A Bouncy Ride to Ulmarra 4th May

 

Peter bails the dinghy after the torrential rain

 

 

Much improved weather at the anchorage today

 



We spent two nights on anchor at Maclean. It is such a pretty little town to explore with its steep range of hills, the river and some lovely old historic buildings lining the streets. Yesterday we climbed up to the top of the range to the lookout. That had us puffing, but the view from the top was worth the effort. The sea was so far away. I don't think Rene has ever been that far away from it before. She is beginning to acquire a dirty bow from the brown river water. The power poles along the streets of Maclean are painted in Scottish family tartans. The inhabitants of this town are proud of their Scottish ancestry. I couldn't find a Scott tartan so had to make do with the Cameron one - especially for you Christine P.

 

Rene at anchor at Maclean

This morning we pulled the anchor at 9.00am, as according to relevant research, the tide would assist us up the river. That was fine, but not long after we left the wind began to build and on some stretches we had a very strong headwind. We have followed Lucas very carefully and so far have not touched the bottom. (Just touched our Huon Pine table so that should do the trick.) Long green grass lines the banks, cows grazing nearby, sugar cane fields and some extraordinarily large houses provide an ever changing vista as we progressed upstream. Two vehicular ferries crossed our path today and some care is needed to cross their path. The cables have 3m clearance over them at LWS, but you have to wait until they are stationary at the side and the light on top stops flashing before you can cross over.

 

Vehicular ferry - Lawrence

 



By now the wind was strong so we decided to stop at Brushgrove on the way back. We did notice there was a very new public jetty there a short distance up the South Arm just before the bridge. It looked a bit bouncy so we decided to motor on to Ulmarra hoping that the wind would begin to die down as per forecast. It didn't and as we motored against the public jetty we realised that Brushgrove would have been more sheltered. However by now we were on the Ulmarra jetty and there was no getting off as the wind howled and pushed us hard on to it. Out came all the fenders and Peter made Rene secure. After an uncomfortable few hours the wind has now died and if the forecast is right will completely die out tonight. I hope so as this town, small as it is, has several antique and collectable shops to explore. While Peter trundles back and forth to the garage tomorrow with the jerry can full of diesel I will hit the shops. We intend to spend the morning here and then take the short trip to Grafton for the night. Here we will have to turn around as the bridge clearance stops further progress for us.

 

 

Rene gets plastered to the Ulmarra jetty