After a relatively uneventful overnight motor-sail from Port Stephens, we entered Port Jackson at around 0630 on the morning of Monday, 11^th 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, 12^th 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, 13^th 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, 14^th 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!

 

 

 

 

Now for some fun facts: The 5,440-acre Garigal National Park is situated in the North Shore region of Sydney, approximately 12 miles from the central business district. The word "Garigal" is a derivation of the word "Carigal" or "Caregal", used to describe the indigenous people who lived in Guringai country, translated in modern English as "Ku-ring-gai".

 

The Guringai people are the traditional custodians of the land now reserved as the Garigal National Park and there is considerable evidence of past Aboriginal activity in the area, with over 100 Aboriginal sites recorded to date, including shelters, cave art, occupation sites and rock engravings. Many of the sites are undisturbed and are important surviving examples of Aboriginal occupation of the Sydney region.

 

Garigal National Park is home to a wide range of fauna, including snakes, birds, such as the Black Cockies, the Sulphur-Crested Cockies and the Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos, as well as a wide range of native mammals, such as bandicoots, koalas and wallabies and a number of threatened species, including the Southern Brown Bandicoot, the common Bent-Wing Bat, the Tiger Quoll, the Osprey and the Glossy Black Cockatoo.

 

The park also contains two significant places of historical interest. One is Bungaroo at the tidal limit of Middle Harbour Creek, where Governor Phillip camped for two nights in 1788 on his first expedition. Bungaroo is the only site described in the journal of this expedition which has been accurately identified. It is now possibly the only location directly connected with the very early European exploration that remains in the condition seen by Phillip and his expedition. The other is the former Bantry Bay Explosives Magazine complex which was used for commercial explosives storage. It is the only example of an explosives magazine complex in New South Wales and has historical significance for its role in urban and industrial growth.

 

Saturday, 16^th December 2017, was another very frustrating and difficult day trying to get settled into our new "home". After spending an entire day in Birkenhead Point trying to find the basic amenities we needed, we had to repeat the exercise again, but this time, for the Cammeray area. Our dinghy ride from our swing mooring in Roseville Chase to Cammeray marina, allowed us to, 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, or was it Plan C by now? 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. Also, en route back to Paw Paw in the dinghy, we stopped at the Davidson Recreational Park, where we discovered we could 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 would be doing, were the last of the amenities to hunt down. Those we discovered, could be obtained at the Roseville Bridge marina just opposite the swing mooring field, where we also found a small beach. We realised that, once Roy installed the new dinghy wheels, this was another alternative to leave the dinghy after an initial reconnaissance. Our explorations also revealed a very helpful employee at a lovely restaurant, the Echo by the Marina, where we could enjoy breakfast, lunch and morning coffee, if we so chose.

 

However, 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. 

 

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, but we were definitely looking forward to a few outings with each of them.

 

After a lazy morning on Sunday 17^th December 2017, Roy started the task of fitting our new dinghy wheels, but by mid-morning, we had to head to the nearest beach so he could finish the installation and Flat Rock Beach turned out to be the ideal spot. Not only did he finish fitting the wheels, but we met a South African family who had lived in Sydney for 25 years and who were very helpful with information about the area, even giving us their phone number just in case we needed help with anything.

 

By the time we got back to Paw Paw it was still early enough to video call the family in Arizona and see the grandchildren before their bedtime; always a highlight of our day. Then, by early evening it was time to dinghy ashore again. This time to Echo Point Park, where we beached the dinghy and climbed the steps to the road to await our ride. It wasn't just any ride, however. Terence and Cath were collecting us in order to join them for a drink at their local.  Given that we hadn't seen Terence since 1994, it was a special and completely unbelievable reunion.

 

Terence and Roy grew up together and have remained friends all these years. It was certainly difficult to explain how we felt at seeing him again, but surreal didn't even begin to describe it. It was another one of those moments that, if anyone had told us the next time we would see Terence, would be after sailing halfway around the world to Australia and then hiring a swing mooring just minutes from where him and Cath lived, we would never have believed them. It was just wonderful to catch up and get the news on a host of other friends whom we'd lost contact with over the years. It was a very special evening indeed!

 

Unfortunately the following day started with Elaine feeling under the weather, but she still managed to video call the family in Arizona again before heading back to bed for the bulk of the day. Roy, on the other hand, got stuck into a number of yacht projects, including fixing the furler drum and installing a new furler line, new genoa sheets, a new main traveller sheet, new dinghy davit lines and a new mainsail 2nd reef line. By then Elaine was feeling a little better, so we spent the remainder of the day giving Paw Paw a good cleaning inside and out. Fortunately, with not using the watermaker and, therefore, having to watch our water consumption more carefully, mother nature lent a helping hand to clean the decks. That evening a batch of freshly baked soda bread, together with some vegetable soup, went a long way to putting Elaine back on her feet. By now, though, we were definitely delighted with the location of our swing mooring and thoroughly enjoying the peaceful and idyllic anchorage of Roseville Chase, with just the birds and wildlife for company, although at times we had to deal with the rowers squishing passed our cabins in the early hours of the morning. It was hard to believe we were just a few miles from the hustle and bustle of Sydney and her suburbs!

 

  

 

 

On Tuesday, 19^th December 2017, we were up early to get ready for the day and dinghy to Cammeray marina, where we awaited another ride.  One again, this was no ordinary ride; we were meeting Angie this time and what a special day we had together.

 

Once the hugs and kisses were out of the way, we headed to her local shopping centre in Belrose to enjoy a morning coffee and start the process of filling in the years that had separated us, but in many ways it felt like we had just seen each other yesterday. Of course, the conversation continued the entire day while Angie took us on a fabulous tour of the North Sydney area, commencing with a drive through the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park to see what's referred to as the "Australian Bush". That took us to the West Point Lookout where we enjoyed magnificent views over Lion Head Island, Broken Bay, Pittwater and Palm Beach and where they happened to be filming a well known and famous Australian soap opera, "Home and Away”.

 

 

 

 

From there we headed to Church Point where we had a delicious meal on the waterfront while overlooking Scotland Island, before making our way back through Bay View and Mona Vale, passing the Narrabeen Lagoon en route. The day was topped off with afternoon tea and delicious home baked Polish biscuits at Angie's home. Unfortunately David snd Stephen, whom we haven't seen since they were toddlers were both at work, but we’d hoped to still have an opportunity to see them before we left Sydney, and, with that, a wonderful outing and a day of nonstop talking came to a close. This was to become the first of many wonderful outings with Angie as she chauffeured us around so many different places and for which we remain eternally grateful.

 

“Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work we go”; wake up to the 0630 alarm, get ready, head to the bus stop, join the mass of other commuters to downtown Sydney. Wait, something's wrong! Nightmare? No! Reality? Yes, but not a permanent event, thank goodness! Just had to get from Cammeray to Drummoyne for Elaine's early morning appointments for her MRIs and X-Ray, but not before we enjoyed a morning coffee at Bowan Island Bakery after we arrived in Drummoyne, feeling very chuffed with ourselves that we'd actually made it. This little bakery was to become a favourite stop off on our many subsequent trips to Sydney from much further afield due to Elaine’s very unexpected diagnosis.

 

On this morning, however, once all the imaging activities were completed, it was time to finish our Christmas shopping at the Birkenhead Shopping mall, have lunch and make the journey back to Cammeray.  Thankfully we had a free app called "Moovit" which became invaluable to helping us navigating around Sydney on more than one occasion, without a hitch. In fact, this became our “goto” application for the remainder of our stay in Australia.

 

We'd barely made it back to the marina, though, when the heavens opened. Given that temperatures had hit 38C / 100F, the rain was a welcome relief from the heat.  We then barely made it back to Paw Paw, after our dinghy ride, when mother nature truly released her wrath; thunder, lightening, rain and hail, which had Elaine piling all our electronics into the oven and running for cover in her cabin. Roy, however, moaned about the interruption to his DIY tasks of installing the new fire extinguishers and replacing the anode on the dinghy outboard motor, but the rain didn't stop him from continuing with the barbecue he had planned.  Fortunately,  it all cleared up after about an hour and we had the pleasure of a lovely cool and refreshing evening.

 

Thursday, 21^st December 2017 was a repeat of Wednesday; wake up to the 0630 alarm, get ready, head to the bus stop, join the mass of other commuters to downtown Sydney and from there onto Drummoyne. This time, however, it was for Elaine's follow up doctor's appointment to get the results of all the initial tests, which unfortunately did not reveal good news, but further tests were required to pinpoint the exact culprit. The blessing, if there was one to be had, was that an underlying issue had been uncovered in less than a week, an initial, supposedly temporary, treatment was started and we certainly could not complain about the excellent and relatively inexpensive care Elaine had received.

 

Trying to set aside the million thoughts running through our heads at this point, we focussed on the mundane and time with friends; Friday, 22^nd December 2017 was laundry day, so, after phone calls to family and friends, who were eager to know the outcome of all the tests, we headed to Cammeray marina to use their laundry facilities. When we returned, Elaine enjoyed a quiet afternoon onboard while Roy met Terence to get some of our heavier shopping done (aka beer and wine), following which Terence joined us aboard Paw Paw Paw for a quick sundowner. 

 

The following day was Angie's turn to visit Paw Paw, but not before we enjoyed a mid-morning coffee at the Echo on the Marina restaurant at Echo Point and being surprised with a beautiful gift from her; a large bunch of fresh flowers, our favourite South African treats of biltong, peppermint crisps and wine gums, as well as some Australian treats to try, including chocolates, Vegemite, Tim Tam biscuits and Lamingtons. Spoilt indeed! 

 

From there we loaded her into the dinghy for the short transfer to Paw Paw. Over a light lunch and well into the afternoon, the conversation continued unabated. Another fabulous day and one we were both very appreciative off ,since it went a long way to distracting us from the medical woes. It also helped that we were getting ourselves ready for Christmas, like most folks at this time of the year, and wished all our family and friends around the world a very blessed Christmas, while focussing on the blessings we had to remain grateful for.

 

 

On 24^th December, although it was Christmas Eve, we had decided to enjoy a day onboard instead of heading to Bondi Beach, but had a rather busy day nonetheless. Roy tackled a few more yacht projects, all of which involved plumbing for some reason, including the replacement of the toilet macerator pump in the starboard forward head (aka toilet), repairing the leak in the port hotwater heater and removing a blockage from the starboard aft shower drain pump.

 

Elaine spent most of her day getting the final preparations completed for Christmas, which definitely seemed to have sneaked up on us. Wrapping Christmas presents and getting them under the tree was the first order of the day, followed by getting some preparations done for our Christmas dinner and replying to various Christmas emails and notes sent via social media from family and friends around the world. Feeling refreshed and full of energy after an afternoon nap, she then decided to sort out the starboard forward cabin so that it no longer resembled a storage area and actually managed to make up the bed for the first time in a year. A chat to Keenan in Atlanta after video calling Brooke and the family in Flagstaff, Arizona, was the icing on the cake, but seeing Carter walk for the first time was the cherry.

