After a relatively uneventful overnight motor-sail from Port Stephens, we entered Port Jackson at around 0630 on the morning of Monday, 11th December 2017. It’s hard to describe just how we felt that morning. Given that there aren't too many iconic cities in the world, sailing Paw Paw into one of them, two years into our circumnavigation, brought home the magnitude of our achievement. Although tired from our overnight sail, covered in goose bumps and grinning from ear to ear, we slowly made our way along the outer edges of Port Jackson, avoiding the numerous high speed ferries flying past us in every direction, carrying commuters to work, who had no idea of where we’d come from, how far we’d sailed, how proud we were of ourselves and, actually, didn’t care or even noticed us. But, as we rounded Bradley’s Head, slowly and cautiously making our way towards our chosen anchorage for the night, seeing the most magnificent sight of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge spread out before us, was beyond words. We actually couldn’t believe our eyes that we were seeing this sight from Paw Paw, after the thousands of nautical miles we’d sailed and all the adventures we’d enjoyed along the way. We were simply in awe and, with that, it was HELLO Sydney and a whole set of new adventures awaited us!
Too tired to try and shoehorn into one of the other so called "anchorages" en route through the port, we opted for Farm Cove overlooking the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Unfortunately we weren’t to know that it was an extremely uncomfortable anchorage due to the churn created by all the ferries, but it was, nonetheless, very scenic and centrally located, so, we planned on staying for that first night, at least.
Once we were settled and had a nap, we had a rather precarious dinghy ride to the closet pier. Then, having successfully negotiated our disembarkation without falling in the water, it was time to celebrate our arrival in Sydney and the Opera Bar was the perfect venue. A walk around Circular Quay and the Royal Botanical Gardens afterwards helped stretch our legs and clear the cobwebs. We had also hoped to reconnect with Raya (Ros and Rick), whom we hadn't seen since Fiji, but thought we’d seen them from a distant arriving in the anchorage. However, they were nowhere to be found on our return to Paw Paw. Hoping we could catch up with them once we'd completed our explorations the following day in the hunt for a more suitable anchorage, even possibly determining that they'd found one and we could simply just head their way, didn’t materialise either! We did, however, receive an invite to Allure for after-dinner coffee that night, but, unfortunately, we were both fading fast, so we took a rain-check instead, also something we were unable to redeem.
Having survived one of the lumpiest, not to mention precarious, anchorages we'd ever been in, fortunately the churn settled down once all the ferries stopped running that night and we were able to enjoy the calm for a few hours. Waking up at around midnight, though, and seeing the Sydney Opera House lit up against the night sky was very surreal indeed, not to mention, a fabulous sight. Something Elaine regrets not taking a photograph of to this day.
We nonetheless decided that one day in Farm Cove was more than enough, so just after daybreak on the morning of Tuesday, 12th December 2017 we set about finding another anchoring spot west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Our explorations took us under the famous bridge and around every "anchorage" noted in the cruising guide and a few extras that weren't mentioned. Regardless, every single one, with the exception of the tiny "dedicated for small craft anchorage" of Balls Head Bay, was full of private swing moorings and, besides having limited space and full of anchored yachts, Balls Head Bay was still in the chop and churn of the ferries. Blackwattle Bay we understood was better protected, but also filled with yachts.
Our reconnaissance, however, paid off when we found what we thought would be a great spot at Birkenhead Point, just off the Iron Cove Bridge. After settling in and having breakfast, we commenced what turned into the most frustrating, disappointing and incredulous day. After sailing halfway around the world to a city like Sydney, where the waterways and marinas were jammed full of yachts, we had, at the very least, expected to find the basic amenities every cruiser needs; diesel, petrol, water, garbage disposal, laundry services, propane refills, grocery stores, a chandlery and, most importantly, somewhere safe to land the dinghy so that we could actually get ashore. An additional amenity needed on this occasion was a medical centre.
