Leave Gold Coast after lunch with a good sea breeze go 135 until you hit 100 fathom line turn to 185 and you will be there before lunch the next day
it is 155 miles from memory with about 50 miles of set if you are hunting for it
I usually never go into Coffs as it is 25 miles in from the best track and 25 miles back out so you waste half a day
smokey cape is the usual landmark after 24 hours and port Stephens after 48 and Sydney after 60 hours
depends how hard you hunt the set

I agree with Lydia. If your vessel has a water temp gauge go out until it drops 2C and then you are in the East Coast Current. The 2C drop indicates your in the current flow and in deeper (cooler) water. Use Navionics or similar or your sounder to stay in the deep water. Expect two to three knots assistance from the current.
We usually leave the Seaway around sunrise and get to Coffs about 24 hrs later. If we are going further south we don't go into Coffs for the same reason Lydia states.

BlueMoon said..
You'll "overnight" at sea, while sailing.
Is your mate an experienced sailor?.
Not a light undertaking for a newbie to coastal sailing.
I will be going Sth through the area in a couple of weeks, a sail in company might work, but I'm on a tight time frame.
PM me,
cheers

Yep. It's interesting how people handle their first night offshore. We did a delivery up from Sydney once with 5 pob. All very experienced sailors except for 3 of the guys it was their first time offshore at night.
One did fine.
The second one did fine but was terrified.
The third was really freaked out. Would jam himself into a stern quarter and not move his entire watch. He insisted we go in through the Gold Coast Seaway and leave him at Southport rather than make it to Brisbane.
They were good sailors, we got caught off Newcastle in some pretty fresh conditions and it was no problem. It was just that lights were moving closer or further away, the wind changed and they unknowingly followed it and started heading to NZ, a near miss with an unlit boat.
The not liking sailing at night offshore wasn't the big issue, it was they started making lots of mistakes they wouldn't dream of making n the daylight. Weird how fear can effect people.

I was thinking hugging the coast a few miles out offshore and just overnight while anchoring by the beach somewhere.

David967 said..
I was thinking hugging the coast a few miles out offshore and just overnight while anchoring by the beach somewhere.

Yeah nah.

So many safe places to easily pull into and chill for a night or a week.
I took 6 months to go sydney to Southport!