Tag: Food and Drink

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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Touring Townsville

We loved Townsville, in the northern part of Queensland, Australia. Having good friends who live there certainly helped us love this tropical town, but that wasn’t the only reason. Townsville has miles of cycling and walking trails, an excellent selection of bars and restaurants, art and museums! We spent a few weeks touring Townsville and have recommendations if you visit. If you’re sailing Australia’s east coast, it’s likely you will.

mural, street art, Townsville
Cool art in downtown Townsville

Where Is Townsville?

Townsville is as far north as we sailed in Australia before cyclone season. It’s located on the coast in northeastern Queensland, 900 miles north of Brisbane. With a population over 170,000, Townsville is the largest settlement in North Queensland. We found a lot to do and enjoyed our time touring Townsville.

Townsville Queensland on a map of Australia
Townsville in the northeast of Australia

When to Visit Townsville

As it is part of the tropical zone of Australia, Townsville’s climate is warm. We arrived in August, wintertime, the ideal season to visit Townsville. Days are warm in winter, but still comfortable, think low 20s C (70F). We left our boat there for our trip to North America and when we returned in October, springtime in Australia, the days were hot. It gets even hotter in summer into the mid 30sC (90F).

Touring Townsville Must: The Strand

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