Well, after spending hours riding up and down in the dinghy, we couldn't find a single place to land it. We were even turned away from every marina and sailing club when we asked if we could use their facilities for a fee. In fact, besides being able to purchase diesel and petrol, the marinas would not even provide us with water. So, since we couldn’t eat and drink diesel and petrol and with no way of accessing the possibility of any other services, because we couldn't actually access the shore, we were completely dumbfounded and in shock. These feeling were exasperated after speaking to a few cruisers we encountered on the swing moorings when they informed us that there is indeed nothing offered to cruisers, unless "you are in a marina or on a swing mooring belonging to a marina”. Of course, that was an impossibility as well, since they were all full with permanent yachts and did not cater to transients like ourselves. That included Cammeray marina, where we had reserved a swing mooring months previous, only to discover that there was a mix-up with our reservation and, in fact, it was no longer available.
In desperation we decided to expand our search further down Iron Cove and the gods had decided to smile on us. We found a well maintained jetty where we could safely leave the dinghy along with communal garbage bins and water, which, at the very least, would allow us to jerry can water back to Paw Paw, given that the water pollution precluded us from running our watermaker. We weren’t to know at the time that these challenges were to become the norm for our entire stay in Australia, with a very few exceptions, but, although the jetty was on the wrong side of the waterway, we were still able to access various amenities by walking over the Iron Cove Bridge. The Birkenhead Shopping Centre had a grocery store and a medical centre. Walking a little further down Victoria Street provided a chandlery, a dermatologist, a dentist, etc. That left laundry and propane refill services unaccounted for, a task for another day!
So, feeling rather chuffed with ourselves we headed back to Paw Paw only to discover she had dragged, the first time ever on our Spade anchor, not to mention the fact that she also had a bright pink “Notice of Removal” sticker plastered all over her port topside. This was shortly followed by a visit from the Roads and Marine Services (aka the water police) informing us that there was a resident in one of the apartment complexes who used a camera with a high power lens to photograph the activities of any cruisers anchoring in this area and then passed on complaints of any infringements to the authorities. In our case, this individual was complaining that we were anchored too close to the submarine cable and we were to make sure we "didn't throw anything overboard because he's watching". Given that we had already dragged, we repositioned Paw Paw and let out more scope anyway, but no one could tell us if the law pertained to an anchor that cannot be within 200 metres of a submarine cable or if it referred to the position of the yacht, the latter of which would change depending on the wind direction, resulting in a possible transgression if it blows out of the north in this particular instance. A phone call to Raya the previous evening confirmed that they were having similar challenges. "The mind she boggles!"
We did eventually encounter one honest chap, though, throughout this ordeal; a manager of one of the marinas, who basically informed us that full-time cruisers are not needed nor welcomed in Sydney - Ah Duh - I think we'd realised that by then! By this point, though, after being so enthralled following our initial arrival in Port Jackson, we were definitely starting to doubt our decision to have sailed to Australia at all!
By Wednesday, 13th December 2017, although we had dragged the previous day, all was well through the night in fairly strong winds gusting to 26 Kts, but with stronger winds forecast for that day, we decided to stay on board anyway. However, while the stronger winds didn't actually materialise in this part of the harbour, we nonetheless had the opportunity to catch up on a few back-burner tasks like paperwork that had been put off since leaving New Zealand, as well as a few other activities. Roy also prepared our final shopping list of yacht parts and spares we needed to place our order at the chandlery, finalised the location of where to mount our watermaker sanitiser and boost pump and hauled out all our spare sheets and halyards to replace the old ones and determine what additional new ones had to be purchased. The disappointing discovery, though, was that, although we were a "yacht in transit", we were not GST exempt, unlike the majority of other countries we had visited. It was another “black mark” against Australia at this point.
Elaine, on the other hand, busied herself obtaining various medical results from tests she had undertaken during our recent visit to the US, in preparation for her long awaited doctor's appointment. She also perused all the information we had collected at Circular Quay the day we had arrived regarding the various tourist attractions to be enjoyed around Sydney and the surrounding area. We now had a laundry list of fun activities to be pursued over the coming weeks, if only we could find a secure place to leave Paw Paw!
