Sailing – Jervis Bay to Port Hacking

Jervis Bay is a traveller’s delight. Whether travelling on land or in your own sailboat, Jervis Bay is a place of abundant beauty, natural attractions and many things to do. A popular spot for fishing, scuba diving, whale watching and bushwalking, it is a place rich in maritime history and indigenous culture. With beaches of fine white sand, rugged cliffs and natural forest, Jervis bay was high on our list of places to explore.

Booreree National Park

Our first stop was at “Hole in the Wall”, Booreree National Park. Once we had picked up a mooring, I tried to catch some squid. As soon as I threw the squid jag in, it was surrounded by fish. They turned out to be a species of leatherjacket – a voracious fish that bit off two of my squid jags and numerous amounts of hooks and sinkers. We caught a stack of these leatherjacket fish, made Thai-style fish cakes for lunch, and did battered fish for dinner.

A walk through Booreree National Park took us to Murray’s Beach. It was a beautiful spot, and I was lucky enough to take photos of a couple of White-Bellied Sea Eagles. I also spied a Whistling Kite and a Red-Browed Finch (firetail).

We spent five nights in Jervis Bay in four different anchorages. We had a couple of nights in Callala Bay, but we did little there apart from a walk to the shops for supplies. At Huskisson, we moored at Shark Net Bay and walked to Moona Moona Creek.

It was a great walk, and once again, I had some fun trying to take photos of the birds. An Eastern Whipbird, Crimson Rosella and a Little (Brush) Wattlebird were a few I found.

We treated ourselves to lunch at Club Jervis Bay before going for a walk in the other direction.

Currumbene Creek

We found an Aboriginal Museum/Walk Tour, but we never found out exactly what it was as it was nearly closing time. We went for a walk along a ‘bush tucker’ track (Wirreecoo Walk) and then along a boardwalk in the mangroves of Currumbene Creek. It was an interesting walk, and we saw a royal spoonbill foraging in the mud with a white-faced heron.

Wollongong

From Jervis Bay, we sailed to Wollongong. We had many whales within sight during the day and managed to get one photo of a humpback whale (just its back, LOL). At Wollongong, we had to raft up to a fishing boat as there was no available space.

We went for a walk to North Wollongong Beach and then back up through the city to the mall. After a drink at the Steelers Club, we walked home via City Beach and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Woolongong appears to be a pleasant place. I would like to have more time to explore the area one day.

Port Hacking

The next day we went to Port Hacking. Jedd and Alex (two of our sons) were driving from Albury NSW to meet us at Port Hacking for the long weekend. However, once we arrived at Port Hacking, we found that the weather was atrocious and not suitable for hiking or fishing (which was our plan). We also discovered that we could not get very far up the river due to low power lines and our 2-metre draft. So we stayed only one night before heading to Sydney.

Next up –  Sydney Harbour!