 

 

Having Brooke scan the room so that Elaine could see all the grandchildren as well as say hello to Brooke's parents, then learning from Brooke that the twins hadn't started to walk yet, Elaine prompted Carter to show his Nana and Papa (Brooke's parents) as well as Grandma that he could walk. After a moment of shock, cheers erupted as we all witnessed Carter simply walking towards Brooke who was holding the phone / camera and essentially walked towards Elaine who was prompting him. A fantastic moment that none of us could believe had just happened. With Elaine shouting to Roy on Paw Paw that Carter had just walked, seeing Carter's little face register what he'd just done and everyone else in the household in Flagstaff shouting with joy, we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present! A wonderful moment for all of us as a family, albeit that we were "together" electronically.

 

Then, although we both had a restless night with the windy and blustery weather that managed to work its way around Killarney Point at times during the night, we still woke up full of the joys of Christmas,  A coffee and our favourite Walkers shortbread biscuits in bed and receiving an early morning phone call from Keenan started off the perfect day. Phone calls to the family in Ireland as they enjoyed their Christmas Eve swiftly followed, after which Elaine baked Irish soda bread, accompanied by bacon for breakfast. By then we'd held off long enough to open our Christmas presents.

 

Given the overcast and chilly weather the entire day, Elaine then set and decorated the table to Christmas music and twinkle lights, before cooking started in earnest. Our meal of Herb Roasted Turkey, Pear and Chestnut Sausage Stuffing, Bacon Wraps, Cranberry Sauce,  Turkey Gravy, Roast Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts (for Roy) and Snap Peas (for Elaine), paired with the perfect wine (mostly for Roy), following by Steamed Christmas Pudding and Custard (for Roy) and Lamingtons and Custard (for Elaine), together with the obligatory Lindt Mint and Ferrero Rocher chocolates and a selection of nuts, turned out to be a rather grand, not to mention, delicious meal, to come out of our relatively small galley and one Elaine thoroughly enjoyed preparing, although some assistance was needed from Roy on the final touches. The day was wrapped up by watching our favourite Christmas movies; The Holiday and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It had been the perfect, low-key, wonderful Christmas Day in Oz!

 

  

 

By Tuesday, 26^th December 2017, having spent Christmas onboard and having given Elaine’s initial medication time to "kick in", we were ready to continue our explorations of the Sydney area. Of course, watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, which leaves through The Heads of Port Jackson, was the perfect excuse. However,  we had originally thought we would take the dinghy under the Spit Bridge and on out to Hunters Bay to watch the start, but after Roy read some horror stories online about how chaotic and precarious the area becomes with all the punters flying up and down on the water,  we decided on an alternative approach. Instead,  a very enjoyable bus trip to Manly turned out to be an excellent idea, where we watched the proceedings from the safety of shore,  albeit a little further away from the intense action, while enjoying a gelato on the pier. It also helped that Elaine's first rodeo was a huge success.  She was able to walk properly for the first time in over a year. The initial medication definitely felt like miracle tablets for sure, but if Elaine had known the side effects and the struggle to ween off these in later years, she would never have started them!

 

 

From there we took the short walk to Manly Beach and enjoyed a late seafood lunch at Fiasco, a modern Italian restaurant, followed by afternoon coffee at Fushion Point, before returning to Paw Paw. On the dinghy ride back from Cammeray marina we stopped by the Spit Marina to investigate other options for leaving the dinghy and encountered a very helpful gentleman who informed us we were more than welcome to use their restaurant facilities with no charge to dock the dinghy. Refreshing! That said, though, there were still very limited options for anchoring and then leaving the dinghy to get ashore for any length of time. Keeping Paw Paw on the swing mooring and exploring by bus from Cammeray marina was definitely proving to be the best option for our time in Sydney, not to mention inexpensive, efficient and we got to enjoy a "field trip" every time! We weren’t to know, though, at the time, that there was a much better option!

 

 

After the previous day’s excursion we were very interested to see how Elaine faired the following morning, given the distance we walked, the hills we climbed and the speed at which Elaine was able to walk. We were very happy to report, to the amazement of both of us, that her initial treatment was definitely working! Rather than tempt fate though, we decided to enjoy a day onboard nonetheless. While Elaine eventually had the concentration levels to continue writing our Fiji article and actually enjoyed the experience, Roy continued with some more yacht projects, including completing the engine oil change and oil filter change on the port engine, mounting a new boost pump and UV sanitiser for the watermaker, cleaning the holding tank level sensor on the port side and replacing the o-ring on the starboard holding tank throughhull. Unfortunately a check of the repairs to our port side water heater uncovered yet another leak, which meant we would have to incur the cost of replacing it, not to mention, the logistics of getting a 110V system from the US.

 

On a brighter note, Santa eventually arrived that evening at the Cadman / Kelley household in Flagstaff after a slight delay, given that Keenan was working and festivities were postponed so that he could participate. It did, however, mean it would be a very early start for us, given the time difference, in order to coincide our video call with the opening of the presents and to enjoy the inevitable mayhem with the family, albeit from a distance! Thank goodness for modern technology!

 

So, Thursday, 28^th December 2017 was an exceptionally early start for us; 0200 to be precise. Seeing the delight on William's little face, though, while he showed off his new "Jeep" to the beat of the music playing on the little car's radio and watching the twins entertain themselves, more with the wrapping paper than the actual gifts, was worth the early rise. After enjoying about an hour of Christmas fun with the family, we were at least still able to get a few hours sleep before the birds woke us. But, since we had planned for another lazy day onboard anyway, this wasn't exactly a major disruption in our lives.

 

 

After a breakfast of freshly baked scones, complements of Elaine, Roy set about changing the oil and oil filter on the starboard engine, while Elaine continued her efforts on our Fiji article. By then, it was time to get ready to meet Terence, Cath and their friend, Sally. 

 

After drinks at their local, the Willoughby, we commenced our Asian gastronomic adventure; a delicious Chinese dinner at the Shanghi Stories restaurant in Chatswood. Given that this was a favourite eating spot for our friends, we decided to go with their recommendations; a scrumptious selection of dumplings with the odd beef dish selected by Roy. Unfortunately we completely forgot  to take a photograph of all of us together.

 

The following day, given what we had seen of the area the previous night, we decided to venture back to Chatswood on our own and, in doing so, eventually found a far more convenient bus service to a greater selection of shops, restaurants, cafés, etc, including the Westfield mall, instead of having to dinghy to Cammeray marina. This became the turning point for our time in Sydney and stumbling upon one of the main rail service junctions became an adventure all on its own.

 

 

After snooping around the mall, we also stumbled upon a little kiosk serving French crepes, made by a lady from Toulouse, which, no doubt, became a favourite venue. Our Asian gastronomic adventure continued as well. This time it was a rather interesting and tasty lunch at the Soban and Towon Korean restaurant. Our treat, however, after a four year hiatus, was movies at one of the Hoyt Lux theatres to see "The Greatest Showman" with Hugh Jackman. Whether it was the fact that it had been so long since we last saw a movie in a theatre or the fabulous movie itself or the very luxurious reclining seats we enjoyed, it was, nonetheless, a fantastic show. In fact, as soon as we got back to Paw Paw we downloaded the soundtrack. It was another fun day out in the suburbs of Sydney and best of all, a far easier way to access all the delights making for a very pleasant stay thereafter!

 

 

 

However, as soon as the alarm went off on Saturday, 30^th December 2017, it was time to come off our swing mooring in Roseville Chase temporarily and head to the Spit Bridge in order to coincide with the 0830 opening. Although it was a rainy start to the day, by 1000 we were anchored off Bradley's Head with the perfect view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge; the perfect spot from which to enjoy our New Year's Eve celebrations and watch the fireworks display the following night. Fortunately the sun came out by midday after which we basked in glorious sunshine. It was also wonderful to see Raya anchored off our starboard side, along with a myriad of other yachts we'd seen at various destinations during our 2017 sailing season; Moonshadow, Alexandra, Wind of Change, Maja, to name a few. Plastic Plankton, we understood, were arriving the next morning, so we had plenty of company with whom we would ring in the new year.

 

That said, though, the surprise of the day was recognising Zoom, a World ARC yacht that we hadn't seen since Tahiti in 2016, sail into the anchorage. What are the chances! Needless to say, Ian wasted no time at all in contacting us to make arrangements for a reunion. What a wonderful start to our celebrations!

 

It was a very lumpy and rolly day, though, with the wakes created by all the powerboats and ferries and it never ceases to astonish us just how inconsiderate some boating people can be towards their fellow cruisers. Of course, there were also the usual numpties who arrived late in the day and thought it was quite acceptable to anchor on top of everyone else. We understood, however, that it was going to get a whole lot worse over the following day when many of the local boats were expected to arrive and that it did. A very large dose of tolerance and politeness served us well, though, apart from three particular incidents. We were, however, like everyone else, out to enjoy an experience of a lifetime and nothing was going to spoil it!

 

With that, it was Happy New Year from Sydney and what a fabulous day and New Year's Eve celebrations we had; beyond our wildest dreams and one we shared with an estimated 1.5 million people who lined the shores and lookout points around the harbour, a figure which excluded the thousands of people on yachts of every shape and size floating on the water with us.

 

The anchorage started to fill up by mid-morning, but, as they say: "there's always room for one more" as the late arrivals squeezed in. Although the anchorage was chaotic and we had to deal with three powerboats, in particular, who truly did not have a clue of what they were doing, which subsequently endangered and caused collisions with yachts anchored near us, a friendly and cordial atmosphere, nonetheless, prevailed throughout.

 

 

Our day started with phone calls to the family in Ireland and Arizona, then dressing Paw Paw for the event, followed by Ros and Rick off Raya stopping by for a morning coffee. It was lovely to actually spend time with them, since last seeing them in Fiji, and not just having to wave from a distance as we crossed paths in various parts of the Sydney Harbour that month. Next was a visit from Ian and Andrea off Zoom and it was lovely to catch up and swap sailing stories since last seeing Ian in Tahiti. By then it was time for Roy to fetch Terence for his transfer to Paw Paw, along with the various South African treats he brought with him, including biltong. With that the festivities started. Besides the entertainment value of watching other yachts anchor and getting very cosy with a number of them, other events were laid on at various stages of the proceedings. 

 

 

 

First, we enjoyed two separate aerobatic shows, then there was an organised parade of all sorts of yachts decorated in festive lights pass by us. By 2100 the boerewors was barbecued and the boerie rolls were going down well to the sights of the early fireworks display for the children. It was a wonderful sampler of what was to come.

 

Before we knew it, though, we were joining the entire anchorage in the count down to 2018 and witnessing an event that was simply spectacular. As fireworks shot off the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, six barges lining the channel which leads up to the bridge on either side, also had perfectly synchronised displays. The entire setting, atmosphere and having Terence onboard with us was, not only surreal, but truly an experience of a lifetime; one that was worth every inch we have sailed to get there; a New Year's Eve celebration that will be difficult to surpass, ever!

