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Having survived one of the lumpest, not to mention precarious, anchorages we've ever been in, fortunately the churn settled down once all the ferries stopped running and, with that, we were able to enjoy a calm night. Waking up in the night and seeing the Sydney Opera House lit up against the night sky was very surreal, not to mention, a fabulous sight.

We nonetheless decided that one day in Farm Cove was more than enough, so just after daybreak 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 understand is 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 are 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 can 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 to land the dinghy. In fact, besides being able to purchase diesel and petrol, the marinas would not even provide us with water.

So, since we can'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's an impossibility as well, since they are all full with permanent yachts and do not cater to transients like ourselves. That includes the marina, where we thought we had a swing mooring reserved, 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 communial garbage bins and water, which, at the very least, allows us to jerry can water back to Paw Paw, given that the water pollution precludes us from running our watermaker. Although the jetty is 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 has a grocery store and medical centre. Walking a little further down Victoria Street provides a chandlery, dermatologist, dentist, etc. That left laundry and propane refill services unaccountered 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, shortly followed by a visit from the Roads and Marine Services (aka the water police) informing us that there is a resident in one of the apartment complexes who uses a camera with a highpower lense to photograph the activities of any cruisers anchoring here and then passes on complaints of any infringements to the authorities. In our case, he was complaining that we were anchored to 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 can tell us if the law pertains to an anchor that cannot be within 200m of a submarine cable or if it refers to the position of the yacht, the latter of which will 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 (Ros and Rick) yesterday evening confirmed that they were having similar challenges. "The mind she boggles!"

We did eventually encounter one honest chap though, 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've realised that!

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