On Thursday 23rd April, we departed Port Hacking for our passage to Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour. It was a beautiful sunny day, and with very little swell and five to fifteen knot westerlies we sailed almost the entire way. Upon entering through the Heads, we got our first glimpse of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, but that’s all it was, as we turned and headed past Manly and Balmoral to the Spit Bridge, as our first destination was in the north section of bays.
The Spit Bridge spans the harbour between Mosman and Seaforth and with a height of only six metres, Cool Change cannot pass directly underneath it. Cleverly, the bridge has been built so that a section can open up for tall vessels like ours to pass through. It has several set opening times per day. With almost precision timing, we arrived just a few minutes before the 1.15pm opening and took our place in the short queue of boats. Right on time, the traffic on the road stopped and the bridge lifted up, leaving a nice big space for the boats to proceed through. It’s a pretty cool sight from a yacht.
After filling up with diesel and replenishing our water tanks at a dock on the other side of the bridge we made our way to Bantry Bay, where our friend Simon was staying on his boat with his family. A beautiful, peaceful and very still little bay, Matt was reminded of Lake Eildon in Victoria. With seven public moorings available there, we tied up and celebrated with a bottle of bubbles. Simon popped onboard to say Hi and we agreed to catch up properly over the next few days.
We ended up staying in tranquil Bantry Bay for ten nights, enjoying the calm, still water and beautiful scenery. Over the weekend, the bay became packed with boats of all sorts and sizes, more than 25 at one stage, as Sydneysiders took advantage of the gorgeous autumn weather. During the week, however, there was usually only three or four boats, and sometimes just two; ours and Simon’s.
We hiked the steep tracks through the surrounding Garigal National Park, and were rewarded with magnificent views back down onto Bantry Bay. Our stand-up paddle boards got a workout in the flat water of Bantry Bay, and we also paddled them into the adjacent Sugarloaf Bay, as far up as the Davidson Park boat ramp. Unfortunately, we did this in the middle of the day on a Sunday and it seemed that every man and his dog were out in their boats, causing lots of wake and waves, and making the paddle boarding that bit more challenging.
One day Matt tackled the nearby mountain bike trails, enjoying the rocky and challenging tracks, while I hiked to a little waterfall. Another day we walked into Seaforth, down to the Spit Bridge and then along the Spit to Manly walking trail, which is part of the famous Manly Scenic Walkway. A gorgeous walk, the trail winds along the coast all the way to Manly, past lots of little beaches and with some spectacular views over the harbour. We devoured delicious burgers in Manly, before catching a bus back to Seaforth, just as the sky coloured with beautiful shades of red and pink. After clocking up about 14 kilometres of walking, we were tired but content.
One of the things that we had been looking forward to in Sydney was catching up with family and friends. Although no one was able to fly up from Melbourne to join us, we have several friends living in Sydney, and restrictions eased just in time for us to be able to see them.
After almost two months, we thoroughly enjoyed our first night socialising with other people, when Simon and Caley invited us onto their boat for dinner and drinks. We had a lovely time on their gorgeous boat, and after a few drinks, it was an interesting trip back in the tender to our own yacht!
Being locals, Simon and Caley had lots of local knowledge to share and were incredibly generous with their time. One day Simon lent us his tender to drive to Northbridge Marina, where Caley met us in her car and drove us to a nearby shopping centre, saving us a long walk with heavy bags of groceries. Simon also took Matt scuba diving out near North Head. It was the first dive Matt has been able to do this trip, and a real highlight for him. Thanks so much guys!
It was great to be able to repay their kindness, having Simon and Ellie the dog over for dinner when the rest of the family had gone home. The kingfish curry was a hit. Thanks for the recipe, Bernard (and the kingfish!)
One Sunday afternoon as we were lazing in the cockpit, we heard a loud cowbell ringing, and to our surprise we saw the boat version of Mr Whippy approaching. Of course we had to experience this, so Matt flagged him over and bought us an ice cream each. Cheap, no, but convenient, yes!
Late one Friday afternoon, a very fancy looking boat anchored next to us. We promptly googled it and found out it is for sale for approximately $4 million AUD. It had a crew in uniform and everything, how the other half live! Although we aren’t complaining!
Throughout our time in Bantry Bay, we had the occasional swim, but it was usually very quick, and just involved a hasty dip and a ‘bits and pits’ wash. We had been warned by countless people about the bull sharks that are known to inhabit the area, and while the water was clean, it was also very deep and my imagination would run wild every time I jumped in. Suffice to say, long swims were not top of the list of activities in this bay.
When we finally moved on from Bantry Bay, we motored back under the Spit Bridge and out into the main part of Sydney Harbour. This time we got a great look at the bridge as we made our way to a mooring in Rose Bay. That night the sky lit up in an incredible glowing orange colour that seemed to linger for ages, and we relished our view of the city lights across the harbour.
I realise there has been a long delay since my last post, so apologies for that. A mixture of poor internet reception and some technical difficulties with the website is part of the reason. Huge huge thanks to my amazing IT support, Shelley, who always has all the answers! Thanks Shell!
The next blog post will detail our sail under the Harbour Bridge, a pretty special moment for us, and the rest of our adventures around the harbour. Oh, and probably just a few more sunset photos as well!
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
C.S. Lewis
Cool Change 