After dinner, we both spent time researching New Zealand. We plan to sail on the Carnival Spirit in four days! Our stops are all on the north island, Napier, Tauranga, Auckland and Bay of Islands. We watched the Die Hard 4 movie. Mark noticed that the star from the Justified series was the bad guy. It was after 11 before we headed to bed. It was dark. We got to see the big moon as we got some exercise on deck. It was totally flat. We did notice a few other boats also anchored in the bay. Woke up around 7. I woke up so many times. My leg was hurting me...any which way I tried to move. For the first time we slept with only the sheet covering us. I guess it was warm enough. Or maybe I was cold and that's why I kept waking up. After breakfast, we prepped the boat for leaving around 9:30 to catch the 10:15 Spit Bridge opening. Mark called Garmin as their fix didn't work. He also called the marina and Vanessa told him that the long stay mooring balls were overbooked. Then we dropped the mooring lines and headed to the Spit Bridge. There were three other sailboats waiting with us to get thru the bridge. Mark said there were 5-6 other sailboats on the other side wait to get thru. We got the green light first. We did notice a lot of pushy boats. Once thru the bridge, we flew our jib sail as we motored thru the channel. There were several groups of very young sailors out in their Optimists again today. Different group as their sails were a different color. We motor/sailed out the Harbour entrance to the Pacific Ocean. We had started the water maker and wanted to run it in cleaner water. Lots of ferry boats to dodge heading out. Saw many other power boats and sailboats heading out. We ran the water maker for around 3 hours so we should have a good supply on board. We had a lovely sail offshore. Got to see a lot of birds skimming over the ocean waters. Almost hypnotizing to watch them. Then headed back into the entrance. Made a number of phone calls. Thanks to all who answered. Sorry to miss everyone else. I just love the rock walls in the entrance and would have loved to share those sights with you. The maximum wind was around 17 knots. We were making good speed as we sailed close to the wind. Dropped the sail as we got inside the harbor as the wind was on the nose. Motored into Manly Bay. All 5 mooring balls were taken. There were about a dozen boats in this bay by the time we anchored. Mark launched the dinghy and we headed to shore as we were overdue for lunch. Enjoyed lunch at the Manly Wharf. Then walked the two blocks or so to the ocean. Again, the view of the ocean takes my breath away. My polarized glasses makes it look like green water with several shades of green. They had the flagged area set further along the beach. However, this is the first time we have seen so many people swimming outside the flags. There were a few 'high current' warning signs posted along the beach. We walked along the water's edge with our feet in the water. I should have worn my swimsuit. The water felt cold but the sun was hot which would have been a perfect day at the beach. Maybe we will get a chance to swim in that beach before we leave Australia. Enjoyed our walk. Picked up a few groceries for the next few days and walked back to the dinghy and back to the boat. Mark was able to reset his gps, loading a new version of software which fixed the date issue. He also loaded the software to our backup gps. Showered off the back steps. Just as Mark started his shower, a dinghy came by with some Aussies who bought their boat in Jacksonville, Fl in 2013 and sailed it here. What a small world! They talked about coming by in the morning. Tomorrow is Australia Day. They have a lot of events going on downtown Sydney, including 9 pm fireworks. It will be another mad house for sailboats which we are thinking we don't want to sail to. So, we may just take a ferry downtown, have dinner and watch the fireworks. That way we will enjoy all our celebrations. It was around 6 pm when we noticed some sailboats sailing thru the anchored boats around us, including ours. I finally asked if it was an Australia Day event and they said it was race night and we were anchored on their starting line. Oh my! Two of race boats were Catalina 34's. That was the boat we bought in Canada so many years ago. What fun to watch all the action around the anchorage. It was a hotter day, but still on the water the breeze was cold to me. This evening's breeze is equally cold. We are rocking slightly as the wind is coming from the shore in front of us. Thanks for your emails, messages and FB comments. I will post some pictures shortly. We have a holiday here tomorrow so not sure if any of the shops will be open.