Gosford to the Hawkesbury River 2nd & 3rd August

Last night we took up a courtesy mooring in the west side of the Hawkesbury River between the shallows of the mainland and Dangar Island. At some time during the night I was woken by a hideous thrashing machinery noise, my half senseless brain believing we were about to  be run down by a runaway paddle steamer that had not noticed our anchor light. Struggling into consciousness, heart still hammering, I finally realised it was a train rattling along the tracks on it's way south along the Sydney/Newcastle line. Phew!!! The railway runs along the shore against the hills and emerges from a tunnel nearby, and in the stillness of the night it's clamour echoes around the bay and the train appears to be about to crash through the cabin.

Yesterday we steamed slowly back down the tortuous Brisbane Water Channel between the oyster farms, past the mangroves , through The Rip and under the Rip Bridge with it's currents and whirlpools, beside the sandbanks, around Wagstaff Point, with it's protruding rocky reef and around the rock lined shore on the north/east side of Broken Bay - the views in the warm, windless sunshine just stunning.

OH S#!*! Are we going to make it under or not!?

 

 

 

OH YES!!



 

 



At 11.30am we motored by beautiful Patonga Beach and made our way into the wide, dark, slatey/green water of the Hawkesbury River. The purpose of our courtesy mooring is to allow access to the Brooklyn Marina and the shops and cafes associated with it. Here we were able to buy a new bottle of gas and we discovered showers and laundry also available, although that had been taken care of back in Gosford on Fernaux Explorer.

Feeling fresh and clean after our steaming hot shower we sat in the cockpit with nibbles and wine and enjoyed the slow advance of night fall. The evenings are becoming milder.