Pos 1815 EAT, 34 24'S, 151 09'E, off Woollongong, NSW. The mooring rope was dropped into the waters off Rose Bay, Sydney at 1145 this morning, after a quick trip to the supermarket for a few more provisions. We are headed for Hobart. The weather has been a bit
shifty lately with the last day and a half producing extreme temperatures and wind gusts of 39 knots. The mooring was a bit bouncy as imagined and getting to shore in the dinghy meant getting splashed on the way over. John stayed on the boat while I visited my daughter,
Gabby on one day and then caught up with my sister and her two 17 year olds the next day. Yesterday was so hot in the city that the radiant heat off the pavement dried out your eyes and almost burned your skin. We found a cafe in the Museum of Modern art at Circular
Quay and stayed for a very long lunch. The evening brought red dust and light showers which produced a red paste on the entire boat. This morning in addition to a little left over red dust the sky was so hazy with smoke that the normally very visible Sydney Harbour Bridge
and the Opera House were invisible. On all the moored and anchored boats around us were owners and crew trying to clean up. We swapped the dust and fine ash for a coating of salt, preferable. I could not get the clear plastic around the cockpit clean as much as I
tried. It was quite ok until along came another rain shower bringing down the red dust with it. We can at least see through the clears. Our wonderful crew, Johnny (alias Jack) left us on Thursday and he flew back to Indonesia this morning. He seemed to enjoy his time with
us as much as we enjoyed his company and diligence. So, if you need your yacht delivered, contact us and we'll put you in touch with Johnny Ambon, from Ambon.
The sun is setting in the west over the land, which we can no longer see. There is a smoke haze here too. We've had a couple of visits from some beautiful dolphins. They were particularly healthy looking with lovely skin devoid of scars. They may have been quite young
ones. They were feeding on fish schools as we went past but they took time out to come and play. It always interests me the way one or two of them like to take a good look at you. I was outside on the side deck hanging on to the canopy grab handle when one of the
dolphins would swim alongside the boat, turn on its side and look up at me with one eye. It did this a couple of times. They are very curious about life above water it seems.
Wind is picking up and we have had the motor on as well as sails up since we left. John is just testing that we can actually sail with this wind, because the swells are so high the sails are robbed of the air as we drop down off the wave peaks. It's hard on the gear and sails.
but the decision is, not enough wind in this sea state. We would normally sail even in 7-8 knots, but the present sea state finishes off this idea for now. Maybe later we'll get a strong breeze, as it is forecast and we will turn off the motor It was originally forecast to arrive
around 1600 but it is now 1845 and it still hasn't arrived.
That's it for today. Progress is good despite the rolly polly and rising and falling. John and Ginni