TO SYDNEY and RETURN... OR BUST:

"I had wanted to sail for a few years before I did anything about learning how to, and I decided that the best way to do that would be to crew on a yacht for a month or as long as I could.

I eventually found a yacht called Nova Vida that was travelling on a convenient route on a crew-finder website on the net, so I emailed the captain and got a job even though I didn't have any experience.

I arrived at Maryborough where the yacht was moored on the 3rd of December and after helping stock it with food we departed 2 days later.

We went through the Great Sandy Straits and anchored at Pelican Bay near the entrance to the open ocean. That night I slept out on deck under the stars.

My first sail was in near perfect conditions with 20 knots winds and a hot sunny day. That after noon I saw my first wild dolphins and because we were moving along at 6 knots they decided to jump and dart in front of the bow for about an hour.

The good weather lasted another 3 days before we ran into the thunder storm. If I had thought about how vunerable and helpless we were it would have been terrifying, but I was too busy being amazed and thankful for being there and experiencing it.

Approaching Coffs Harbour a day or two later we were engulfed in a patch of fog for a while and got to make use of the fog horn.

About a week later when we were about to go into Port Stevens an isolated rain cloud dumped all its rain right in front of us, hiding the guiding light, the cliffs of the heads, and other ships coming out of the port. But somehow we survived that and then spent a week exploring the bays and beaches of Port Stevens. At Taylor's Beach I saw the best sunset of the trip. On our last day there we found one of the best anchorages of the trip at a place called Fame Cove, where we were surrounded by mountains and bushland.

On the 21st of December we arrived at Broken Bay and the northern suburbs of Sydney, where we found another good bay called The Basin. This is where we spent Christmas, moored amongst the luxury yachts and gin palaces of Sydney's rich and famous. Going for a walk in the surrounding National Park to see some old Aboriginal engravings I saw wallabies and a big goanna.

After a few days rest we left the gin palaces and continued on down the coast to Sydney, timing our arrival to see the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. We were surrounded by the thousands of boats making up the spectator fleet, but somehow managed to survive the washing machine effect created by all those boats rushing past.

After dodging the Manly ferry we took photos of the opera house and harbour bridge before finding a berth in the marina of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

After lunch on the day before New Year we moved to Farm Cove, where with some difficulty we squeezed in and anchored amongst the crowd of boats positioning themselves to watch New Year's Eve festivities on the harbour. After waiting for dark we saw the best fireworks show of my life, probably because we were only a couple of hundred meters from the harbour bridge which was the centre of the fireworks display.

Two days later we met our new crewmember, Helene, and set off on the return journey to Maryborough. Our new crew lasted only an hour or two before succumbing to the common sailing problem of sea sickness. Helene had a bad case that lasted two full days and only ended when we put into Port Macquarie where she abandoned us for a bus.

After leaving Port Macquarie we headed north into the worst few days of the entire trip. We were battling strong head winds accompanied by nonstop rain which wet just about everything and made for dark, unpleasant nights. It was a relief to get into the port of Yamba, where we cowered for another four days trying to dry out despite continuing intermittent rain.

In the next few days we made great progress and made it back to the environs of the Great Sandy Straits on January 15th. After spending that night threading our way through the light beacons indicating our course we made it into the Mary River, and the next morning motored to Maryborough and the end of an experience I will never forget.

One thing I learnt about sailing is that it is not all sunny days spent relaxing on deck. There is bad weather and hard work that has to be put up with, but each bad day leads to the next place or experience that you would regret missing if you gave up whenever the going was tough."

Chris Foley

The photos at right: