Category: Life On A Boat

Cruising New South Wales

We, like many other sailors in Australia before us, aspire to spend our holidays in Sydney. To do that, we needed to get from Townsville in October to Sydney in December. And cruising New South Wales is quite different from cruising in Queensland. While the coast is beautiful and some of the anchorages are lovely, Queensland spoiled us, aside from the catastrophes.

Our Route Cruising New South Wales

We spent almost two and a half weeks cruising the 430 miles from Gold Coast to Sydney, where we’ll spend the holidays.

Sydney Harbor bridge and Opera House
It was exciting to sail into Sydney Harbor

From Gold Coast we sailed to Yamba, from Yamba to Coffs Harbor followed by Port Macquarie. From Port (as it’s called), we sailed to Broughton Islands for one night, before moving on to stop in Newcastle. Our friend Greg sailed straight from Newcastle to Sydney, but Brian and I wanted to explore some other ports, so we extended our trip.

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Calamities in Queensland

There are times living on the boat when I think it’s going to break me. We’ve had some calamities in Queensland that have almost put me off living on a boat. While it may look from afar as if we’re always enjoying tropical cocktails while swimming with dolphins, which would be a fun combination, it’s not always fun or easy.

It’s Rough Sometimes

In our first year living on Sava, we made many mistakes and had a lot of rough days. We got past that beginner’s hump. Now, we love our new boat, and living aboard is our life, so we take the bad with the good. But even after six years, there are times when we have almost had enough. Since our not so fun sail from New Zealand, we’ve had a few calamities in Queensland, Australia.

Getting Stuck on Mooring Balls

Some of the anchorages in Queensland have mooring balls. We haven’t used the moorings either because we don’t know who owns them or how to get permission, or they are not rated for our boat’s weight. When you’re anchoring near moorings, you need to leave room so you don’t swing into the boats on balls or swing into the balls or their lines. We haven’t always succeeded in avoiding the moorings.

sailboats anchored in Brisbane
Some sailboats anchored in Brisbane River

Twice we tangled around the moorings, and it wasn’t easy to get off!

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Best of Bundaberg

We stopped into the Bundaberg Port Marina thinking it would only be for a weekend. We had work to do, which took so long, we spent over a week in Bundaberg. The good news is we got important boat jobs done, and experienced the best of Bundaberg, Australia.

About Bundaberg

Bundaberg, or “Bundy” for short, is an industrial town of about 100,000 people. Located up the Burnett River, north of Hervey Bay, it was our stop after K’Gari. Upon arriving, we noticed a lot of smokestacks and water tanks. Famous for making rum, the land is primarily sugar cane farms, with little trains moving the supplies between.

iconic Bundaberg scenery, smokestacks and sugar train
Bundaberg smokestacks and sugar train

The downtown is surprising, though, with boarded up buildings interspersed with lovely churches and heritage architecture. It’s nowhere near as exciting as Brisbane, but we had some fun finding the best of Bundaberg.

Bundy CBD buildings
The CBD has some heritage architecture
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