 

  

 

 

 

With all our family and friends around the world in our thoughts on this wonderful occasion, there was nothing left to do, but wish them all a healthy and happy 2018 and, God willing, we hoped to see a few more of them in parts of the world we had yet to visit, as we continued on this incredible adventure. As luck would have it, Justine and Paul made it out to Australia a few short months later!

 

It did, however, take us 18 hours to ring in the New Year of 2018, with family and friends spread across the globe and over so many different timezones. It started with thoughts of all our cruising friends still in the South Pacific, particularly Fiji and New Zealand. Then it was our turn in Australia. From there our thoughts crossed the Indian Ocean to family living in Dubai and onto family and friends in South Africa, Austria, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Next was the Atlantic Ocean crossing and onto all our cruising friends in the Caribbean and friends on the east coast of America. We got to speak to Keenan just after he landed in Miami after completing his shift and just before "his" midnight. Finally a phone call to Brooke and the grandchildren in Arizona before everyone we knew in Arizona and the west coast of America commenced their celebrations. It was Keenan's question, while chatting to Roy: "What's it like in the future dad?”, that succinctly summed it up! The answer, of course, was anyone's guess, but from where we were sitting, after a lazy day aboard Paw Paw, having made it through the 0830 Spit Bridge opening on New Year’s Day and back to our swing mooring in the beautiful Roseville Chase anchorage, it looked bright!

 

We also hoped everyone had enjoyed this particular journey with us, having uploaded our two part video of our New Year's adventure to the website that evening. Part one was our sail from Southport to Sydney, in the company of dolphins and whales, as well as the build up to the "Greatest Show” and Part Two the complete fireworks display, unedited, just as we saw it floating in Sydney Harbour. If you've seen it, we’re sure you'll have agreed, it was indeed spectacular! If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s still on the website under VIDEOS!

 

And to all our followers in over 80 countries, as far afield as, Albania, Algeria, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, China, America, New Zealand, Maldives, Norway, Poland, France, Philippines, Romania, Hungary, Korea, Thailand, Netherlands, Italy, Vietnam, Czech Republic, Brazil, Iran, Belarus, Denmark, Germany, Austria, UK, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Portugal, Singapore, Lithuania, Croatia, Belgium, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Japan, Chile, Panama, Pakistan, Burundi, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, India, Korea, Latvia, Servia, Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia, Argentina, Australia, Ghana, Moldovia, Hong Kong, Fiji, Finland, Indonesia, Mexico, Cambodia, Spain, Sint Maarten, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Sweden, Morocco, Bangladesh, Bahamas, Armenia, Colombia, Barbados, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Israel, St Lucia, Mongolia, Switzerland, Georgia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Peru, Kazakhstan and Greece, we hope you all have continued to enjoy this journey with us!

 

By Tuesday, 2^nd January 2018 it was back to reality and having to get some chores done. We had originally planned on only dinghying to Cammeray marina to do the laundry and while that was washing and drying, to then take a short walk to Green Park Village for a coffee. When we got to the latter, though, the little café was closed, so a short walk turned into a slightly longer one to Neutral Bay. After enjoying a coffee there, we decided we may as well do some provisioning and then stopped for dinghy fuel en route back to Paw Paw, after which Roy did a garbage and water run.

 

We did, however, manage to squeeze in a little fun and dinghied to Bantry Bay, the site of the heritage listed explosives magazine. After an explosion in the city in 1882, authorities were obliged to seek a more remote storage. This was found in the form of two hulks, the Pride of England and the Behring, moored in Powder Hulk Bay to store 530 tons of explosives and detonators.  A third vessel,  the Alacrity, was used for the crew guarding the explosives.  A permanent site in Bantry Bay was later established and shapely wooden ammunition barges were then used to tow ammunition between Newington and the munitions depot in Bantry Bay,  then from there, to Rozelle for transhipment. When operations ceased in 1974, Bantry Bay was handed over to National Parks and Wildlife, following which it became a heritage site. Unfortunately the site was closed to visitors which was a real shame. We were surprised, however, to find a very scenic bay with little coves tucked away along the shoreline, as well as a nice beach at the head of the bay. A public dock led to a number of hiking trails, which we decided was best left for another day!

 

 

On Wednesday, 3^rd January 2018, after Roy dropped Elaine off at the public dock and she scrambled over the railings at spring tide to try and keep her legs and feet dry, it was time to meet Angie and her mother, who had arrived from South Africa for her visit by then, at the entrance to Echo Point Park. Elaine certainly picked up a few strange looks from the motorists driving by, while she stood waiting on the roadside in a very upscale area, surrounded by multimillion dollar homes. Fortunately Angie arrived as planned and we set off on our girl's day out. We were also meeting a friend of Angie's and her daughter; our destination, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in downtown Sydney and, in particular, to see the Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age exhibition, with masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands. What a fabulous event and such a contrast to our island cultural experiences of the previous four years and, in fact, since leaving England in 1999, where the last art museum Elaine visited was in London a few years prior to that.

 

Our guided tour took us through the various halls for roughly one and half hours with a very pleasant and knowledgeable guide, which definitely served the purpose of pointing out elements of the paintings that an untrained eye would completely miss. Getting the history and background of the various artists, including Rembrandt, was, not only informative, but fascinating and brought everything to life. When looking at some of Rembrandt's paintings, you felt like you could simply reach out and touch the fabric or the gold chain or the jewel of the painting.

 

  

 

All the paintings were unique, though, in as much as the Dutch artists of the Golden Age were not commissioned by the church or royalty, but rather painted for the free market, making the works substantially different from other artists of the time. We also learnt that Rembrandt painted more self portraits, spanning his lifetime, than any other artist. He was also a master at ink drawings. This was in great part due to his considerable talent as an engraver. Despite being a talented painter, the Rembrandt drawings show he also gave great importance to mastering the art of drawing. His production of drawings was as prolific as it was brilliant. About 1,400 attributed to him survive, and it is believed that at least an equal number have been lost. 

 

 

 

Rembrandt was apparently interested in drawing from a young age, so much so that he continued even though his family paid to send him to Leyde University. In the 1620s, after having completed his schooling, he opened his first art studio / workshop along with Jan Lievers. Later on, due to his success and fame, he decided to move to Amsterdam in 1629. Financially secure, he bought a house in a rich neighbourhood of Amsterdam. Tragically though, despite his comfortable financial circumstance in his younger years, he sank into debt throughout the rest of his life, ending by having to sell his house and dying an impoverished man in 1669.

 

Once our tour concluded we made our way to the museum's café to enjoy a light lunch, followed by a coffee and cream scones. The perfect indulgence to end a wonderful day!

 

 

Roy, on the other hand, decided to spend his day onboard enjoying some peace and quiet, although invited to be the rose amongst the thorns. He was rather productive in cleaning the exhaust elbow and adjusting the v-belt of the starboard engine, as well as assisting a fellow sailor un-snag his anchor from the rocks versus having to cut it loose. For his act of kindness, the sailor, Peter, went all the way to the Sydney Fish Market, a round-trip of approximately 20NM and returned with some fresh tuna as a gift for Roy. Staggering! These acts of kindness by total strangers continue to make our vagabond lifestyle so much more the richer.

 

Over the following weeks we set aside time to explore Sydney and the surrounding area in earnest, dovetailing these outings with yacht projects, spending time with friends and dealing with medical matters. Feeling very adventurous, we also decided to try something new with regard to the local transportation system, the curiosity of which had peeked when we first found the railway junction a week or so earlier. Instead of taking the bus into the city centre, we opted for the train from Chatswood Junction to Central Station in downtown Sydney and, on this particular outing, had decided to combine the experience with the Hop on-Hop off Big Bus tour around the city, thinking this was the best way to get a feel for the city as a whole. Well, it was a great idea with a few flaws. 

 

 

 

Although the train journey was excellent, the weather forecast was wrong and, by the time we reached the downtown area, instead of a little rain in the morning, then brightening up, we had an overcast, somewhat chilly day with an interspersed spattering of rain throughout the day. Then the "Ask Me" gentleman sent us on a wild goose chase when we left Central Station to try and find the bus stop to commence the tour. It was a bad start and it didn't improve.

 

The 90-minute tour turned into nearly 3 hours just to do one revolution due to the traffic, the roadworks and the number of tourists trying to get on and off. That meant we couldn't actually run the risk of getting off anywhere, since we wouldn't have been able to get back on without waiting in long queues for hours. Add to the fact that the tour audio was completely out of sync with the actual driving, to the point that there was really no substance to the content and with little to no historical references, but rather information on where we could pick up other tours. Then, having to listen to Waltzing Matilda and White Christmas repeat over and over in our ears, we could safely say, we both had a headache at the end of it all.

 

The tour provided its reward, though; we thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the beautiful old buildings that were mixed in with the modern and we also had an idea of all the other attractions we wanted to visit, including going back to the Harris Street area with its historic terrace cottages and the Sydney Fish Market, the Maritime Museum, the Chinese Gardens of Friendship, the Wildlife Centre near Kings St Wharf, The Rocks, the Elizabeth Street / Hyde Park and St Mary's Cathedral area, the Botanical Gardens, the King's Cross / El Alamein Fountain area and take a tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was, however, a very expensive way to come up with a list of places to explore at our leisure over the following weeks and was definitely not value for money!

 

It didn't help matters that, while passing the Darling Harbour area at the start of the tour, we made the mistake of deciding that that looked like a good place to have lunch, only to discover an overpriced tourist trap. Lunch at the Watershed Restaurant added to the expense of the day for what turned out to be a frozen, deep fried calamari meal when one of the largest fresh fish markets in the world, which sells 50 tons of fish everyday, was less than 1 mile away. Scandalous! We managed to salvage the day, though, with a delicious fresh tuna feast back onboard Paw Paw thanks to Peter, who had delivered the tuna as a thank you; tuna sashimi, tuna carpaccio and pan-seared tuna with a side salad. All's well that ends well!

 

Our explorations through the local transportation system continued the following day, yielding a different bus route from where we used to leave the dinghy at Echo Point; one that was not only closer, but an easier walk and with a more regular service into Chatswood. It was safe to say at this point, our reconnaissance of this area was complete and, at least, we now only had to take the dinghy to Cammeray marina to do the laundry every fortnight or so.

 

Once we’d enjoyed our morning coffee at one of the numerous cafés in Chatswood, it was time to run an assortment of odd errands and ones we really haven't been able to do in any other country during our sailing adventures; a dry cleaners, a decent hardware store to get some perspex as well as a solar powered garden light to use as a transom night light and then an automotive shop to obtain decent engine degreaser and diesel biocide. Roy, however, had to walk 6 miles to get to all the stores, which we subsequently found out later could have been accessed by bus; the final piece of the transportation jig-saw! Oh well, at least Roy managed to get these long overdue items regardless while Elaine, on the other hand, shopped for shoes, then found a bench under a tree on the pedestrian section of Victoria Street and read her book, glancing around from time to time to people-watch. She definitely had the better end of the deal!

 

Our next excursion was to one of Australia's most iconic beaches, Bondi, for a beach day of sorts. Three buses got us there, two buses and a train ride got us back and we didn't wait more than ten minutes at any one time; we just loved the public transportation system here.

