Port Stephens

[Kyle]The wind was forecast to turn back onshore again, this time for several days. Before it did, we pulled up anchor and sailed to Port Stephens in light tailwinds that were just enough to keep our spinnaker aloft. We did seem to be sliding through the water much more easily than before, so I guess we had needed that bottom cleaning.

Port Stephens is big enough to be a cruising ground in itself. Since we were only staying a few days, we decided to stick near the entrance. Our first anchorage was in shallow sand over at Jimmy’s beach, where we planned to ride out the aforementioned winds for a couple of days.

Since the beach is so shallow, we ended up a long way from shore. The smoke was also draining all of the color and contrast out of the landscape. That gave us a good excuse to stay aboard and do some easy chores.

Or so I thought. Since replacing the port shifter cable in Pelican Bay, I hadn’t been able to help but notice that that lever was now much smoother than the starboard one. I had got it into my head that I would replace the other cable when I got a chance. Now I had the chance.

Then I decided that since I was replacing the shifter cable, I might as well replace the throttle cable as well. That led me to thinking that If we were going to dismantle the boat to do that anyway, I might as well also replace the port throttle cable and complete the whole set.

So, five hours, thousands of swear words and many bloody knuckles later, we have all new engine control cables. Let’s hope I don’t have to do that again for a while.

After the wind shifted, we moved to the other side of the bay at Shoal Bay. There, we were able to resume our usual routine of finding somewhere far and/or high to walk. This time, we opted for high. Tomaree Head loomed right over the boat. We could see the top of the trail from the deck, so we decided to see if we could see the deck from the top of the trail.

Around Port Stephens
(exercise with a view & lunch at the 'country club')

Indeed, we could. The smoke of the last few days had cleared a little and we were able to enjoy views both ways along the pretty coastline. From there, it was an easy, but hot trip down to the town, where we refreshed ourselves with lunch at the Shoal Bay Country Club at a table with of view of the bay. It is amazing how rapidly life can swing from trudging misery to blissful contentment.

Afterward, we were headed to the grocery store for a few items when we came across Little Italy.

Little Italy in Shoal Bay consists of three businesses, A ristorante, a pasticceria and a gelateria, all clearly owned by the same people. I could tell before we even got there that this was the real deal. At a table out front were a foursome of two Nonni and two Nonne, gesticulating wildly and speaking in the staccato rhythm of Sicilian Italian. I paused for the briefest second at the gelateria, thinking I might try one later. Then one of the old men stood up and asked if I wanted some with a big smile. Suddenly, I was back in Milazzo.

“Si, Si. Que fatto?”, I said. I had forgotten I knew some Italian.

”Quale voi piacerebbe?”

Uh oh. That one was taking me a little too long to look up in the ol’ foreign language filing system.

“Uh, lemon, please. Limone.” I’m an idiot.

He pretended not to notice and handed over my cone. The kindly old man spoke perfect English, at least the Aussie version of it.

”Mille Grazie!”

I'm still an idiot.

We took ten steps and suddenly we were back in Australia. My gelato melted so fast that I barely had time to lick it off of my hand before it evaporated altogether. Man, it’s hot!