Life has been very busy and I am behind again, still!!!!
But there have been lots of photos and pages, and trip statistics that I have added and still more to come.
Last weekend we enjoyed the company of other Nordhavn Owners and Dreamers at the 2nd Nordhavn Rendezvous as well as a visit from Dan Streech, PAE Owner/President, which was an absolute pleasure. To see the photos and some of the reports from the weekend go to:-
http://opallady.com/aspx/m/1201336 But for now . . . . .
Under the shelter of Barrenjoey Head we picked up a mooring, in preparation for our 42nm trip back home to Lake Macquarie the next day.
We left the quiet bay at 4am, just because we woke up then!! and decided to head off. In calm conditions and a few rain drops, we averaged 7.2knts and arrived back in the Swansea Channel at 10am. The low tide was 11.33am, so we picked up one of the public moorings and waited until our booked 3pm bridge and the incoming tide. Ocean Child a visiting yacht from Hobart followed us through.
What a wonderful surprise we had at 20 to 3, when a phone call from our favourite
Lets Go crew, Dannielle, alerted us to her presence on the Swansea Bridge. She was waving a big Welcome Home sign, shaking sparkling pom poms and taking photos of us!!! Absolutely fantastic Welcome home, Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou!!!!!!
Sadly about 3 minutes before we went through the bridge, Danny was trying to juggle sign, pom poms and camera and the the sign fluttered down into the flowing currents beneath the bridge :(((((((
Poor Danny, as the sign sank!! We slowly made our way up the channel, with Ocean Child close on our stern and our radios both on Ch 77, so we could report the depths to them. Amazingly we breezed it in with .9 at the lowest point. The sea floor of the channel is constantly changing as the sand moves.
Abeam of the Pelican Coastal Patrol base and the Pelican Marina our private cheer squad reappeared, waving pom poms to the amusement of the locals!!! Thanks Danny so much, you really made our return to the lake very special. xxxxxx
We had only a mile from the drop over to Lake Macquarie Yacht Club with Ocean Child close behind, then our private cheer squad reappeared this time with backup. Mum and Danny were there to take our lines with hugs!!!!
So it has been 12,790nm and 2 years and 5 weeks since we were last in the lake as well as an enormous amount of memories and experiences that we will hold dear for the rest of our lives!!
