VDLC 2015 Day 18 19 20

Day 18 was to see us heading south on Macquarie Harbour so Mark & Mark headed out to the free showers on the dockside to freshen up. On our return to the tender moored at the end of the fisherman’s jetty we saw a young local Sam in his dory with fishing nets and a deck covered in salmon. He proceeded to distribute the salmon to anyone in the VDLC fleet who wanted some and in the confusion the Fargo ended up with 2 fish each of 3-4 kg. One at the dockside tender and one at the Fargo anchored in the middle of Risby Cove. Rather than mess up the decks with fish slime we found a convenient concrete plinth near the slipway and filleted and skinned our bounty there and returned to the Fargo with a baking tray overflowing with salmon portions ready for the pan.
After lunch in the harbour we made a motor run down the harbour to Farm Cove with the weather turning to blustery showers with some patches of heavy rain. Two other boats including Aurora were at Farm Cove. A couple of locals were on their jetty which they had built at the head of the protected cove. They escorted us through the short track across the isthmus to the Harbour beach where we were somewhat dismayed to find large amounts of fish farm litter - including ropes bags and PVC pipe wind blown to this lee shore from the farm leases to the north west . We collected as much as we could reasonably carry returning the following morning to bag 2 sacks full of this material. The 30 metre lengths of poly-pipe would have to wait for someone else to retrieve.
Aurora crew joined us for dinner and contributed a wonderful dessert of fresh apple pie and ice-cream. After my early morning rubbish detail on the clear dawn of our 19th day Fargo weighed anchor and and the skipper took us further into the inlet to explore some of the secluded anchorages up at the head of the eastern arm of Farm Cove past Soldiers Island. These coves looked like great spots to ride out bad weather with a choice of anchorages for any direction of shelter required. Moving on to Kelly Basin we found calm anchorage at St Ledger Point for lunch. Using this as a base we made brief forays to East and West Pillinger to revisit the ruins of the brick kilns and the railway and jetties that served this once thriving port and industrial complex with a population of 1000 people. It is truly astounding to see old photos reflecting the bare hill sides and the busy port with long jetties lined with rail cars and compare to the verdant view from across the bay as Mother Nature reclaims this site. Large trees now grow through abandoned rail-cars and the industrial remnants of large timbers and steel rails crumble with the onslaught of 3 metres+annual rainfall and stormy weather. The locals use parts of an abandoned railway carriage as their fishing lodge at West Pillinger. Others that have lived and worked nearby are remembered.

We slept well at St Ledger point after a somewhat raucous lullaby from the nearby party boat member of the VDLC fleet. The morning of the 20th day saw us all slow to rise to the cool morning easterly breeze with temperature down to single digits and although the sky was mostly clear a cloud bank obscured the dawn. The dry air left little of no dew or condensation on the boom tent or the cockpit making morning coffee on deck a cool but comfortable affair. So around 10 we motored out into the southern part of the harbour as the breeze dropped out leaving large patches of warm sunshine to clear our way to the relatively shallow entrance to the deeper Gordon River proper. We motored up past the Heritage Landing with its large tourist boats and beyond Boom Camp with visiting fishermen and kayakers. Duncan fed us one of his legendary soups while we lay moored at the side of the river amongst the trees with lines fore and aft to low strong branches and still with 5m of water under the keel. Motoring up past the iconic Butler Island we soon found ourselves at Warners Landing looking across the river to the small beach near St John Falls where we moored last VDLC. In the warm afternoon I took myself for a brief bush walk up the now largely overgrown track that led up to a large machinery /equipment pad further up the hill. Another track led away further up the hill but that was for tomorrow to explore. Crayfish burrow into the moss overlying the quartzite track that once carried bulldozers and other dam building machinery. Again it is staggering how quickly Mother Nature is doing her best to reclaim this site from the battle zone it was in the early 80’s as the proposed site of the nearby dam was beset with an eventually successful protest . Visitors in seaplanes kayaks rafts and yachts now leave only footprints and take only photographs.