AFTER recent refurbishment, the Wangi Queen will be using Lemon Tree Passage as a home base for future operations in Port Stephens.

As details emerge we will keep you up to date.

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One hundred years ago at Empire Bay on the Central Coast, the ‘Ettalong’ was launched and then began the service of a vessel which has plied the waters of Sydney and Lake Macquarie over so many years.

The craft was based in Sydney from the 1940s through to the 1970s and recently was popular for its ‘Convict, Castles and Champagne’ outings to Goat Island.

For some 40 years she functioned as a party boat on Lake Macquarie after being renamed the ‘Wangi Queen’.

Her owner at the time said she had hosted over 900 weddings and around one million tourists had boarded her.

To stay ‘in survey’, commercial vessels must undergo an annual inspection and the ‘Wangi Queen’ was slipped at Albatross Marina Lemon Tree Passage as part of this requirement.

Marina Manager Mike Colecliffe said that their slipway was the largest between Sydney and Port Macquarie.

“We also pride ourselves in being the most competitive slipway in Port Stephens offering a wide range of services to mariners,” he stated.

Over the years, the marina has hosted some famous sailors and their boats.

These included the ‘Winston Churchill’ which foundered in the 1998 Hobart yacht race with the loss of three lives.

David Lewis also sought refuge at the marina after a southerly gale blew him off course.

His legendary solo voyage to Antarctica in his ‘Ice Bird’ remains as one of the greatest navigational feats of all time.

By Geoff WALKER