Today was another very frustrating and difficult day trying to settle in to our new "home". After spending an entire day in Birkenhead Point trying to find the basic amenities we need, we had to repeat the exercise again today, but this time for the Cammeray area. A 3NM dinghy ride from our swing mooring in Roseville Chsse took us to Cammeray Marina, where we can at least leave the dinghy and get ashore, as well as use their laundry facilities and jerry can water. A flight of 108 steps got us to street level from where we "hiked" another 1.5 miles straight uphill in the heat to get to the Neutral Bay shopping district, where we found grocery stores, banks, chemists, etc. In the best of health though, this would be a difficult "walk", but it nearly killed Elaine off. So, Plan B. Over a cup of coffee, while trying to recuperate , we investigated the public transportation system more thoroughly, including services like Uber. Fortunately our return trip was far better. After procuring local bus cards, the bus dropped us off just a few minutes walk from the entrance to the marina. Seeing the bus decorated for Christmas definitely helped cheer us up too.
On route back to Paw Paw in the dinghy we stopped at the Davidson Recreational Park, where we can enjoy a few nature walks, as well as drop off our garbage and get water, if need be. Diesel and, especially petrol for the dinghy, given the miles we'll be doing, were the last of the amenities to hunt down. Those we discovered, can be obtained at the Roseville Bridge Marina just opposite us, where we also found a small beach. Once Roy installs the new dinghy wheels, we will be able to leave the dinghy there for a short period of time. Our explorations also revealed a lovely restaurant and a very helpful employee, the Echo by the Marina, where we can enjoy breakfast, lunch and morning coffee, if we choose. By the time we returned to Paw Paw exhausted, all we wanted was a stiff drink. Never in our wildest dreams would we have guessed that Sydney, as a sailing destination, would be this unprepared and difficult for cruisers and we thought Spanish Waters in Curacao or Opua in New Zealand was bad. It's fair to say, we've reached a new low. Our day was not a total loss though as we introduced ourselves to our very pleasant neighbour, enjoyed a barbecue onboard and had the opportunity to phone friends, Angie and Terence, whom we haven't seen since leaving South Africa. Very surreal after all these years. We're definitely looking forward to a few outings with each of them soon.