Fortunately, by the end of that day we received the good news that we had secured, what we initially thought, was a less than ideal swing mooring in Roseville Chase through Cammeray marina, in lieu of the mix up with our original reservation, while we awaited the availability of a stern / bow mooring which we had originally reserved. Although the swing mooring was 3NM from the marina itself, we knew we could use the dinghy to get to / from the marina and our research of the public transportation system indicated we would be able to get to / from the city centre. All in all, this was a reasonable compromise that would suffice in the interim and was definitely better than nothing, given the precarious anchoring situation and associated lack of amenities for cruisers. At least this way we would have access to all the basic amenities we needed in one location and it would allow us to undertake some land travel to places further afield, knowing Paw Paw was secure.
Thursday, 14th December 2017, was packed with a host of diverse events and activities. It started with the alarm clock waking us at just before 0500 so that we could be available for the closing of escrow on our second condominium, assisted by our friend, Lisa, who had, once again, acted as our Power of Attorney. Once that was out of the way, it was time to divide and conquer. After a morning coffee at the Birkenhead Shopping mall, Roy headed to the chandlery to purchase what we thought was the last of our parts and spares. Unfortunately they didn't have the new wind generator we wanted, something we’ve never got to replace, but the modifications Roy made to our existing one, have certainly lasted until the time of this writing in November 2020. Not bad at all!
Elaine, on the other hand, started her journey through the Australian medical system. While she was very apprehensive about her appointment that morning, this initially appeared to be without reason; she had a fabulous doctor and a battery of tests, MRIs and X-rays were scheduled, with nothing suspected as life threatening or crippling and that a treatable underlying problem was likely. Unfortunately this initial assessment was short lived and significantly off the mark!
Lunch consisted of a rather interesting and unusual sushi meal before we headed back to Paw Paw to drop off all our purchases, then returned to explore a little further afield.
After wondering through King George's Park and a beautiful residential area of period homes, we stumbled upon Darling Street and the suburb of Rozelle. While window shopping in the quaint and rather trending shops lining the street, we encountered the delightful owner of the Persian Rug Bazaar. When we informed him that, although we weren't in the market to purchase a rug and that neither of us knew much about Persian rugs, but would love the opportunity to browse around, he was more than willing to educate us on these handmade marvels. It was an absolutely fascinating "tour", where we learnt about the entire process, including how to discern their value, with some having been sold at auction for millions of dollars. Sadly, however, like many ancient crafts we have had the pleasure of encountering during our travels, this too was dying with the existing generation of craftsmen. Afterwards, given our new "footloose and fancy free" status after unloading the last of our properties, we found a pleasant venue to celebrate the sale and entered into a rather philosophical conversation about where we might live once we decide to "swallow the hook". Given the fact that we had one too many options and would want to consider our immediate family members, especially the grandchildren, we decided to leave it in Gods hands, safe in the knowledge that it will all work out as it was intended to. This conversation, however, has continued over the years since, with no firm conclusions as yet!
Back onboard, a dinner of bangers and mash, accompanied by some bubbly, was a fitting end to a very eventful day. Unfortunately this proved, on hindsight, to be a premature celebration!
The following morning we were up relatively early to head ashore for Elaine's pathology appointment and to do some provisioning, following which we weighed anchor and headed to the fuel dock at the Birkenhead Point marina to fill up with diesel and water. Although Roy had the unfortunate experience of an extremely rude individual putting the phone down on him when he called the marina earlier to confirm that we could indeed obtain water if we purchased diesel and neither of us really wanting to give this marina our money after the incident, it was, nonetheless, the most convenient dock to approach. Of course, when this same individual decided to be rude to Elaine while we were on the dock, he received far more than he bargained for. After the verbal exchange, while Elaine simply continued with what she was doing, Roy said the individual was so astonished that someone had dared to retaliate, he was completely speechless and just stood on the dock staring. He had simply picked on the wrong person on this occasion it seemed and Elaine wasn’t having any of it!
