Sunset Silhuettes in Sydney

Looking across the water from our moorings, the city of  Sydney switches pace. Few office workers will be home yet as this is a view that emerges before 5:15 pm in the month of May. It's not hard to understand why there is such enthusiasm for daylight saving when it's dark so early!

We are feeling like a pair of pensioners. We always tend to eat once it's dark and that can be quite late in the summer. These days we've eaten, washed up and are tapping our fingers for over an hour waiting for the news to come on!

We're pretty lucky to have views like these.

Centre Point Tower is still the tallest on the skyline but only just!

The Sydney Vivid Festival is on.

 A number of buildings are visibly illuminated.

Most of the show is on the Western side and for us, out of view.

The Morning Paper

It's easy to feel that you are far away from everything in Bantry Bay even though we know full well we are within the Middle Harbour of Sydney Harbour and in a city of 6 million people.

 We are actually in the Garigal National Park.

 This jetty begged to be visited.

 

 We should have brought sticks. It really was steep.

The only boat in the bay on the first night.

 In the cleft there are glimpses of the high rise buildings in North Sydney

Just not that far away!

Old arsenals line the opposite bank. Some buildings have been partially restored.

By Saturday morning, the bay and the other moorings were filling up.
 

 

But wait..... there is something interesting happening.

Coffee and paper delivery - definitely only possible in a big city!

The Question of Going Ashore

It's not something that one thinks of much but if you want to go ashore, how is it best to achieve that exactly?  In many instances we've anchored and taken the dinghy ashore, or picked up a mooring and taken a dinghy ashore or tied up to a jetty or gone into a marina. Being invited ashore for a meal presents it's own problems. We are conditioned to always say YES but how do we re-join the normal world, even if a dinghy ride is possible. What to do with the dinghy? All one might have achieved is to replace a big boat problem with a smaller boat problem. It all comes down to 'parking'.

Our dinner invitation to Milsons Point to visit Peter and Ronnie presented us with exactly this type of dilemma. Where to park Zofia, where to leave the dinghy etc... We resolved this by taking a spot on the collector jetty at the RSYS which is right next to Kirrabilli House and within walking distance of Peter and Ronnie's. A perfect solution as it turned out because we could also collect Peter from the same jetty in the morning so he could come out onto the harbour for the day. 

The plan got even better because we made a complete crew swap for the day. As Peter stepped aboard I stepped off. This was a win, win, win. The Bloke and Peter would be able to reminisce and exchange goalkeeping war stories, Peter would escape the office and pilot The Bloke around these stomping grounds and I could go ashore and have some time with the daughter of a childhood bestie who happened to also be in Sydney. All the planets were aligning.

Although my Plan A was to catch a ferry or the train across to the City Centre, the sight of the Harbour Bridge and it being a fine day made it irresistible.  Days don't get better that this to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Bloke was not with me to try to talk me out of it. Yesssssss...!

 The caged pedestrian path which is supervised by, mostly bearded, men in hi-viz kit.

Once off the bridge I was able to walk through and past plenty of other interesting spots including the Sydney Observatory where I was able to personally observe the fitness instructors busy bullying office workers to 'lift those knees and pump those arms...". I'm quite certain they all wanted to be seen. So I gave them a proper looking at as I marched past.

 Inside the Victoria Building where I was to meet Skye.

I last saw Skye when she was a child. As she's now in her 30's, there was some terrain to cover so some robust German cuisine was enlisted as well as a couple of glasses of wine. We resisted the beer steins and ignored the waiters in Lederhosen.

The day was crowned with two glowing Blokes, who had clearly had a stellar day discussing, boating, golfing and hockey goalkeeping, plus a fabulous roast prepared by Ronnie. We retired to a safe jetty in the heart of Sydney and pinching ourselves to make sure this was all real. A truly top day!

Two Heads are Better Than One.

Conversations surrounding the ideal accommodation layout on a boat often centre around spaces that you do or don't have. We are a two by two with a keel. That is, two cabins and 2 bathrooms with heads. Heads being the nautical term for a loo. Seeing as ropes are called sheets and other ropes are called warps, there is no end to the crazy terms on board. But I digress. We have two loos that are each in their own bathroom.

We often contemplate if it would have been better to have a single larger bathroom so that the shower could be separated or screened from the rest of the workings. The spaces I'm talking about are about the size of a loo on an airplane. Yup, just that small and compacto!

We had made a couple of observations over the previous month that seemed to have no explanation or connection. Our normally dry bilge had a trace of water in it when the boat was surveyed in Hobart. The taste test confirmed it was fresh rather than salt water. At least we weren't sinking. We parked that thought - Note to self: pay attention and investigate some time later. More recently, I'd noticed that the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom (that we normally use for showering) was damp. In fact, an under-sink basket of bits and pieces had become sodden too.  The Bloke was unaware of this as this is not a compartment he visits. I'd assumed that the door hadn't been closed properly allowing The Bloke's shower water to get it. Naughty, naughty! It happened again with a new roll of paper. Mmmmm. Time to say something, this is no ordinary roll. It's a triple roll and now all damp too.

Claiming innocence to guilt The Bloke said that the shower sump pump had been making a weird sound and the presence of soapy water in the bilge sump supported the observation that something was indeed amiss. Contorting himself into the cupboard below the sink in a room the size of an airplane loo commenced earnest investigations to reveal that, yet again, a repair would need to occur in an impossible space.  A replacement part was ordered and the various tool boxes opened up for implements. The mechanical tool box, the electrical tool box and the f@%k box was also on standby.  A replacement collar needs to be fitted inside a cupboard and around a corner.

What all the fuss was about.

  The problem with big heads is.....they don't fit into cupboards.

The supplier cheerily informed us that "Oh yes, we sell quite a lot of these". On the strength of that we've ordered a 2nd.  The identical part, in the other bathroom/heads can break whenever it likes. We are ready!

Although a bigger bathroom might have been nice, having 2 heads is better than one. At least we can shower in the other bathroom/heads while we get this one sorted out!

Sydney Harbour Icons and a Rendezvous with Easy Tiger

Easy Tiger have been prowling around Sydney Harbour, with and without visitors for a couple of weeks and we'd not seen Steve and Leanne since we departed Lakes Entrance together. We arrived in Sydney in time to celebrate Steve's birthday and we met up at the Toronga Park moorings for lunch.

 There comes Easy Tiger!

Picking up one of the 5 pink courtesy moorings.

Daughter Bree and Sister-in-law Sue were present for the celebrations too.

We had a great lunch together before deciding it was much too rolly to stay because of all the ferry wash, so we all decamped to an anchorage on the other side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, called Balls Head Bay. Goody, we thought, time to tick some more boxes on the way.

 

The Sydney Opera House.

 Fort Denison Island.

Admiralty House

   

Views of and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

  

Luna Park

Our Sydney Harbour Cruise

Arriving into Sydney Harbour on a week-end was a very busy affair, luckily most of the sailing boats were just getting ready so we didn't need to punch our way through a busy race fleet. That said, it was just as well that we had Martin with us to assist with selecting a path through the chaos of yachts, ferries, power boats, kayaks etc...

 

 

 

Somehow everyone manages, even if there are a few close calls.

A sandy beach at Watsons Bay

The Wedding Cake.

One of a pair of channel markers.

 Oooh, oooh, oooh..... there is that iconic coathanger!

 HMAS Sydney memorial.

 We picked up a public mooring near Toronga Park Zoo. What about THIS view!

The Bloke was sent ashore to collect Carolyn.

 Time to celebrate says Martin.

And we had to agree.