 

 

 

Morning coffee and a slice of toasted banana bread, served with marzipan butter and honey, was enjoyed at Bondi Trattoria shortly after our arrival around mid-morning and before taking the obligatory very slow stroll along Bondi to savour the sights. Our walk took us all the way to the rock pools at Ben Buckler, with its spectacular views of the coastline and the sweeping white-sand crescent of Bondi.

 

 

 

"Bondi" or "Boondi" is an Aboriginal word meaning "water breaking over rocks" or "noise of water breaking over rocks." The beach is about 1 kilometre long, but it is its width that strikes you at first. Add to that the laid-back cafés that line Hall Street and the clifftop Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk, with its dramatic scenery, and a second visit was definitely warranted. Sadly this never materialised. Having worked up an appetite, though, with all the walking we did do, we enjoyed a very healthy lunch at the Depot restaurant; freshly baked pies with a super foods salad accompanied by a turmeric bomb to drink. By then it was time to join the throngs of people making their way back home after a sweltering day on the beach, while stopping off in Chatswood to get a few provisions along the way.

 

On Sunday 7^th January 2017, we woke to a beautiful sunny Sunday morning and enjoyed a cooked breakfast to start the day. It didn't take us long to realise, though, that the temperature was rising rather rapidly. By mid-morning we decided that taking the dinghy to the little beach at Echo Park Point to clean it and then have a swim was probably a good idea instead of spending time onboard. When we returned to Paw Paw, Roy continued to play in the water and cleaned her bottom as well; the first time since leaving New Caledonia. Surprisingly, there weren't too many barnacles, but rather a layer of black algae that we haven't seen before, but, fortunately, came off easily enough.

 

We had known from the weather forecast, that it was expected to be a sweltering day, hence our decision to visit Bondi Beach the day earlier instead, but we definitely hadn't realised just how hot it was going to get and we're not sure anyone else did either. Penrith, a western suburb of Sydney, reached 47.3C / 117F, originally believed to be the highest temperature in 79 years, recorded by a weather station in the Sydney metropolitan area. However, a tweet just after 1600 from the Bureau of Meteorology indicated that they had missed a temperature in the north-western Sydney suburb of Richmond, where 47.8C / 118F was recorded in 1939. Either way, it was a very hot day! Being on the water, with at least a breeze blowing, thankfully, kept it slightly cooler for us, so there was no need to turn on the air-conditioning. The only energy we managed to muster, though, involved a lazy afternoon of reading and not much else!

 

With the extreme heat of the day, it wasn’t surprising that we then had a very stormy night, with plenty of rain, thunder and lightening, but woke to a partly sunny, very hot, muggy day on Monday, 8^th January 2018. Preparations, including having the oven on to bake Roy's birthday cake, continued regardless, thanks to a light breeze that kept the temperatures somewhat manageable.

 

Besides catching up with Keenan, we also got a few long overdue minor yacht projects out of way, like redoing our fender lines that were just too short and a new, longer bridle on the dinghy. While Roy did a number of fresh water runs, Elaine eventually completed our Fiji website article. Better late than never, as they say! With temperatures still hovering around 30C / 86F that evening, even after a few thunderstorms in the afternoon, we enjoyed yet another barbecue onboard, accompanied by some cold beverages.

 

The following day, after a few more severe thunderstorms during the night, we woke to a rather dull, overcast day, but, thankfully, the rain held off. The weather, however, was certainly not going to dampen our spirits, since it was a very special day; a great big Happy 60^th Birthday to a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, brother and son, oh ya and captain. Chocolate cake and a Mexican cutie for breakfast was a great start to his day, no doubt! Then it was off to enjoy the birthday boy's gift; a day out in the historic area of Sydney, The Rocks. 

 

 

 

After a mid-morning coffee at the Munich Brauhaus, we then enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch at "Fish at The Rocks"; sashimi starter, followed by a seafood linguine for Roy, mussels in a tomato and white wine sauce starter, followed by blue-eyed cod for Elaine. Coffees and a soft centred hot chocolate cake to share with a birthday candle, complements of the staff, completed the meal. Yum!

 

 

 

What began as Sydney's convict settlement, The Rocks is a neighbourhood in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. From cobbled laneways and sandstone warehouses to Australia's oldest pubs, it is also home to Cadman’s Cottage, claiming the title as the first building to have been built on the shoreline of The Rocks area, the second oldest surviving residential building and the third oldest building in Sydney, having been built in 1816. It is one of only a handful of Sydney buildings that remain from the first 30 years of the colony and was used for the governmental coxswains and their crews.

 

It was also home to John Cadman, born in January 1758, and one of Sydney's first convicts, sentenced to death in England for stealing a horse, but his sentence was commuted to transportation to the colony of Australia in 1797 at the age of 40. From 1806 he worked in Castle Hill as a convict labourer, then transferred to Government Docks in 1809. In 1813 he was appointed as Coxswain of Timber and Lumber and received a conditional pardon in 1814. After serving as Coxswain of the Antelope for 4 years, he received a free pardon by Governor Macquarie in 1821, eventually becoming Master of the 30 ton cutter, Mars, which was later shipwrecked off Port Stephens. In 1827 he was appointed Superintendent of Government Boats and lived in the cottage, with his wife and two stepdaughters, from 1827 until his retirement in 1845, staying a total of 18 years, the longest time served by a governmental coxswain until the position was abolished after Cadman's retirement. He died in 1848. John Cadman was born 200 years, exactly to the month and the year, before Roy. How uncanny is that!

 

 

The following days, however, were spent coming to terms with Elaine’s diagnosis and considering the impacts thereof, after another trip back to her doctor in Drummoyne on Thursday, 11^th January 2018; a day that changed our lives forever. Although Roy kept himself busy by completing a few more yacht projects, including cleaning the exhaust elbow and adjusting the v-belt of the port engine, it’s fair to say Elaine was in complete shock; receiving a diagnosis of a disease she had only heard of, but had no idea what it actually entailed, was bad enough, but to then learn from the doctor that it was incurable and progressive, left her completely confused and devastated. The reality of what this all meant really only hit home after some research was undertaken, but matters were about to get worse! It wasn’t until Elaine’s visit to the specialist in the February of 2018, that two similar diseases were diagnosed, each affecting different aspects of her body. Looking back on these events, Elaine couldn’t quite comprehend at the time the sincere apology and empathy expressed by her doctor following the diagnosis, but time certainly revealed the true magnitude of what was to lie ahead. With both of us reeling from this news, all we could think of was the impacts on our vagabond lifestyle, one we both loved and were definitely reluctant to give up without a fight.

 

By Friday, 12^th January 2018, a fun day out couldn’t have come soon enough, thanks to Angie. She collected us as scheduled at Echo Point Park, following which we made the short trip to her home to collect her mom and had the lovely surprise of also seeing her son, Stephen, having last seen him as a toddler in South Africa.

 

Angie had selected the North Head Sanctuary in Manly as our destination for the day, followed by a trip into the town of Manly to have a light lunch, enjoy the promenade, have a snoop around the Corso and take the opportunity to get some groceries.

 

Our visit to the North Head Sanctuary commenced with a coffee and some freshly baked delights at the Bella Vista Café while enjoying the stunning views over Sydney Harbour and getting introduced to a few of the "locals", the fauna and the flora, many of which are endangered and unique to this part of Sydney. The sand dunes here support one of the few remaining patches of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrubs. Once abundant, now less than 3% remains. This area is home to the Rainbow Lonikeets, Little Wattlebirds and the Long Nose Bandicoots, the latter of which are now listed as an endangered population.

 

 

 

North Head, traditionally known as "Car-rang-gel", held special significance for the local Aboriginal people and was used for ceremonies and medicinal practices. From 1828, most of the headland was set aside to quarantine passengers on ships arriving in the colony. More than 240 people were buried in the 3rd Quarantine Cemetery between 1881 and 1925, mostly dying from smallpox and bubonic plague. A visit to this cemetery took us on a winding trail through the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrubs, which occur on patches of nutrient poor, aeolian dune sand and include small patches of woodland and low forest, with the wind-blown sand having been deposited many centuries ago and where wild plants like the Sunshine Wattle, the Flannel Flower and the Crowea flourish.

 

 

We also had the opportunity to enjoy the walk and spectacular clifftop views of the Fairfax Lookouts, before heading to St Patrick's Seminary, the latter completed in 1889, after land was granted to the Catholic Church on North Head to build a Cardinal's Palace, and, it is a palace indeed, with its beautiful sandstone walls and fabulous views overlooking Manly Beach.

 

 

 

 

During WWII, the whole of North Head became a major defence base, making it one of the most heavily fortified sites in Australia and where North Fort was constructed with concrete gun emplacements,  tunnels and an underground plotting room, with the associated Barracks built to house and train the army gunners. The base was subsequently relocated to Victoria in 1998.

 

Our day was wrapped up with a barbecue at Angie's, where we had a second surprise of seeing her eldest son, David, who also demonstrated his expert skills after cooking the meat to "melt in your mouth" perfection.

 

 

Then, after loading all our postal deliveries in the car, including a new barbecue, a few logistical manoeuvres in the dark got us to the Davidson's Park boat ramp where everything was safely loaded into the dinghy before returning to Paw Paw late that night. Many thanks to Angie for a fascinating and unexpected day of touring an area of Sydney we would not have had the opportunity to enjoy without our personal tour guide. 

 

 

Needless to say, Roy was up bright and early the next morning to install our new barbecue and make a rather unceremonious offering to Neptune of our "not so old", completely rusted, falling apart Kuuma barbecue, following which he spent some time replacing one of the dinghy davit lines again. Then, after an afternoon onboard, it was time to head off in the dinghy to Sugarloaf Bay, where we had a great evening onboard Raya. It was lovely just to be able to relax and catch up with Ros and Rick for a few hours, while enjoying our sundowners and snacks.

 

The following day, after a fairly lazy morning initially and Elaine baking cream scones for her afternoon outing, we had to deal with a slight collision when the boat next to us t-boned Paw Paw in the high winds that had all the yachts swirling in various directions.  Fortunately there wasn't any damage and setting a stern anchor to keep us at a safe distance helped the situation temporarily.  It was all resolved permanently, or so we thought, a little while later when the owners of the other boat arrived and were able to shorten their mooring line.

 

Then it was time for Elaine to enjoy an afternoon "tea party" in celebration of Angie's mom's 85th birthday. Elaine also had the pleasure of being "chauffeur" driven to and from the event by Angie's friend, Dani. While the pick up and drop off arrangements had a clandestine feel to it all, since Elaine and Dani had never met before and then having to meet in the carpark of Echo Point Park through Elaine's recognition of nothing but the description of the "blue Toyota" which Dani drives, it was a fun-filled afternoon with plenty of laughter, nonetheless. It was lovely to meet all of Angie's friends, not to mention the fact that we all rolled out of her home after all the eats and treats we enjoyed and it was the first “tea party” Elaine had had in years. Similarly to our visit to the art museum, this too was something so far removed from our cruising lifestyle, but a real treat nonetheless!