With that task out of the way, we motored the 12NM from Birkenhead Point, Drummoyne, in Sydney Harbour to Killarney Point in Middle Harbour, fortunately making the opening of the Spit Bridge with 15 minutes to spare. It was complete chaos as we passed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge en route, though, with traffic going in every direction and no one really obeying any "rules of the road". In all the mayhem, we spotted Raya heading in the opposite direction to us, slip-streaming a huge cargo ship which was motoring diagonally across everyone, but we made it, without incident, to the swing mooring out in the "burbs" of Killarney Heights and Castle Cove, boarding on the Garigal National Park, amongst our millionaire neighbours. At least we no longer had to worry about Paw Paw getting another “Notice of Removal” for some or other arbitrary transgression and, if we happened to need a water taxi into the Sydney Opera House, there was one that motored right passed our "front door". We weren’t to know at the time that these were for private hire, but the fabulous public transportation system, we discovered later, was a short dinghy ride and a walk away. By now, however, it had become abundantly clear that any cruiser wanting to sail to Sydney needed to have a swing mooring or berth reserved before arrival, since there was literally nowhere decent to anchor and, if you happened to find a spot, you were not permitted to stay for more than a few days before the authorities would order you to move. We were, however, pleasantly surprised by the location of our swing mooring and decided to enjoy the peace and quiet of our new home and everything the Garigal National Park had to offer, as well as the amenities of the Cammeray marina, albeit a rather long dinghy ride away. A small price to buy for peace of mind!
On 23rd October 2017, after a very rolly night and waking to a beautiful sunrise, we weighed anchor, cleared the pass between Recif To and Recif Le Sournois and entered the Coral Sea. With that, it was goodbye to New Caledonia and goodbye to the South Pacific Ocean, or so we thought, but not before we received a lovely send off as a large pod of dolphins crossed Paw Paw's bow as we exited the pass.
We had expected to motor-sail for the first 24 hours of this leg of our passage after spending the end of our previous leg anchored off Ilot Amédée, but around 1300 we entered the transition zone between the low pressure system, which had just passed southeast of New Caledonia, and the leading edge of the approaching high pressure system. That meant we picked up winds of 10 to 15 Kts, backing from the southwest through south to southeast, much sooner than forecast and allowed us to switch off the motors and enjoy a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of between 6 and 8 Kts as the wind speed strengthened and weakened. That definitely gave our VMG (Velocity Made Good) a boost for the day. In layman's terms, VMG is a measurement used to help us capitalise on our COG (Course Over Ground) that will give us the most direct course to our destination.
By 1600, though, in very lumpy seas, the winds dropped, so on went the engines again. Thankfully that only lasted for less than two hours before the winds picked up again and by sunset we were reefed down for the night and sailing at 6.5 Kts in 12 Kts of wind. However, just when we thought we'd be able to sail through the night and pick up the slightly stronger south-easterlies forecast for tomorrow, the wind shifted to the east at around 2200 and dropped, causing the mainsail to slam in the swell. So, under a clear moonless, starry night we were motor-sailing again, but on headsail alone. It certainly was a mixed bag for the day, none of which was forecast as usual.
By 0530 on 24th October 2017, the south-easterlies we were expecting had kicked in, so, up went the mainsail and off went the engines. However, by 0900, we started to encounter some squalls, so back out on deck to furl the head sail and reef the main. Fortunately the rain passed fairly swiftly and gave Paw Paw a nice freshwater rinse, but with slightly stronger winds than forecast, we decided to keep the main reefed before unfurling a full head sail and, with that, we had transitioned into the high pressure area; sunny blue skies, with a scattering of puffy white clouds. Of course, with all this activity, a few dolphins popped by to see what was going on.
Fortunately these conditions held and Wednesday, 25th October 2017 was another gorgeous day under sunny blue skies, with winds around 12 - 17 Kts out of the southeast. Perfect sailing conditions on a beam reach for Paw Paw, allowing for speeds of 8.5 to 9.5 Kts in relatively subdued seas on a single reefed main and full genoa. Other than a few birds, a cruise ship and a number of cargo ships, we had no other company, but we were in contact with other yachts that were also underway via the SSB/HF radio nets and with family and friends via email.
As expected, though, we ran out of wind around 2100 as we entered the calm area of the high pressure system and slowed down as planned. We altered course to avoid the Kalso Bank a few miles north of us and then set a course for our theoretical "mooring ball" in order to remain north of 25S and east of 155E, where we had planned to hove-to for 6 - 12 hours, if necessary. This was a contingency option to allow the worst of the weather associated with the tail end of a low pressure frontal system that was passing south of us. Our hope was that Mother Nature would clear the way sooner and allow us to alter course, without delay, directly for Southport, Australia. In the interim, with the cruise ship, Pacific Aria, for company and Paw Paw surrounded in bioluminescence, under a waning moon, we continued westward.
