Category: New South Wales

Port Macquarie

After years of sailing on our schedule, it’s challenging to be stuck for weeks with no progress on fixing Go. Yes, we have been stuck in worse places so we’re trying to make the best of our down time. Here’s how we’ve been having fun and staying busy in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, known in Aussie lingo as “Port”.

About Port Macquarie

A town in the Mid-North Coast region of New South Wales, Port is located almost 400km north of Sydney. Located at the mouth of the Port Hastings River, its known for beaches, koalas, and convicts, not necessarily in that order.

Port Macquarie on a map east coast Australia
Port Macquarie on a map on the east coast of Australia

The town has a population of around 50,000, many of whom are retirees. We also see a lot of young families mingling with the retirees at cafes and on the waterfront paths. This town is busy on weekends and holidays, when families and vacationers fill the caravan parks and hotels. What are they coming for?

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Best of Sydney

We loved Sydney. After sailing there for the holidays, it was hard to leave. What started as a month long visit became a wonderful two month stay. I miss the city’s clean streets, happy residents, busy bars and restaurants, excellent museums, and fun festivals. The best of Sydney ranges from cool music venues to funky neighborhoods to free art galleries and beautiful hikes.

Best Anchorage: Glebe Bay

My list of the best of Sydney wouldn’t be complete without talking about where we spent most of our time on the boat. Sydney has a lot of great anchorages, and it’s easy to move around as long as you avoid the ferries. You can anchor somewhere for great beaches and elsewhere for the fireworks. For us, the most convenient bay for shops and sightseeing was Glebe, which has three anchorages.

Glebe, Blackwattle and Rozelle were great anchorages for the selection of safe and convenient dinghy docks. We had dinghy parking at the fish market, the ferry dock, or Rozelle Bay park, giving us access to multiple shops, restaurants, and transit lines.

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Sydney Beaches and Pools

Sydney Australia is a wonderful city to visit! It’s especially great to visit in summer, which is when we were there. On top of celebratory fireworks and outdoor festivals, Sydney has many excellent and popular beaches. Summer is hot; the temperature got to almost 40C, and the best way to cool off is to jump in the water. The good news is Sydney beaches and pools are plentiful, and the water is definitely cool. Sometimes it’s too cold, but when it’s this hot, it feels good, at least for a while.

Summer Weather in Sydney

Australia’s biggest city, Sydney is located on the New South Wales coast. Considered to be part of a temperate climate zone, Sydney has warm to hot summers and no dry season. Our experience in summer is temperatures from high teens to high 30s C, with days of full sun alternating with days of clouds and/or rain. Sometimes the best days are the cloudy ones because that sun is strong!

City Pools

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