Lake Macquarie - Australia Day - Long Weekend
25 - 28 January 2019
Three boats left Bobbin Head Marina at 7.00 am on Friday mooring bound for Swansea Channel. A fourth boat met us at Box Head. A fifth boat left after 8.00 am from Bobbin Head and beat us all to Swansea Heads! Our sixth boat that was to join us on their return trip from Port Stephens, developed a fault in their port motor and had to remain in the safety at Port Stephen to get the matter resolved. One disappointed skipper and crew – but a wise call – rather than taking unnecessary risks.
We called on the assistance of Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie to lead us through to a midday bridge opening, then to proceed with us through the rest of the channel to the drop off point into the deep water of Lake Macquarie.
Our members had secured the services of two well-known professional photographers to record the auspicious occasion of our club flotilla passing through the opened bridge of Swansea channel. Thank you Graeme and Carol Bullard! By seeing you there, it was a good marker to know we were entering the correct passage of water. Once safely inside the lake we made our way to the south east shoreline where we rafted up opposite the community of Gwandalan. Time for a swim and quiet afternoon on our vessels.
Saturday was Australia Day. We broke out the decorations on the boats. People dressed for the occasion and some water fights broke out amongst the kids both big and small. Bacon and eggs for breakfast then we headed for the sandy beaches up near Swansea channel a swim. Boats everywhere in this part of the lake. People standing shoulder to shoulder to try to keep cool in the water.
Later in the day we gathered and cruised back down near the south western area of the Lake and pulled up in a shallow cove near Summerland Point. Tonight was a big event. The pavlova decorating competition. We had four great entries which meant we all got to eat four servings of pavlova:
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Entry #1 - Moonstruck Deconstructed Pavlova – lovely colours with a great selection of fruits
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Entry #2 - Trilogy Sweeter than Sweet Pavlova – huge array of fruit and Aussie chocolates – Sweeeet!
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Entry #3 - Lahaina Traditional Landowners Pavlova - featuring hand painted (banana) boomerangs
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Entry #4 - Five Star Aussie through and through Pavlova – Thongs shaped from mangos/kiwifruit
And the winner (drum roll) – Five Star – designer Lois Andresson!
Very interesting event packed with emotion, competitiveness and a lot of laughs.
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Sunday we farewelled Five Star as they needed to head home for a Monday event. The rest of us went our own way to explore more of the lake with the plan to meet at Rathmines that afternoon. We ventured ashore to the Rathmines Bowling club for dinner and appreciated the remains of the armed forces flying squadron that used to operate from here.
Monday was farewell to the three other boats heading south, on a mid-morning bridge opening, arriving back safely to Broken Bay mid-afternoon. The Main Game left on the 1 pm bridge opening heading north for Newcastle.
Thank you, guys, for a great weekend. We all left thinking when we would get the next opportunity to return to Lake Macquarie to explore it further.
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Commodore Bruce
"The Main Game"
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