 

 

Monday, 15^th January 2018 was a rather frustrating day, though. We had prior arrangements with a courier company to collect our liferaft from the Davidson's Park boat ramp and deliver it to the Plastimo agent in Sydney for recertification.  So, after breakfast and with amble time for the 0930 pick up, the process began; drop the dinghy in the water, lower the swim platform,  tie the dinghy to the swim platform, remove the liferaft from its locker, place the liferaft on the swim platform, move the liferaft from the swim platform to the dinghy without dropping it in the water,  dinghy to the boat ramp, tie the dinghy to the boat ramp,  lift the liferaft onto the dock,  again, workout dropping it in the water, haul the liferaft across the ramp and then leave Roy with the liferaft on the dock. To put this in perspective, the liferaft is like trying to lug around a body weighing approximately 68Kg / 150Lbs.

 

Well, 5 hours later and after numerous phone calls, there was still no sign of the courier company and we had visions of having to repeat the entire process in reverse to get the liferaft back onto Paw Paw. Thankfully, they eventually arrived late that afternoon and we certainly hoped that this level of service was not indicative of the recertification we were actually going to get and that we would get the liferaft back before our planned departure date from Sydney.

 

While poor Roy sat waiting patiently on the dock for all those hours, Elaine spent her time catching up with family and friends around the world and sorting out our photographs of Vanuatu and New Caledonia. She had definitely gotten behind on all these website activities, but was catching up slowly, but surely! Roy, unfortunately, once again, had the worst end of the stick!

 

Over the past week, the very high winds had continued unabated, resulting in a few nights of interrupted sleep. In fact, the gusts were so strong at times, that it sounded like a train approaching as the wind came through the trees surrounding the mooring field, waking us both out of our sleep just before we felt Paw Paw yanking wildly on the swing mooring pennant. We were in a well protected part of Middle Harbour, so it didn’t bare thinking about what it must have been like in the more exposed anchorages of Sydney Harbour. We also learnt that waves in excess of 5 metres were crashing into the shorelines along the coast, with some reaching much greater heights, apparently unprecedented.

 

To take a break from all of this, we spent the next two days running errands ashore just to get off the yacht and enjoyed a day out in Chatswood as well as have a delicious and very healthy, peri-peri chicken lunch at Nando's restaurant, again, something we haven't had the pleasure of doing since leaving South Africa. It was well worth the wait! Other errands were completed via dinghy on the second day. First stop was the Southern Cross Dive Shop just on the other side of the Spit Bridge, where we received excellent service. In fact, we couldn’t even remember if we'd ever had the experience of our dive tanks being filled while we waited. Roy also managed to purchase a wetsuit hood so he could be better equipped to dive Paw Paw's propellers and saildrives in the freezing water. En route we happened to notice Plonk Café, tucked away at the entrance to the bridge, so we stopped for a morning coffee. This was definitely worth a second visit, given their very unusual breakfast menu.

 

 

From there we obtained dinghy petrol and then continued on to Cammeray marina, where Elaine did the laundry and caught up on emails and Roy took the bus to Mona Vale, where he bought a host of our South African favourites; biltong, droerwors and boerewors. By the time we returned to Paw Paw, the winds had eventually died down and Roy was able to put his new barbecue to the test; corn, garlic bread, boerewors and steak, accompanied by a toss salad and washed down with an Aussie beer. He was definitely one happy man at this point!

 

On Thursday, 18^th January 2018 we took the bus to downtown Sydney, where we enjoyed a mid-morning coffee before taking a second bus to the Sydney Fish Market and what an experience that turned out to be. Although we knew it was the third largest fish market in the world and the largest in the southern hemisphere, it was nothing like we expected. We'd never seen such a variety of fish for sale and definitely didn't expect to find so many restaurants, as well as a bakery and a fresh produce market where we found fresh ginger and turmeric, at last, together with some fresh sweet figs, which Elaine had never tasted before. Add to that the fact that we saw fish we'd never heard of or fish we'd heard of, but had never seen before, coupled with the unbelievable number of Oriental people we've ever seen in one place and ii was a completely fascinating experience. Our heads were spinning by the time we left, but we thoroughly enjoyed the outing, especially since Roy was able to purchase everything he wanted for Elaine's birthday meal at very reasonable prices and we had the opportunity to enjoy a delicious lunch on the waterfront of the market before heading home to Paw Paw.

 

 

 

The following morning, Elaine woke to the start of her birthday celebrations; a Swiss Roll birthday cake and a host of presents, many of which were her favourite South African goodies, some of which she hasn't had in years; Koo guavas, Ouma rusks, Rowntree fruit gums, peppermint crisps, tex bars and a chocolate log, topped off with a selection of Ferrero Rocher chocolates and a beautiful Australian tea towel featuring Aboriginal artwork. Very spoilt!

 

 

 

Then, while Elaine enjoyed a lazy morning and a video call to Brooke and the grandchildren, since Keenan was at work, Roy dived Paw Paw's bottom to clean the keels, saildrives and propellers. Once all that was done, he wasted no time at all in cooking up a storm in the galley for Elaine's birthday meal, or rather, her birthday seafood feast; lobsters, langoustines and prawns, all done on the barbecue, fried crumbed calamari, mussels in a white wine sauce and some seared tuna, accompanied by a toss salad, potato salad and a delicious white wine, a small glass of which was enjoyed by Elaine, given that it was, after all, a special occasion. Writing this article all these years later, though, Elaine’s mouth waters at the idea of having been able to enjoy such a seafood feast; something definitely stricken from the anti-inflammatory diet these days sadly, but hopefully can be reintroduced at some point! A fabulous day was topped off with a phone call from Keenan and having Capri and little William sing "Happy birthday dear Grandma" with such enthusiasm, we were in stitches. Simply priceless and a wonderful surprise!

 

 

 

The next few days involved a number of different and diverse outings, but not before Roy was back in the water for his second dive in order to finish cleaning the port keel and then both the propellers, which were in a right mess with all the marine growth; the worst they have ever been. So much for Propspeed for which we paid a significant amount of money and had a company in New Zealand apply it so that we wouldn't have this problem. So much for that bright idea! Just another marine product that didn't work or it wasn’t applied properly, but either way, there was no recourse.

 

By then it was time for another rendezvous at Echo Point Park, where we were meeting Angie and her mom for a "night on the town" in Dee Why, one of Sydney's northern beach suburbs; dinner at the Wildwater Grill restaurant, followed by ice-creams on the beachfront. A delicious meal, a great Boschendal wine brought all the way from South Africa by Angie's mom, great company and more birthday gifts for Elaine, made for another wonderful evening.

 

The next day we took a trip up the river from Middle Harbour and discovered a whole new world as we dinghied under the Roseville Bridge. In particular, a great picnic area and various hiking trails through the bush, which are part of Davidson's Park on one side and Roseville Chase on the other. The dense Eucalyptus trees and Liquid Ambers along the banks provide a haven for the large numbers of native birds such as Kookaburras, Galahs and Rainbow Lorrikeets. The park was dedicated to Sir Walter Davidson in 1923, Governor of New South Wales from 18^th February 1918 to 4^th September 1923, who began life as a mining quarry. Captain Arthur Phillip's, searching for "good land, well watered", led to the discovery and colonisation of the rough shores of Roseville Chase, where Samuel Bates built a farm at Echo Point on the edge of what is now Middle Harbour. Many people lived in the Sydney bush during the Great Depression and the remains of some of these dwellings can still be found in the bush at Roseville Chase.

 

 

With the days feeling like they were "flying by", we had an early start for another rendezvous with Angie and her mom at Echo Point Park the next day, armed with our contributions to a picnic lunch. This time we had the opportunity to meet Australia's "other" inhabitants, the various indigenous wildlife species at Australia's Reptile Park.

 

The park was established in 1949 by Eric Worrell, who, by 1960 was renowned throughout Australia as a naturalist, with the park becoming the first Australian "zoo" to breed the Taipan snake in 1955 and the first to import foreign snakes, including the King Cobra. In 1973, the park pioneered a milking program for the deadly Funnel-Web spider in order to provide the commonwealth serum laboratories with the precious droplets. The venom is injected into horses, which, surprisingly, are able to withstand it, thereby allowing their blood plasma to be used to produce the serum.

 

Our experience, however, was far less dramatic, but one of the coolest, nonetheless. We got to see spiders, ranging from the Funnel-Web and Red-Back to the Wolf and Huntsman. We got upfront and personal with almost all of Australia’s poisonous snakes, from the deadly Taipan, Tiger, Common Death Adder and Eastern Brown snake, the latter being responsible for more deaths than any other Australian snake.

 

 

 

Crocodiles, dragons and lizards abounded, including the Komodo, the Jacky and the Eastern Bearded dragons, the Blotched Blue-Tongue lizard and the Cunningham's Skink,

 

Native birds, including the Blue Stone Curlew, the White-Browed Woodswallow, the beautiful Major Mitchell Cockatoo, also known as the Pink Cockatoo and our favourites, the Blue-Winged Kookaburra, as well as the Boobook owl, the Tawny Frogmouth owl and the Cassowary, the latter being the only armour-plated bird left in the world and the third largest flightless bird.

 

Besides the Platypus, though, it was the fury creatures that stole the show for us, including the Wombats, Echidnas and Quokkas (more spiky than fury) and, amongst our favourites, the various kangaroos and wallabies, including the Kangaroo Island Kangaroos, the Red Kangaroos and the Eastern Grey Kangaroos, where the latter has a superbly adapted breeding cycle which allows them to have three developing young at the same time, to take advantage of the unpredictable nature of the Australian environment and fluctuating food supply. A female may have a semi-dependent "joey" of 12-18 months, a pouch young of 4-8 months of age and an embryo held in suspended development until the pouch is vacated. Their long, heavy tails are used as a weight to counterbalance the body during hopping and they can reach speeds in excess of 50 kilometres / 30 miles per hour.

 

 

 

The Parma and the vulnerably listed, Yellow-Footed Rock wallabies, were fascinating, where the latter are readily identifiable by their spectacular colours and flamboyant patterning. It was, however, sad to learn about the devastating disease known as the "Devil Facial Tumour Disease" which is eradicating the wild Tasmanian Devils. The disease, not only has no cure, but is highly contagious and the only known cancer to spread as a transmissible disease. Once contracted, a Tasmanian Devil dies within six months in the most horrendous way. The disease was first detected in 1996 and is estimated to have destroyed at least 90% of the original population, with only 25,000 remaining. Programs such as "Devil Ark" have plans to repopulate Tasmania with healthy disease-free Tasmanian Devils once the last of the wild ones are extinct. It was, however, the adorable Koalas that topped our list and we learnt that the apparent stupor and slow movements actually assist them by helping conserve their small amount of energy obtained from their diet of Eucalyptus leaves.

 

 

 

 

Although we didn't see any dingos on this particular day, as they were hiding in there lair due to the heat, a fabulous day, including a picnic lunch fit for a king, was topped off with a visit to The Entrance on the Central Coast, where we had the opportunity to see the beautifully coloured Australian Pelicans being fed.  It was yet another fabulous day out thanks to Angie.

