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.

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.

After Newcastle, a nice historic town with an industrial anchorage, we visited two vacation spots: the lovely Lake Mac(quarie) and Pittwater. From there, we sailed into the epic Sydney Harbor. And to be clear, we “sailed” a lot of these legs in light winds, so we motored a lot of the way south from Gold Coast.

In some ports we stopped only for a night, but in others we lingered longer. We spent a week in Port Macquarie, partly due to strong adverse winds, and partly because our friends live there and we liked it.

Cruising New South Wales: Longer Sails

One of the best things about sailing in Queensland, from Gold Coast up to Townsville, was the abundance of excellent anchorages in most any wind conditions. Cruising New South Wales isn’t as easy because there are fewer suitable anchorages and longer sails in between.

Since heading south from Gold Coast, our sails from one destination to the other took all day, from sunrise to sunset. Fortunately, we did this trip at the ideal time of year, late spring/early summer, so days are long. Sunrise is around 530am and sunset is almost 8pm. Plus, New South Wales has daylight savings, so when we moved from Queensland we got an additional hour of sun in the evening. These long days are a treat!

Most days sailing south from Gold Coast to Sydney means we cover between 60-90 miles. We only had one where we had to anchor at night. And for that one, we decided to cut the trip short and anchor at an island rather than enter a bar in the dark, which brings me to another element of cruising New South Wales.

Bar Crossings

Another new consideration when cruising New South Wales is bar crossings. They’re similar to entering passes in the Tuamotus, as we’re entering inland waterways from the Tasman Sea. Coastal bars are defined as shallow, shifting sandbanks at the entrance to rivers and coastal estuaries. They often have strong currents and big waves coming from all directions. We have to time our entry and exit with the incoming tides.

The New South Wales government takes these crossings seriously, with web cams showing the current status. You can also call the local port marine rescue on the phone or VHF for updates.

In New South Wales, we crossed bars at Yamba, Port Macquarie, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. We timed them well, and as long as you do that, and stay alert, all will be okay.

At Lake Macquarie, we even went through a lift bridge, something we used to do a lot in our first days on the boat in Florida.

Fewer Anchorage Options

In Queensland, thanks to all the islands and outer reefs, safe and protected anchorages are plentiful! Unfortunately, those anchorages are less common in New South Wales. Even some of the anchorages after we cross bars aren’t well protected. Coffs Harbour is a prime example. A bay wide open to east, north and south winds, it is rolly and uncomfortable even in light winds. It was so bad, we moved into the marina for our last couple of days there while waiting for a weather window.

Our favorite anchorages on the way south were in Port Macquarie, Lake Macquarie and Pittwater. Newcastle was a nice town but the only anchorage was industrial, Coffs was rolly, and I barely remember the one night we spent in Yamba.

Weather

To be safe, we stayed in port and at anchor when the weather was bad, especially when the winds were heavy. The worst weather while we were cruising New South Wales was heavy fog when sailing from Broughton Island to Newcastle. By the time we arrived in Newcastle, we could barely see in front of the boat. We are very grateful for our Nav systems and AIS, but many Australian fishing boats don’t broadcast their location, so fog is always nerve-wracking. It makes for moody photos, though.

Lots of Dolphins

While we were sailing north it was whale season, but in late spring while sailing south to Sydney we had dolphin season! Dolphins visited us in our anchorages in Newcastle and Port Macquarie, and we saw them on bar crossings and sails. Here’s a video of the pod in our Newcastle anchorage, which was industrial, but calm and convenient.

And Jellyfish

With the good comes the bad, and jellyfish are plentiful in Australia in summertime. They like warm water. We’ve seen a few different types, in the water and on shore, keeping us from swimming. Not a fan of jellyfish.

While walking the beach walk in Port Mac, we passed loads of blue bottle jellyfish washed ashore. We didn’t touch – as you should never touch wildlife -and I wouldn’t go swimming around these. While they don’t kill humans, their sting can be extremely painful, so no thank you.

In Pittwater, a beautiful drowned valley estuary north of Sydney, the water was full of jellyfish.

Sydney is not exempt from the jellyfish swarms. We’re in the city, just outside of the core, so we’re not planning to swim in the harbor anyway.

Conclusion

We enjoyed the stops along the way on our trip to Sydney. And now to enjoy the big city! If you have Sydney or New South Wales recommendations, share in the comments.