A replica fifteenth century caravel will gracefully sail into Port Macquarie on Wednesday afternoon.
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Notorious will moor in the safe waters of the Hastings River before opening to the public on the weekend at the Lady Nelson Wharf.
Owners Graeme and Felicite Wylie last visited Port Macquarie in September 2013 and are currently enroute to Brisbane.
Notorious is a replica fifteenth century caravel and will attract plenty of interest as she sails over the bar at around 2.30pm.
Mr Wylie spent more than a decade designing and building Australia's earliest ship reconstruction himself at his Bushfield property in rural Victoria, before launching it February 2011 from Port Fairie.
It is made entirely from salvaged Monterey cypress from parks and farms in the south west of Victoria, and includes a keel made from ironbark reclaimed from a rural roadside near Warrnambool.
Caravels were the first ship style to be designed specifically for ocean crossing, with Christopher Columbus noted for his Atlantic crossing with his flagship La Niña.
Notorious is the first vessel of this type in these waters for 500 years, since Cristóvão de Mendonça's epic voyage of 1522.
The vessel left Port Phillip Bay on June 2 and the couple have been fortunate to navigate around three east coast lows, said Mrs Wylie.
“We dropped anchor in Newcastle in early July before stopping in at Nelson Bay and Forster. We left Camden Haven inlet on Wednesday morning.
“With Coffs Harbour’s harbour virtually destroyed in the recent storm damage, Port Macquarie will probably be our final berth before Brisbane.”
Mrs Wylie described Notorious as 'a floating fortress, capable of handling most conditions’.
“But we are looking forward to the calm waters of the Hastings River – thanks to Port Macquarie-Hastings Council,” she added.
The Wylies will open Notorious for inspection to the general public on the weekend.
The ship will be at the Lady Nelson Wharf on Saturday and Sunday with visitors able to climb aboard from 10am to 4pm. Admission is $5 for adults, and $2 for children. Children must be accompanied by a supervising adult.