 

 

 

By Tuesday, 23^rd January 2018, however, we were back in yacht maintenance mode and, while far less exciting, it certainly had the usual adrenaline rush associated with Elaine having to hoist Roy up the mast so we could replace our main halyard. After a job well done, we headed to Chatswood to meet Terence for coffee and get some provisioning done, before meeting Angie again, who helped deliver Roy's new mattress and our new solar panel. We also had the opportunity to video call the family in Arizona and, in particular, enjoyed a very entertaining "chat" to William who proceeded to tell us all about being "a big boy now" since he was no longer wearing a nappy / diaper or sucking a dummy / pacifier. We didn't get much out of the twins, though, other than huge smiles as they were too busy eating their dinner. After our own delicious dinner of lamb shanks, complements of Chef Roy, and the last of Elaine's birthday cake for dessert, another busy day came to a close!

 

The following day, while we had planned to stay onboard anyway and get some pending paperwork out of the way, we instead ended up tackling a host of additional yacht tasks that were still on our Cyclone Season Do List and with time drawing to a close in Sydney and a few other attractions we still wanted to enjoy, these needed to be addressed sooner rather than later and included installing our new and final solar panel, customising Roy's new mattress to the shape of the cabin bunk and restitching the mattress cover, completing the plumbing and electrical installation of the new watermaker boost pump and ultraviolet sanitiser, as well as getting through a few cleaning chores. Thank goodness for our electric carving knife, which has never been used since we moved onboard, but it certainly came in handy with the new mattress. By early evening, though, it is fair to say, we were both in desperate need of our sundowners, given yet another very hot, humid day in Sydney, albeit a virgin G&T for Elaine.

 

 

 

We also spent an entire day getting through a host of phone calls to the US, in yet another attempt to get Roy's new iPhone sorted out, as well as preparing all the paperwork that was required for our alternative visas so that Elaine could get her ongoing medical treatment in Australia. Unfortunately this option was pursued on advice received from an immigration officer, but, on hindsight, turned out to be a very costly and bad idea. A story for another article, though!

 

Activities which remained at this point, included installing the new battery watering system, collecting our re-certified liferaft, heading back to Drummoyne for Elaine's specialist appointment, follow-up blood tests and installing a new radar reflector, which had been missing for a few months, unbeknownst to us. We’d heard a "clunk and a splash" one night months previous, but, for the life of us, we were unable to figure out what it actually was, only to discover a few days previous that it was, in fact, our radar reflector. Anyway, while these had to be completed before our departure, we were, for the most part, free to enjoy the rest of the tourists attractions we still wanted to see in Sydney. 

 

Friday, 26^th January 2018 was Australia Day, a day when Australians come together to celebrate their national day, reflecting the nation's diversity and achievements, as well as its past. It is also a part of history for all Australians, since the date marks the landing of the first British fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788. Although a fateful day for the Aboriginal people, the day also commemorates and celebrates the survival of their culture and it was our day to take a breather from all the yacht projects.

 

After a morning of just chillin' aboard, while observing the sights of all the powerboats motoring past us en route to the outer harbour, we saw flags of all sizes, as well as blown up toys, including a huge kangaroo. It was definitely mayhem in Roseville Chase, so we could only imagine what it was like in other parts of the harbour. The petrol companies were definitely smiling all the way to the bank!

 

We decided a bus trip back to Dee Why was a far better alternative to taking the dinghy anywhere and thus got to enjoy a late lunch / early dinner at the Stella Blu restaurant on the seafront, while listening to the live entertainment bands, followed by a walk along the promenade. Before heading back to Paw Paw, with the beaches teaming with people, we decided to find a shady spot under the trees to enjoy an ice-cream and people-watch.

 

 

 

More great outings continued, including another one thanks to Angie again, who collected us at the usual rendezvous to enjoy a lovely scenic drive to Mona Vale, where we met Melina and Laurence, friends of Angie’s and whom we’d first met in South Africa, for a very tasty lunch at the Bronze Kiosk, followed by a walk on the beach.

 

Our own explorations to enjoy some additional tourist delights offered by the city took us back to downtown Sydney after a bus and train ride. Following a morning coffee at the St James Metro café and a walk through Hyde Park, we visited St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, one of Australia’s most beautiful and significant buildings, as well as Australia’s largest Cathedral.

 

 

 

After the first Cathedral was destroyed by a fire in 1865, architect William Wardell was commissioned by Archbishop John Polding to design a new St Mary’s Cathedral. According to Archbishop Polding to Wardell in a letter dated 10^th October, 1865: “Any plan, any style, anything that is beautiful and grand. I leave all to you and your own inspiration” and he certainly hit the mark. Besides St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, it is one of the most magnificent Cathedrals we have seen, particularly the main alter and the stain glass windows. While the style is considered "English-Style Gothic", it is constructed of honey-coloured Sydney sandstone and Wardell used Australian native flora throughout as a decorative element to ground the Cathedral in its local setting.

 

 

 

It took close to 100 years to finally complete St Mary's, with the first stage constructed between 1866 and 1900 and stage two between 1912 and 1928. However, the original Wardell design was only finally completed in June 2000 when the metal frames of the imposing Southern Spires were lowered into place by helicopter and then sheathed in sandstone.

 

 

 

According to a former Archbishop of Sydney, this beautiful Cathedral is considered to be a historic building, an architectural wonder and a monument to the role which christianity has played in Australian life from the first days of the Europeans. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Immaculate Mother of God, Help of Christians. In 2010, blessed Mary MacKillop was canonised in Rome and given the title of St Mary of the Cross, thus becoming Australia’s first Saint, following which the statue of St Mary of the Cross was unveiled at the Hyde Park entrance to the Cathedral. The Cathedral celebrated its sesquicentenary that year, 150 years since the laying of the foundation stone of the new Cathedral by Archbishop Polding.

 

From there we walked to the Royal Botanic Garden and visited the Green Wall / Pollination exhibition which was most unusual. The Royal Botanic Garden, is situated immediately southeast of the Sydney Opera House and curves around the Farm Cove anchorage, occupying 30 hectares / 74 acres. The first farm, established in 1788 by Governor Phillip and farmed by the first European settlers to arrive on the Australian continent was at Farm Cove. Although that farm failed, the land has been in constant cultivation since that time, as ways were found to make the relatively infertile soils more productive. The Royal Botanic Garden was founded on this site by Governor Macquarie in 1816. Australia's long history of collection and study of plants began with the appointment of the first Colonial Botanist, Charles Fraser, in 1817, making the garden the oldest scientific institution in Australia and one of the most important historic botanical institutions in the world.

 

 

From 1848 to 1906, Charles Moore, a Scotsman who had trained in the Botanic Gardens of Trinity College in Dublin, remained director for 48 years and did much to develop the Royal Botanic Garden. He boldly tackled the problems of poor soil, inadequate water and shortage of funds to develop much of what is seen today. The Palm Grove at the heart of the garden is a reminder of his skill and foresight, as this is the reclaimed land behind the Farm Cove seawall which significantly expanded the area. Towards the end of his time as director, Moore, together with Ernst Betche, published the Handbook of the Flora of New South Wales, further establishing the Royal Botanic Garden as a centre for the science of botany.

 

 

Before leaving the garden, we had the opportunity to wander through the Rose Garden and see the Garden Palace. This building is an outstanding example of Victorian architectural exuberance, with towers and turrets deployed around a giant dome 30 metres / 100 feet in diameter, surmounted by a lantern 61 metres / 200 feet above the ground. This building was also destroyed by a fire in 1882 and the land added to the Royal Botanic Garden following its reconstruction.

 

  

 

 

Another short train ride took us to our last stop off the day, the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), where we enjoyed lunch at the Parisi Café. It is a late nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival building, designed by the architect George McRae and constructed between 1893 and 1898, replacing the original Sydney Market and was named to honour the monarch's Diamond Jubilee.

 

 

 

When it first opened, the QVB housed a concert hall, coffee shops, showrooms, warehouses and a wide variety of tradespeople. Over many decades, the concert hall became the city library, offices proliferated and many tenants moved in. Remodelling occurred during the 1930s to accommodate the Sydney City Council, then from 1959 to 1971, the QVB faced near-demolition. However, a massive restoration project was given the green light in 1982 and the fully restored QVB reopened her doors to Sydneysiders and visitors alike in 1986. A major refurbishment in 2009 restored her even further. Today the QVB stands in all her glory, testimony to the original vision for the building and the superb craftsmanship of the artisans who put it all back together again.

 

It was a wonderful day filled with history and wonder!

 

On Monday, 29^th January 2018, although it was laundry day again and Roy found the time to replace the yoker value on his head (aka toilet), we had a wonderful morning over a coffee at the Plonk Beach Café, catching up with Anne and Stuart off Time Bandit, who had recently returned from their trip home to Scotland.  The time seemed to fly by in a flash,  but it was,  nonetheless, lovely to see them again.

 

The next day we went "back to work” again.  Well, at least for the early morning commute in rush hour traffic into downtown Sydney and from there to Drummoyne for Elaine to have the first of her "monitoring" blood tests done, followed by a morning coffee at one of our favourite cafés, Jean Louis Joseph, before heading back to downtown to visit the Chinese Garden of Friendship. We did get a lovely surprise though, when the laboratories informed us that they had decided to only charge us $30.80AUD instead of the regular charge of $180AUD for the blood tests, since we were repeat customers and this was going to be an ongoing occurrence. We simply could not imagine a medical company of any description in the US or, for that matter, New Zealand doing something like this! Amazing and very much appreciated! Thank you Laverty Pathology.

 

A delicious lunch at the Naked Duck in the Darling Quarter preceded our visit to the Chinese Garden of Friendship, which was a very educational, as well as a relaxing affair as we explored the mystery and magic of the garden. Our explorations took in the sights of the Black Bamboo Forest, a symbol of age and humility, the Himalayan cedar trees, cascading waterfalls, traditional carvings, hidden sculptures and the graceful weeping willows that surrounded the Lake of Brightness with its sacred lotus flowers. The Rock Forest told the story of "Ashima, the Dancing Maiden and the Landlord", a tragic, yet beautiful tale of how the landlord tried to thwart her romance with "Ali". The jewel of the garden, The Gurr, also known as The Clear View Pavilion, sits at the highest point, beautifully decorated with a lavish gold roof, intricate woodcarvings and an ornate lantern symbolising prosperity.

 

 

 

 

 

The garden was opened in 1988 and is a unique symbol of the friendship between the people of the southern Chinese city of Guangdong and Sydney, two sister cities of sister states. The Dragon Wall features two imperial dragons playing with the Pearl of Friendship beneath mirrors reflecting their movements flying in the clouds above, where the flying dragons symbolise majesty and perfection in the Chinese culture.

