After two years in Queensland travelling as far north as Dunk Island, it was finally time for us to say goodbye. We’re excited to be spending most of 2023 travelling south, to explore places we haven’t been to before, and then to cross the Bass Strait to Tasmania in 2024.
Unlike our trip north from Iluka/Yamba to Queensland where we took turns steering for 12 hours straight, this time there were two key differences:
- We used our ‘game-changing’ autopilot or extra hand at the helm!
- We split the journey up over a few days.
Our trip from Hope Island Marina to Iluka
If you want a high-level look at our trip from Hope Island Marina to Iluka, with a few photos, then check out this video. Then if you want more information, keep on reading!
Detailed information and photos of our trip
More information about our trip, photos, and anchorages is split into sections below.
Hope Island Marina to Currigee
On Wednesday 25 January, after much planning and checking weather conditions, we left Hope Island Marina, only two days later than our original scheduled date. This first leg was only a short trip of about 1.5 hours. Our original plan was to anchor at Wave Break Island, which happened to be where our journey in Queensland started, but we ended up anchoring at Currigee, a little to the north.
We have an agreement that if one of us isn’t happy with the anchorage, we’ll move. This time, Robert felt there wasn’t enough room, particularly knowing that there was a public holiday on the 26 January, and it would become very busy (and it did).
Here are some photos I took on the first day.
Currigee to Tweed Heads
The entrance to Tweed Heads river is a bar crossing, and bar crossings are often unstable environments because of currents, tides, and stormy seas. Back in December, we drove to Tweed Heads on quite a stormy day and it goes without saying, we would NOT be crossing the bar in those conditions. Check out the video!
But because we’d been keeping an eye on the weather conditions, Thursday 26th January was expected to be a good day and we planned to cross the bar between one and two hours before the high tide, which is considered to be a safe time.
High tide at Tweed Heads was 11:53am Queensland time. We planned to cross at about 10:53. Our route from the Gold Coast was estimated to take about 2.5 hours, so we raised the anchor and left Currigee around 08:00. This gave us a little extra time ‘just in case’.
Crossing the Gold Coast Seaway presented some challenges. There were a lot of small boats and jet skis in the channel, and paddle boarders, so intent on paddling that they didn’t see us coming. I had to sound our horn a couple of times to get their attention! But once clear, it was a great trip down the coast.
Here are some photos I took on our way to Tweed Heads.
Similar to the challenges we faced in the Gold Coast Seaway, there were also a lot of boats and other craft in the channel of the Tweed Heads bar, but thankfully no paddle boarders! Robert brought us in, and with incoming tide we had to lower the RPMs to slow the boat.
We anchored after motoring around to find a suitable location outside the channel and not too close to other boats, and it was very hectic!
Being a warm day, once we’d made sure we weren’t dragging our anchor, we got the kayaks down and paddled over to the beach for a swim.
Tweed Heads to Byron Bay
To leave Tweed Heads at a suitable time to cross the bar with an incoming tide, we raised the anchor and left at about 10.45am. We predicted a 4-hour cruise to Byron Bay so this would see us arriving around 2:30pm., and not too long a trip! This time I brought us out across the bar, and it was very calm. We then headed south, passing the outside of Cook Island just off Fingal Head.
Most of the NSW bars have live web cameras installed so you can take a look at what the conditions are like. I managed to get a screenshot of Poseidon as we exited, and although the quality of the picture is poor, I was quite pleased to see us on camera!
Once again, the winds were low and the wave height and swell combined was only about one metre, meaning we had a calm trip. If you’re wondering about the sand bypass, its purpose is to maintain a safe and navigable entrance to the Tweed River and restore/maintain the coastal sand drift to beaches. You can read more on the Tweed Sand Bypassing website.
Here are some photos I took leaving Tweed Heads.
Once we were on the route south to Byron Bay, we set the auto pilot and sat back while keeping an eye on what was happening. And it was calm enough to enjoy a hot coffee along the way!
Much of the trip we were too far off the coast to take an good photos. We arrived close to our expected time, took a while to set the anchor and put the flopper stoppers out as we expected a bit of swell. In fact in his book Cruising the NSW Coast, Alan Lucas says “The trick is not to expect a calm anchorage regardless of where the anchor is dropped.” However, we’ve certainly experienced worse open roadstead anchorages so we were pleasantly surprised.
At this point, we had a change of plan
One of our plans, because we had a few of them, had been to travel from Byron Bay into Ballina for a couple of nights before heading south. The conditions were good for entering Ballina across the bar, but the weather forecast was changing and we weren’t comfortable with the idea of exiting across Ballina Bar and continuing south with an easterly swell predicted around 2m.
Also, Ballina Bar is exposed and waves can build out of seemingly nowhere, so you must be careful in any weather.
While the next photo was taken at a distance, you can see a wave standing up across the bar entrance.
In the following Facebook video, our friends on SV Mystic also had a very scary experience when crossing Ballina Bar with a wave building up and smashing across their bow (around the 1min 50seconds mark).
So we decided to pass Ballina and go straight to Iluka.
Of course, there’ll be other opportunities to visit Ballina by boat in the future!
Byron Bay to Iluka
I predicted it would take us about 7 hours to reach Iluka from Byron Bay, and we needed to be there by about 1:30pm to cross the bar close to high tide. We were up at 5am to have a coffee before putting the flopper stoppers away and raising the anchor at 6am.
These photos taken as we were leaving and rounding Cape Byron.
Once again we had great weather for our trip south, and while it was the longest time we’ve spent cruising for many months, we also took the opportunity to “have a snooze” – individually – when not on watch!
During my time on watch, I was also lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins near Byron Bay, and got a little bit of video footage.
I also took a lot of photos, which I’ve combined into a slideshow, covering Broken Head, Lennox Head, Skennars Head, Byron Bay, Evans Head and so on down the coast.
After a successful bar crossing we made our way into Iluka Bay, where we’re staying on anchor for a few days.
Where to next?
We’re planning to explore more of the Clarence River and then head south to Coffs Harbour, where we’ll stay for about a month.
11 Responses
Really enjoyed the “Hope Island Marina to Iluka” video.
Loving following your dreams Pam 😍
Love your story telling as usual Pam, and I’m learning so much about boats! lol
The video gives a real feel of the Journey
What a great record of your journey south. So much planning, so much success, arriving safely at all your locations.
Love the photos and path to each destination.
Wow, I cannot believe it has been 2 years! I envy your freedom but also know it comes with challenges and responsibility! Hope the next stage is just as satisfying. Keep the photos coming. There will be good rocks in Tassie 😉
You’re getting closer & closer!
Can’t wait to see you again.
Robyn & Chicka
Another run of tough days in the office! Beaut photos!
Keep us all updated. I may not always comment but I do follow your adventures and love hearing about them. Thanks for the pic of our old girl, I miss her terribly
Wow! My heart stopped watching Mystic!
Another wonderful description of your journey. You have done wonderful things, fantastic photos & also I guess some unexpected challenges. You will need to write a book!
The cats seem to love life!
Good luck as you explore more of the coast
😊