Meandering down the NSW coast

The wind and rain kept us in the area of Yamba, Angourie, Iluka and the Clarence River for six nights. A lovely place to hang out, with walks, shopping, and plenty of delicious seafood. $8 for a kilo of whiting filleted in front of your eyes by the fisherman. We love hanging round the fishing harbours, buying from the boats whenever possible. A particularly good deal is 'headless green prawns', which are the ones with soft shells that don't stand up to distribution to retailers. The fishermen chop their heads off and sell them for around $25 per kg, which, since the heads are about half the weight, gives you as much meat as normal prawns at $12/kg! Big juicy fresh ones for the BBQ.

Our friends Fitch and Sue are setting off for a photo trip round Lake Eyre, and they swung by with their camping 4WD rig. We took them on a river cruise up the Clarence to where the Pacific Highway bridge blocks sailing boats.

Then a night in Iluka, waiting for the weather to clear, before an early start for Coffs Harbour.

Coffs Harbour

Quite a lumpy sea, and George looked a bit green for a while. But the afternoon turned into a lovely sail, and twelve hours later we arrived in Coffs, to a 'Cooee' from the jetty from my old mate Rog. He is one of my oldest friends, going back 42 years to Bristol University where he was a dental student. He actually introduced me to Liz.

We had a relaxing time in Coffs, re-provisioning, and hanging out with Rog and his partner Wendy.

Wendy

And now we are traveling again, gently running down the coast with only the kite up, and the
EAC under our keels, trying not to arrive too soon to cross the bar into Camden Haven tonight.