 

 

It is also a place where "Yin meets Yang", the Taoist principle incorporating the five apposing elements of earth, fire, water, metal and wood. When perfectly balanced they are thought to form a fluid, nurturing environment. Examples of this were found in the garden where rocks appear to defy gravity and in the contrast of the rushing waters of the waterfalls against the still water of the Lake of Brightness. The garden also incorporated the Chinese philosophical system of "Feng Shui", where "Qi", meaning "Life Force" or "Energy Path" is encouraged to flow. Everything from the plants and trees to the sculptures, rocks and pavilions were meticulously chosen to capture the "Qi" of the five elements and the universal forces that bind them together. Unbeknownst to us at the time, these concepts were to become far more relevant as our adventures continued through SE Asia.

 

 

While we meandered through the garden and then took the time to contemplate life sitting in the shade of one of the pavilions, before enjoying Chinese tea at the traditional teahouse, the peacefulness and tranquillity we experienced was definitely evident. We also stumbled across a beautiful sculpture depicting the creatures that represents each year within the Chinese calendar. Further research revealed that, while Roy thought his luck in 2018 for work, love, wealth and health weren't that great, Elaine's fortune appeared to be even worse, with one star out of five for each. Guess the year started out the way it intends to proceed, but unfortunately continued through 2019 as well! On our return to Paw Paw, though, we ended up spending quite a considerable amount of time chatting to folks on Echo Point Park beach, who always seem fascinated by our lifestyle and the adventures we'd enjoyed thus far, regardless of any Chinese fortune predictions. When we eventually did get back to Paw Paw, it was dinner time and early to bed.

 

 

 

Wednesday, 31^st January 2018, with the arrival of rainy, windy weather again, we spent our time onboard fending off the heavy wooden boat on the mooring next to us again. Shortening their mooring line had not resolved the problem as we had originally thought. So, instead of a stern anchor, we tied a line to the emergency police swing mooring to our aft in order to hold us off. It worked, thankfully, but it didn’t help that we had to take delivery of our re-certified liferaft in the midst of all of this, although with far less hassle than our first encounter with this company.  They had redeemed themselves!

 

The following day, however, although we had planned on a lazy morning onboard then going into Chatswood, unfortunately, our issue in having to fend off the heavy wooden boat on the mooring next to us returned the minute we removed our stern line to the police mooring, having realised that our mooring had in fact dragged in the strong winds overnight. After a call to Cammeray marina and no suitable alternative available to us, we had no option but to come off the swing mooring and head to Bantry Bay, where we picked up a public mooring in the hope that we weren’t kicked off it by the Road and Marine Police before our departure from Sydney.

 

Once we were settled and, although it was another cold, rainy and windy day, Roy undertook a reconnaissance ashore to see what facilities were available and if there was any access to a suitable bus route. Unfortunately, he found nothing of use to a full-time cruiser,  but he did see a rather large wild Kangaroo hopping around the nature reserve, while going "walkabout".

 

With the weather remaining miserable going into the weekend, we decided to go ashore regardless, dinghying all the way back to the little beach at Echo Point Park to meet Terence for a coffee in Chatswood. That also allowed Elaine to get her hair cut and buy some new light weight walking shoes, as well as get some printing done for our revised visas and visit a very popular and well stocked naturopathic / homeopathic store, after research Roy had undertaken on various natural supplements to help boost Elaine's body in conjunction with the medical treatment she was receiving. Add to that some ancient Chinese medicine and you would be correct in saying that we were "in for a penny, in for a pound", with nothing to loose. Being the first Friday of the month there was also a market, where we were able to buy biltong and droerwors, as well as enjoy an interesting Turkish Gozleme for lunch.

 

 

On Saturday, 3^rd February 2018, we had to head back to Chatswood to make use of the free Justice of the Peace services at the Chatswood Library to get all our documentation notarised. On our way home Angie collected us from the bus stop and we enjoyed a light lunch at the Echo by the Marina restaurant. Getting Angie's mom, accompanied by Angie and Elaine, however, to the restaurant from the road in an oversized "chair lift" was an interesting experience to say the least. Fortunately Elaine didn't have to go back up to the road, since our dinghy was on the beach just in front of the restaurant. A chat to Keenan and enjoying Roy's famous homemade soup for dinner, on yet another rainy, windy day, helped warm the cockles of our hearts.

 

 

Sunday brought more rain, so Roy took advantage of all the fresh water and washed the deck as well as give both engines a freshwater rinse, while Elaine collected rainwater to wash the cockpit and helm station areas. Before that could be done, though, all our fenders and stem anchor rode had to be stowed again, since we no longer had any boats bumping into us.

 

We both nearly got a good soaking of a different kind, however, after we were almost tipped out of our dinghy by a number of power boaters, the majority of whom were completely clueless and had total disregard for anyone on the water but themselves. This was not the first time this had happened and we'd spent many a day watching the same thing happen to various canoeists and rowers alike. This was to become our greatest complaint about sailing in Australia. We had originally thought this behaviour was limited to the Sydney area, but later discovered it was rampant throughout the majority of waterways in Australia, until we started to head much further north along the Queensland Coast. 

 

Nonetheless, Elaine enjoyed a splendid afternoon and an absolutely delicious meal celebrating Angie's birthday with her, her mom and a lovely group of friends at the Ofous Moroccan restaurant at The Spit, while Roy enjoyed drinks with Terence at the North Club in Crows Nest, after which we both enjoyed a late afternoon coffee at Chiosco by Ormeggio, before heading back to Paw Paw.

 

 

 

On Monday, 5^th February 2018, after our cleaning activities were completed, we eventually uploaded our photographs from Vanuatu and New Caledonia to our website Gallery. It took a little longer than expected as we decided to automate the process, as cataloguing all our photographs was becoming a full-time job for Elaine, never mind trying to find the time to write the daily blog and the website articles. However, with a return to beautiful blue skies and warm, sunny weather, we enjoyed another barbecue aboard that evening and caught up with the family in Arizona while they enjoyed Superbowl Sunday with friends.

 

The following day, after taking a bus to downtown Sydney and a short walk, we enjoyed the last of our sightseeing outings in Sydney, the Australian Maritime Museum, following which we returned to Maduza Greek Meze for a light lunch, having had a morning coffee there earlier. On our train ride home we stopped in at Chatswood for a few bits and bobs, then, once back on Paw Paw, commenced the planning and preparation for the last of the activities required prior to our departure from Sydney, including a "big shop" to get all our provisioning to restock the "ship's stores”.

 

This all resulted in a very long day after waking up at 0330 to speak to Keenan, who was assisting us with some of our original documents which were in our safety deposit box in Arizona, but were required for our revised visa applications. Of course, nothing is ever simple and we learnt that Arizona law prevents anyone getting copies of original documents certified or notarised, which left us with no other option, but to get the originals Fedex'd to us in order to have them copied and certified in Australia instead. It never ceases to amaze us how the simplest things in the US turn into a cluster. Like expecting a telephone to be present in a conference room to allow us to call and assist our legal representative during the closing of escrow on our properties or being able to do a wire transfer in order to obtain the proceeds from the sale of our properties, which we then discovered was fraught with fraud and, therefore, had to use a different process. The examples were endless and only served the purpose of creating unnecessary irritations.

 

Fortunately, our experience at the museum was far more rewarding and enlightening. While we learnt a number of interesting historical facts, we also received a much better insight into the Aboriginal culture, particularly of the clans or tribes who inhabit the northeastern tropical monsoon region of the Northern Territory called Arnhem Land, so named in 1803 by Matthew Flinders, after the Dutch ship, Arnhem, which carried explorers around the coast in 1623, but is referred to as Gapu-Monuk Saltwater Country by the indigenous people.

 

 

 

The Jolnu, one such clan, have the oldest culture on earth going back more than 60,000 years and they maintain their land and sea "estates" under a complex kinship system which governs all aspects of Yolnu life, including responsibilities for ceremony and marriage. Aboriginal Sacred Art and Designs in traditional bark paintings, as well as in songs, rituals and storytelling are used to pass kinship relations and hereditary estates from one generation to another.

 

"Yolnu Matha" translated "People Language" is the main language spoken and is the general term for more than 100 languages and dialects spoken by the clans of East Arnhem Land. The language is written using special characters to symbolise certain sounds and Arnhem Land comprises a number of areas, of which Lutumba, Yathikpa and Bayapula are a few, each with their own significance in the Aboriginal culture.

 

Lutumba is a restricted area, but is a powerful place for the Djapu clan, with flooding rivers and huge tides. The waters are protected by the spirit and energy of "Mana", the ancestral Shark. It is the traditional place for funeral ceremonies to ensure the souls of the dead return to their ancestral past. It was interesting to learn that the word “Mana”, although translated differently, was also used in Fiji to describe their spiritual belief system.

 

Yathikpa is the first place where the Yolnu received fire. It is also the place of the ancestral Crocodile, Banu, located on the sacred site called Garranali, where Banu started the first fire and burnt the country next to the sea. He then took the fire down the coast and entered the saltwater with it.

 

Bayapula is where the Gumati clan have several homeland areas, including the coastal outstation on Caledon Bay, called Biranybirany. The bay has an abundance of stingrays, dugongs and turtles.

 

We also learnt that the first Englishman to set foot in Australia, a century before English settlement and years before Captain James Cook, was the colourful buccaneer, privateer, navigator and map-maker, William Dampier, who reached New Holland (Australia) in 1688 and among the many artefacts at the museum, we also got to see the waterproof camera housing and box that was used to film the live shark footage in the movie, Jaws. Visiting the museum was something Roy had wanted to do since our arrival in Sydney and was definitely a worthwhile outing.

 

 

On Thursday, 8^th February 2018, an early morning phone call from Keenan woke Elaine out of a lovely deep sleep, when, in fact, he actually needed to speak to Roy. So much for the only morning that week where we were supposed to have a sleep-in. With that, we decided to get up and get on with the day's planned activities; dinghy to The Spit to get both dive tanks filled then to Cammeray marina to do the laundry, before returning to Paw Paw ahead of the strong winds which were expected that afternoon. We did, however, gleam a nugget of local knowledge that probably would have been more beneficial when we first arrived in Sydney. 

 

In chatting to one of the chaps who works at Cammeray marina, we discovered that as recent as September last year, a couple of bull sharks were seen lazily swimming around the rocks near Castle Rock in Middle Harbour, scaring a number of bathers, who just left the water in time to escape the notoriety of being the first victim of the season. Also, the six most recent fatal shark attacks in Sydney Harbour took place in Middle Harbour; two in Bantry Bay where we were occupying a mooring and where our floating neighbours were swimming every evening and one at Roseville Bridge where Roy had dived Paw Paw's bottom to clean it and where we both enjoyed a delightful swim on one of the hottest days in Sydney since 1939, when temperatures had soared to 47.3C. Further research revealed that Sydney Harbour is ranked third in the nation as a hotspot for the total number of shark attacks. Uummm, we probably should have investigated all of this before we took to the water.

 

On another topic entirely, a review of the forecast weather for the next week indicated numerous cyclonic systems in the South West Pacific which was looking likely to delay our departure to Pittwater and Lake Macquarie; we were just going to have to enjoy some more sightseeing, so there really wasn’t a downside at this point!

