Port Jackson/Sydney Harbour 23/01/2018

We sailed into Port Jackson/Sydney harbour on 22/11/2017 after a nice 3.5hr motor sail from Broken Bay. Rather pleased with ourselves for having made it here after commencing our voyage from Darwin on July 2015, and Oh what a journey it has been. Many stories we have shared with you on the Blog other memories are with Gerd and I forever. From never being on a yacht before to taking on this adventure, it has been one hell of an amazing experience. Would I repeat it, Hell yeh, it’s been great, well most of the time. As I have shared on several occasion with you my struggle with motion sickness, to this day I still suffer from this. It is one of the most horrible symptoms to suffer from, honestly one just wants to curl up and die when taken down by this. However the good times have outweighed the not so good time, hence our journey to Sydney was completed.

At present we are exploring Sydney harbour, taking on the challenges of a very busy waterway with Ferries, Cruise ships, water planes, super yachts and motor boats, companion sailors and kayakers all making good use of the harbour. The on-would flow of this being continuous water movement until about 10pm when it all calms down for the night, restarting about 6am. As time has gone on we have become accustomed to the continuous motion.

The harbour itself offers several courtesy moorings which we make good use of, along with good holding ground for anchoring. However dinghy access to shore is very limited, for us coming from Darwin we have a 3m aluminium dinghy with a 9.8hp outboard, together being a considerable weight to drag up the shoreline on soft sand, and we aren’t getting any younger. When going ashore for the day we like to be able to lock it to a structure knowing when we return it’s more likely to still be there. This option is rarely available with very limited public piers to leave ones dinghy to.

We have based ourselves in Rose Bay as we can lock the dinghy up while going ashore and one has good access to public transport, bus and ferry services, along with good holding ground for anchoring. Other anchorages we have explored and enjoyed and often return to are Manly and Quarantine Bay. We have made good use of the shore line coastal walks to stretch the legs when and where ever possible.

We saw the New Year in while anchored among the hundreds of other boaties in the harbour. We arrived and anchored 2 days early so to secure a good spot by Taranga Zoo. This paid off as it was rather entertaining watching other boaties arrive over the next couple of days and try to squeeze in anchoring between boats. Overall we were happy with our anchor spot and our neighbours. We also had the lovely pleasure of having friends Narissa and Tina on board for the night to share the fantastic fireworks display from the Sydney Harbour Bridge as the New Year came about.

So with 2018 here, our plan is to stay a year in Sydney Harbour, get some work to top up our travel kitty and make plans for the future. These plans change on a monthly basis at present as my love hate relationship with cruising tries to rationalize itself.