From Australia

Greetings from near Sydney. We put away the water hose a week ago today (reluctantly) and nudged out of the slip at Newport Marina. After an uneventful crossing of a 60 mile area with lots of shoals called the Broadwater sound, we dropped the hook at sunset in the marine stadium in Southport, the main city along the Gold Coast. This coast is a glitzy part of Queensland and not our favorite. It was originally nicknamed gold for the money people had to have to live there but it also enjoys incredible sunny but HOT weather and we think we added to our gold skin tone in the short time we were there. We anchored off of Sea World and I drooled over the roller coaster but it wasn't that big actually, not worth an admission. We do see plenty of whales & dolphin beside the boat.... Instead, we took a baking hot walk on the beach & park and then went into a big mall to cool off. Not exactly a stellar day but a good rest up for a fast passage. Aussie malls are different than the US. All of the ones we've been to have anchor stores of K-Mart and then one or two large grocery stores. On the strip, there will always be a meat shop and a produce stand or two. You truly can get it done in one go. Not having embraced Aussie clothing yet, we walked out of there with a bunch of scallions and a bottle of turpentine (they had a hardware store in the mall too). What does that say about us? I don't want to contemplate. The following morning, we exited the Gold Coast Seaway to make the 400 or so mile passage to Sydney. The Gold Coast Seaway is a partly man-made cut that only stays open because Australia has engineered a permanent automatic dredge system that continually pumps sand out of the opening. They have to do a lot of dredging along the east coast to handle the currents and sand build-up that make the famous dangerous bars you have to cross in order to move from bay to sea. It is very interesting.

We couldn't wait to pick up the Eastern Australia Current (made famous by Nemo as I learned from Jan) since it would be giving us a substantial boost of up to 4kts that seemed too good to be true. But indeed, it is true! We blasted down no more than 15 miles off the coast dodging a continual stream of ships for 2 nights. We did some great sailing along with motorsailing depending on what the wind was doing. We even heaved to for a couple of hours on the second morning when a squall created a windshift and we were nose in to big waves against current for a bit. This is the best heaving to we've ever done since we were making nearly 4kts southward with the current. Every once in a while we would talk with Jan & Rich who were sailing near us and compare current rates. It's so nice to have it going your way! On my night watches, I enjoyed the southern cross and the dolphin zooming around the boat lit up green & leaving a sparkly trail from the phosphorescence.
From Australia

Our goal was to get to the Broken Bay/Pittwater area if the weather held, which is a famously beautiful bay about 25 miles north of Sydney and practically solid national park. The Ku-ring-gai National park is Australia's second oldest, founded in 1894 and has a rich Aboriginal history. There are nice trails and facilities but the inland waters are what make it even better. Hundreds of protected coves, many with free park moorings, you can move from buoy to buoy changing your scenery each day. We got into a rhythm of hiking out on a trail, having a picnic, taking a swim and then meandering back to the boat, inevitably parched no matter how much fluid we carried. We would sit in the cockpit for awhile guzzling everything we had that was cold. Then take a cool shower. Who needs hot water? We noticed a huge surge of boats on the weekend and longed for it to be over so we could once again have it to ourselves. Jet skis are very popular here.

The first day we pulled in, we moored next to friends Matt & Jean on Superted, who we met crossing the Pacific. It was nice to get together to catch up and to see familiar faces. We hiked up to a waterfall that dripped into the bay & they gave us the lo-down on the park moorings. New South Wales also has free pink guest moorings in many harbors. It really is a feel good thing.
From Australia

From Australia

From Australia


Although we haven't seen any Aborigines yet, we did see some ancient Aboriginal engravings here in the park. Of course we like the inscriptions of the wallabies. We also finally got a great view of an echidna. They are little rolly polly anteaters with porcupine like spines and they actually are egg laying mammals. They live in the woods always looking for ants by rummaging around in dead leaves and logs and every time we see one, they slump down and hide their heads keeping still. But this one was oblivious to our presence and practically walked over our feet. We wondered what the gray-blue circles were and read that they're engorged ticks. This little guy needed an injection to kill the ticks and if he was in captivity in a zoo, he'd get it. But he's free in the wild so he won't. How sad.
From Australia
We're enjoying the change of scenery down here since it is marked by high cliffs, colorful sandstone, large gum trees appearing to grow straight out of rock and lots to see & do in an iconic area. While we were in Queensland, we were told that Sydney was was way more sophisticated and fun and we're here to see it. Not being the most sophisticated, we thought Queensland was great and couldn't see any faults. Well, except that they don't observe daylight savings time like NSW does. Thanks to the time change, it is now light till after 8 and our upcoming tent time is looking much brighter! This extra daylight along with 200 lumens in our new camp light will surely create the evening atmosphere we desire.

Departure is planned for tomorrow. We can't take the suspense any longer; we've got to sail in to Sydney and see it for ourselves. Sail by the Opera House, under the Harbor Bridge. As Matt from Superted told us: It's what you DO in Sydney. That and splurge for tickets to the opera..... we'll pretend we're from the Gold Coast.