 

Friday, 9^th February 2018 was a big day for us, though, given that Elaine had her first consultation with a specialist regarding her diagnosis and, under the circumstances, we had the most positive outcome we could have had, albeit a mixed bag. The good news was that initially Elaine was comfortable with the doctor, since his thinking was in line with hers and he saw no reason as to why we couldn’t continue with our cruising plans for the foreseeable future, albeit that he acknowledged Elaine was the most unusual patient he'd had, given that our "home" was on a yacht, but that he was willing to work with the logistics involved for her follow-up care. As a result, we left believing life could go on! The logistics, however, actually became a nightmare and unfortunately, but more importantly, the specialist’s initial optimism at being able to manage Elaine’s conditions were totally underestimated, not realising just how aggressive her conditions actually were. This oversight set the stage for the rest of our stay in Australia, to the point that we wasted a year by staying, but it also had huge ramifications on Elaine’s overall health and well-being, putting her on course for a three year battle to ween off corticosteroids; a battle which, even after being under the care of two excellent specialist since leaving Australia, one in Singapore and one in Malaysia, the latter as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent border closures, has still not been won and looks exceedingly unlikely that this will ever occur based on recent discoveries. It also set the stage for a disaster in Indonesia, which came close to halting our vagabond lifestyle altogether. Of course, at the time, we were clueless and Elaine basically ended up a guinea pig, which, has to be noted, is not unusual for anyone with her diagnosis; it’s all trial and error, it’s all about the numbers and it’s all about how one’s body reacts to the various cocktails thrown at it!

 

Setting all this aside and full of optimism, however, Saturday morning began with a bus ride into Chatswood to get some printing done at the library, following which we met Terence for a coffee and some baked delights at Pattinson's Patisserie. That evening we had a lovely surprise visit when our "ex-floating" neighbours on the large wooden boat popped over to Bantry Bay to see us. A fun night ensued which went on far longer than everyone had planned,  but it was, nonetheless, very thoughtful of them to make the effort to come over and say goodbye before we left Sydney.

 

On Sunday morning we were up early to move Paw Paw while we still had the high tide to access the anchorage in Roseville Chase. The strong southerly winds arrived soon thereafter, so we were pleased to be tucked away nicely. Bantry Bay was definitely not tenable in these conditions! This move also allowed Elaine to head ashore, leaving Roy on anchor watch, while she enjoyed a ladies luncheon at the Polish Club with Angie, her mom and a friend of Angie's. The journey to the southwestern side of Sydney was definitely worth the effort as we all shared a number of unusual,  but very tasty traditional Polish dishes.

 

 

On Monday, after Roy took an early morning exercise walk to get one of our propane tanks filled,  Elaine enjoyed a sleep-in, following which we decided to take a bus ride in a direction we had not gone before. This time through Forestville and Allambie Heights to the Westfield Warringah Mall. It was a fun day out, as well as a rather productive one in that we, not only enjoyed a delicious lobster lunch, but Roy found a suitable collection of new shoes / sandals and we were able to replace all our "glassware" and "crockery" on Paw Paw. In between all of this gallivanting we also found the time to catch up with family and friends around the world, which is always a little challenging, given all the timezones we have to consider.

 

By now, however, we were into the final countdown for our departure northward along the New South Wales coast, a tad delayed by a follow-up specialist appointment and a tropical cyclone, Gita.

 

Roy started his morning of Tuesday, 13^th February 2018, the same way he started the day before; taking an early morning exercise walk to refill one more propane bottle, following which we spent the rest of the day onboard getting through a number of different tasks, from cleaning activities like polishing Paw Paw's stainless steel and removing mysterious marks from the helm seat to jury rigging the starboard saildrive to prevent it from sucking in droplets of saltwater, as well as fixing one of the dinghy oars which just disintegrated at the joint of the shaft to the paddle. Elaine also busied herself with various phone calls, finalising the remaining paperwork for our revised visas and doing some sewing.

 

On Wednesday, 14^th February 2018, it was back to Chatswood to get the last of the visa documentation notarised, to sort out Elaine's prescriptions and purchase a few more naturopathic supplements to help mitigate the various side effects of her medications. Oh the joys of modem medicine! We also enjoyed another morning coffee at Pattinson’s Patisserie before heading home.

 

However, it was the weather that had kept our attention over the previous few days as tropical cyclone, Gita, destroyed parts of Tonga and Fiji and was heading for New Caledonia, following which it was forecast to hit New Zealand early the following week. It didn’t help matters that Sydney went red for Valentine's Day as gale force winds slammed the area, with speeds of 35-45 Kts, gusting 50 Kts. Fortunately we were nicely tucked away and definitely more protected, but we had barely finished our Valentine's dinner when the storm hit. Not quite the Valentine's Day gift we wanted, but hoped everyone else’s Valentine's Day was a little less blustery!

 

The following day was another early start to head to the specialist in Drummoyne, where we picked up the last of the documentation required for the revised visas. Although we lingered over a morning coffee at the Bowan Island Bakery, we decided to head straight back to Chatswood rather than stop in downtown Sydney for lunch. That afforded us the time to get the visa applications posted at last, as well as for Elaine to swap / return some of her supplements, given that she's spent the past few days researching everything in greater detail and had a better idea of what she actually needed to help mitigate the side effects of her medications, as well as help boast her overall health. The next task was managing all the tablets, varying doses, different intervals, repeat prescriptions and follow-up appointments, but at least a good "old fashioned" weekly "pill box" helped resolve the storage and daily consumption matter. Elaine had definitely turned into her parents!

 

On a lighter note, as our time in Sydney drew to a close, there were so many great memories and experiences that we would be taking with us and Friday, 16^th February 2018 was no exception. In particular, we hadn't had the pleasure since leaving Bonaire to enjoy such a wide variety of food from different countries in one place. Besides Australian cuisine, we'd had Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Philippino, Turkish, South African, Moroccan, Portuguese, French and, on this particular day, German, as we headed back to The Rocks to enjoy the Chinese New Year celebrations and a delicious lunch at Munich Brauhaus. We had originally thought we'd just have a morning coffee followed by a movie in Chatswood, but the alternative was much more fun. Happy Chinese New Year!

 

 

 

Of course, the day started on the best note possible when we received photographs from Brooke of the twins reading a book together. Just the cutest, but it was becoming a real problem that we had absolutely no idea who was who! They were just so alike! Regardless, our day ended the way it had started; this time with a chat to Keenan, but an extraordinary day awaited us on Saturday, 17^th February 2018.

 

Although we've had a number of surreal experiences since starting our sailing adventure and since our arrival in Sydney, this day was probably the one that topped the list, but the story started about 45 years ago, when Roy first met the Barends family. During the years that followed he also met his friend, Rodney, who subsequently married the eldest Barends daughter, Susan, and together they had a little girl called Bronwyn.

 

Then 37 years ago, almost to the day, we had our very first date and it was during the late afternoon of that day when Roy introduced Elaine to the various members of the Barends family, the encounter of which remains firmly imprinted in her memory. From walking up the concrete pathway to meet everyone sitting on the front steps of their home, to Ol' Man Barends' first words to her: " So, you're the young lady who has stolen Roy's heart", to the beautiful toddler, Bronwyn, running around the garden. Sadly it was also the day of Rodney's funeral, who had been killed the week prior, in a tragic mining accident.

 

On that Saturday morning we were reunited with that toddler, now a beautiful woman with a family of her own, living not too far from where Paw Paw was anchored and whom her father would be very proud of. Understandable, it was a very emotional reunion for everyone and wonderful to see her again, as well as to catch up with all the news of the family and for her to hear stories of her father from his closest friend, Roy. We had Terence to thank for making the arrangements and for giving us a truly special day in Sydney! 

 

 

 

The following day we were back to the grindstone; Paw Paw's cockpit and aft deck area was in desperate need of a wash, after all the pollution that had landed on her during the strong winds. It was also a good idea to get her somewhat presentable, since Angie joined us onboard for a lunchtime barbecue. The afternoon flew by and before we knew it,  it was time to say our farewells, realising that we'd spent so many years communicating about our sail to Sydney, but  in the blink of an eye, the time had arrived when we were getting ready to leave. While goodbyes are never easy, this time, fortunately, it was more a case of "au revoir", "goodbye until we meet again", as we were still going to be in Australia for some time to come and had hoped to see Angie again. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but regular phone calls throughout our stay helped keep us in contact. 

 

Monday, 19^th February 2018 was a day of getting everything aligned before we were able to leave the calm and tranquil anchorage of Roseville Chase, which had been our home for the past two months, in order to start our journey northwards. It became an exercise in trying to align the planets; winds out of the south, but not too strong, reasonable sea state, a high tide occurring during the day to allow us to cross the bar at the exit to our anchorage, have a bridge opening that coincides with our departure, enough water to get over The Spit and an anchorage in the outer harbour that would provide protection from the southerly winds for an overnight stopover, all of which had eluded us for the previous week or more, mainly because of tropical cyclone, Gita.

 

So, at 1220 the next day we exited the anchorage on the high tide. Then, after tying up to one of the courtesy mooring balls for about 20 minutes,  we left Middle Harbour via the 1315 opening of the Spit Bridge. Fortunately there was still depth to cross over The Spit, but when we finally  reached our chosen anchorage for the night, we were hailed by an Australian Warship telling us they were in the middle of military manoeuvres and that we were to avoid anchoring near them. That was a good enough reason for us to change our plan and head to Watsons Bay instead, where we spent the night. “3 out of 4 ain't bad!”

 

Unfortunately all of this took place after a very blustery night that had continued unabated all day. Add the wakes from all the ferries and we were rockin' and rollin' all afternoon and evening, while our thoughts were with friends in New Zealand as Gita slammed into the country, causing a state of emergency in various parts. We, however, were counting our blessing regardless as we enjoyed the fabulous view of the city and reminisced on our absolutely fantastic stay in Sydney. Thankfully the conditions we were experiencing settled down in the early hours of the morning and allowed us to get some sleep. 

 

So, on Wednesday, 21^st February 2018, it was the wake of the first ferry that spurred us on to get up and leave. As we sailed out of Port Jackson through the Heads, it was hard to believe that two short months ago we had sailed in, not knowing about the great adventure that awaited us or the events that certainly changed our world with regard to Elaine's health. The good news was that, while Elaine arrived in Sydney having endured almost a year of pain and struggling to walk, she left pain-free. Also, although there were a number of tourist attractions we had decided to forego, primarily due to the cost associated with them, we felt that we had definitely seen far more of Sydney and the surrounding area than we had ever envisaged possible. Our thanks to our friends, old and new, for making our visit to Sydney a truly memorable one. Thanks to Terence for all the coffee mornings, including the wonderful time with Bronwyn, being our taxi driver and ringing in the new year with us. A special thank you to Angie for being our tour guide,  chauffeur,  mail service,  delivery service and general all purpose helper. You made life so much easier for us and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with you, your mom, the "boys" and your great group of friends. Like all our sailing destinations, it’s always the people we meet along the way who add a richness to our experience and help create the fabulous memories and, in this instance, everyone we spent time with made our stay in Sydney very special indeed!