soup moment developed as we got closer to Newcastle. By the time we made it into Newcastle harbour about 1.30pm it was blowing about 30knots and it was raining reasonably hard. Lucky for us the boys took the shift on deck when it was raining. We arrived at the marina attached to the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club in Throsby Basin where we were treated to warm showers in cute little ensuite like facilities. We topped up our light cuppa soup lunch with saladas and cheese...true boat food!
Another yacht, Brindabella, arrived into port and headed straight to the Yacht Club for a meal and drinks. They were headed back to Sydney to prepare to start their round Australia sailing record attempt starting next Wednesday (11 May). After showering and having dinner they left the marina about 8.30pm to push on as their time was short. We also had a nice meal at the yacht club and as usual had a cuppa and some chocolate to top the night off. Di and I tried to get “green drinks” our drink of choice, usually cocktails called Japanese Slippers. Unfortunately the Yacht Club didn’t make cocktails. :(
Being cruisers with no real deadlines, we decided to leave the weather to itself and spend Thursday in Newcastle. Thursday was sunny and warm out of the wind. We had breakfast onboard, more showers and pottered around while Di did some clothes washing, which is always good to do when you get the opportunity. With all the chores behind us, we checked out the chandlery and then headed for a walk into town. It was a lovely walk along the waterfront and all around town. There has been quite a lot of development there, restaurants, hotels and apartments. We were very glad of our decision when we arrived at Nobby’s Beach on our walk and saw the size of the waves and the strength of the wind. This is where the Pasha Bulker had washed up in 2007 and miraculously missed the rocks at either end of the beach. A group of school students came down to boogie board and they provided entertainment while we ate our lunch. We continued our walk and I bought a new camera as my el cheapy that I bought in Costa Rica is seizing up at annoying regularity. This purchase was despite the troubles that seem to be happening with Westpac, no online banking, intermittent credit card usage. Im excited about the prospect of a reasonably good camera and hopefully photos to match. I also bought a “grotty yachty” tshirt from the chandlery here, just cos of the name!!
We had a lovely dinner at the Honeysuckle Hotel on the waterfront . Di and I tried a new “green drink” which was really a white drink comprising of cointreau, gin and lemon juice. Almost a late night, we returned about 9pm...and called it a night. I played with my camera which was now charged ready for many photos tomorrow. The photos included here are just random shots from the trip as I only got my new camera today!
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