We really enjoyed our couple of nights in Fame Cove, with nice walks ashore and a couple of fun evenings with Richard and Michelle. We then said our farewells again, as we headed off to Nelson Bay and they headed back to Lemon Tree Passage, to look for shoes blown overboard earlier in the week.
Nelson Bay was extremely busy and a tourist destination. We ventured into the sea for a brief swim here, as there were lots of people swimming, so it wasn’t just the sharks and us! Improved odds of being munched. The town itself was busy and we picked up a courtesy mooring just off the beach. This was pleasant enough...until around 3am, when a group of young lads decided to sit right opposite us, take out a guitar and sing Coldplay songs extremely tunelessly. I especially enjoyed the bit where one started a song, which another then joined in in a different key and then the guitarist played the only chords he knew in a different key again. Just what we needed when we had planned to leave at 4am. Needless to say, we didn’t hang around and were soon motoring out to sea again –destination Sydney!
The forecast wind didn’t get up as forecast and so we motor sailed until lunchtime, when the wind filled in and we had a beautiful sail to Sydney. I can’t describe how exciting it was to sight the famous Sydney skyline, with the Sky tower we had climbed with my brother and sister-in-law last year. I was describing this by text to friends Heather and Mike and suggested jokingly that they came to visit us. Next thing I knew, a return message said they had booked their flights and would be with us on Thursday evening! More excitement.
As we sailed around the iconic Sydney Heads, we were doing around 8 knts. Fast for us, but slow compared to the large racing yachts zooming in around us, one of which buried it’s bow in the waves, with a large spinnaker up, just ahead of us, causing them and us a heart stopping moment, before their boat regained its speed and took off. We headed round towards Manly and anchored, as the sun was setting, off Store Beach in a brisk northerly, alongside a dozen or more other boats. 90nm in 15 hrs….Tuarangi going really well as ever.
An early start saw us sailing down Sydney Harbour, keeping a watchful eye open for ferries, kayakers, paddle boarders, fizz boats and other yachts. Soon we were taking many photos of the world famous Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge and we dropped the anchor in Farm Cove, which is bordered by the Botanic Gardens and the Opera House. A stunning location, but not very restful as the wash from a thousand engines swooshed into the bay, washed against the wall and swooshed around. Also it was gusting 30 knts and there were jet boats, water taxis etc zooming around. We had lunch, took photos and got the guidebook out to find somewhere quieter to stay. We chose Woolwich and sailed under the Harbour Bridge to anchor alongside a row of moored boats belonging to multi-million dollar homes along the steep shore. It is a beautiful area, with great shops, cafes and restaurants and more flash European Cars than you can count. We were awoken the next morning at 0545 by a loud thump on the hull, sending both of us on deck in our PJs. We looked down and saw a single scull rower in the water next to the boat. He had rowed full tilt into us, with predictable results. We offered him to come on board to recover, but he got back in his boat and rowed off, muttering under his breath. Lots more rowers came past, singles, 4s and 8’s, with coaches shouting instructions through loud halers from dinghies motoring alongside. We re-anchored further down the river and spent a day in Sydney, walking through the Botanics, exploring the Rocks area and generally enjoying a day in the city. We jumped off the ferry at Cockatoo Island, an amazing place which has been a prison, a girls school and a dockyard! You are free to walk everywhere, and despite attacks from nesting gulls, it was amazing! They have various accommodation options, if you feel like a different sort of holiday, from “Glamping” (camping where tents/bedding etc. are provided} to beautiful 4 bedroomed houses.
The following day we headed back under the Bridge and up to Sugarloaf Bay in Middle Harbour. This is a beautiful peaceful anchorage, with Courtesy Moorings and is surrounded by a national park. Feels very remote, but is still walking distance from great facilities. No swimming here however as the deep water is home to a large number of sharks. From there we headed into the next bay and to Cammeray Marina…retracing Tuarangi’s steps when she came to Sydney at the start of her circumnavigation in the early 1960s . This involves going under another lifting bridge – Spit Bridge, which has fixed and very limited opening hours. Fortunately, there are courtesy moorings where you can wait for the set times. We had been given photos of Tuarangi in Middle Harbour, with Bunny and Fran Rabbits on board. They owned Cammeray and their son Kelvin now runs it. We were made very welcome. It is about 100 steps up from the Marina to the road and we walked to great shops in Cammeray and North Bridge, stocking up for Heather and Mike’s arrival.
We cleaned and tidied the boat and went ashore for showers, before meeting Heather and Mike for dinner at a highly recommended restaurant in Crow’s Nest. It was so great to see them and we talked non-stop, round our delicious Italian meal. Early the next day, they came to the Marina as we had invited them to be live-aboards for the day. We had a cooked breakfast before setting off for Spit Bridge and a sail down the Harbour, past the Opera House and under the Harbour Bridge. It was a stunning, blue-sky day and we chatted and sailed and took photos and chatted and sailed all day. Lunch of gourmet sausage sandwiches under way s we had to keep going to get back under the Bridge, as the opening times were 1415 and then not again until 2015! Back at Cammeray, it was stinky hot and so we spent the afternoon chilling, looking at photos (captive audience!) and pottering around. We had dinner in the cockpit after sundowners of Bubbles. We were just enjoying a wee digestif, when suddenly the wind blew up and Simon had a brisk row to get our guests safely ashore!
Yesterday we met at St Leonard’s train station and headed to town, tootling around the Rocks and the Saturday market, before catching a ferry to Manly, where we ate fish and chips on the beach and went for a walk around North Head. A ferry took us back into the city, where we headed to a pub for a cocktail, before enjoying a divine dinner at an amazing Japanese Restaurant nearby. We were pretty weary when we got back to St Leonard’s and had to say our goodbyes. It was SO GOOD to see them and catch up on 6 months of news and we had had a great couple of days. It was very spontaneous and we really appreciated the effort they had gone to. A weekend to remember!
Rain first thing this morning, with Heather and Mike flying out early and us going through mail and reading magazines and papers which they had brought, Now the clouds have all gone and the sun is back out. Simon is back to charts and guidebooks and is planning the next part of our voyage. We will be here for another couple of days at least, as we have to get new seals on the salt-water pump for the engine and I need a new battery for my laptop. There’s always something!