On 26th October 2017, we enjoyed a very peaceful and relaxing day under sunny blue skies and flat seas, so we decided to enjoy a barbecue for dinner and use up the last of our fresh vegetables. With the latest forecast still showing the frontal weather to the south of us, but starting to clear, the winds had shifted to northerly and dropped to below 10 Kts as expected. As a result, we motor-sailed through part of the night, then switched off the engines and dawdled along under sail at 4.8 Kts, taking us to our revised theoretical "mooring ball" and negating the need to hove-to overnight.
By Friday, 27th October 2017 it was a case of “feast or famine” regarding the weather conditions, which had continued unabated during this sailing season, just as they had during the previous one. In the early hours of the morning the north-westerlies kicked in about six hours ahead of the forecast which resulted in us having to alter course before reaching our preferred position. We weren't too far off, though, in the grand scheme of things, passing just 30NM to the south of our theoretical "mooring ball". This earlier course change brought with it the stronger winds and higher seas as expected, given that we were sailing around the tail end of the front. While the skies remained sunny all day, the conditions were a total contrast to those we’d experienced the day before. We were sailing with a third reefed main and a double reefed headsail in anything from 15 to 23 Kts of wind and in at least a 2.5 to 3 metre swell. The good news was that these conditions were forecast to moderate and subside overnight, as we approached the Australian coastline, which they did. By then we were sailing on a double reefed mainsail with a full genoa and definitely looking forward to "land ahoy".
On our last day at sea, the winds and seas moderated and we started the day sailing in light north-westerlies, then motoring in light westerlies, but as the wind swung back to the southeast at around 0800 we enjoyed another fabulous day of sailing at 8.5 Kts in 12 Kts of wind and flat seas; it doesn't get much better than that! That night we "drifted along" on a slither of a head sail, since we had to wait on the flooding tide the next morning before we could cross the sand bar at the entrance of the Gold Coast Seaway.
In many ways this passage reminded us a lot of our Pacific Ocean crossing, with the exception of our penultimate day at sea, where the very tumultuous sea state reminded us of our New Zealand to Fiji passage. Fortunately it was only for a few hours and not days and there was no cyclone involved! At this point, though, we had nothing but praise for the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and their extremely accurate forecasting, which allowed us to plot our course for the most favourable conditions, something which had been hit and miss using the other available weather forecasting services. Having accurate information to make our decisions made the world of difference!
On Log Day 657, Sunday, 29th October 2017 we reached Australia; a momentous occasion for any sailor on a circumnavigation since it denoted halfway, but for us it felt like we had come full circle. Some thirty years ago and a few years before our son was born, we sold up everything; house, cars, furniture we didn’t need, etc, rented a small townhouse and used company cars for transportation. With both our job offers in Sydney finalised, we awaited our final documentation to immigrate to Australia. Then both Elaine's sisters gave birth to a son each a few months before Christmas of that year and Elaine realised she didn't want to move country, away from family and friends. Although exasperated, Roy went along with the decision not to move to Australia and our lives took a very different path. Two years after that decision was made, we had a son of our own and a few years later we moved country anyway. In fact, we moved country five times after that, ending up in the US before moving on to Paw Paw and becoming full-time cruisers in March 2014. There was definitely a surreal feeling at the idea that we were now sailing into Australia, all these years later. Reaching Australia and getting settled as soon as possible also meant we got to fly back to the US to see our family, especially our beautiful grandchildren; nearly a year since our previous visit had been far too long!
At around 0600, Elaine shouted "land ahoy" and, with that, it was "hello Australia". We couldn't have asked for better conditions to transit the Gold Coast Seaway in completely flat seas. In fact, it was so calm it reminded us of our approach into the Galapagos Islands. Having contacted the VMR (Volunteer Marine Rescue) services at the Seaway on our approach, given the slight conditions, we obtained directions to proceed straight down the centreline, even though it was an hour before low tide. Finding our way to the quarantine dock in the Southport Yacht Club marina was just as straight forward. We had arrived safe and sound and definitely in one of the most sophisticated places we had ever sailed Paw Paw into.
