Part 1
We
have had an amazing time in Australia,
mostly because of our friends who we have meet over the years cruising
plus some new friends who we just meet here in the Land Down Under. Our friends invited us into their homes,
summer cottages, boats and even camping and showed us their magnificent
country. We have had a opportunity to re-bond with old friends and got to know
our new friends even better. We cannot thank you enough for making or OZ experience
special. We hope that one day we have an opportunity to open our doors like you
all did for us. Thank you!
Cheryl
and Karen
And here is the nitty
gritty of our OZ experience
An
easy walk across the street to the Fiji International airport! Checked in before the coffee shop was
open! We did our duty free shopping, all
ready for New Years, three bottles of Chandon.
We had arranged for a shared shuttle to Dee Way, where we will be staying at a friend's place, Ian's. We will meet the shuttle driver at Maccas, are first clue that not all Aussie's speak English! Many Aussies shorten or lengthen anything, so MacDonald's becomes Maccas. Just us and a lady on the shuttle, the lady suggested to the driver that we take the Sydney bridge, not the tunnel, and between her and the driver we had a very informative tour of Sydney, complete with a low down on the Sydney Hobart Race!
Safely at Ian's, we now needed food and wine for dinner and to get connected, so we went to Aldi's, a food store. Thank you Google maps. Dinner fixings in hand and the SIM card package, now all we need is wine. Where will we find that Karen asks, "woollies" is the answer. We followed the hand gestures and found, BWS, short for Beer, Wines and Spirits, owned by Woolworths, a.k.a. Woollies!
After a lovely dinner Karen goes to set up her phone...all is good until it tries to verify who she is.....hmmm, a Canadian passport, oops! So we go back to Aldo's the next day and the manager, Chris, made it happen!
Day 2 off we go to do a coastal walk to Manley Beach, a lovely lunch overlooking the water or the pedestrian shopping street, depending on which way you are facing. We took the bus back, our first use of our Opal cards, the Sydney transit system.
Next day we went north to the Bannerjoey Lighthouse at Palm Beach. Lovely views. We couldn't find a place to eat, so went back to "The Newport" and had lunch there. As there was a marina at the end of the street, we
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| Bannerjoey Lighthouse from Sophrosyne |
had to go see the boats. As we were walking down we hear "Cheryl,
Cheryl!" Turns out it is Doug, from Sophrosyne. We knew Doug and Maureen from Fiji, fellow Canadians! Doug offered to take us on his boat to Sydney
Harbour the next day, who could resist that offer.
With our stuffed packed up we left Ian's apartment and off we go to SAIL TO SYDNEY HARBOUR....way cool. So we hopped on the bus to Newport, do remember that our stuff includes all our duty free...2 small backpacks, 1 large and a now a bag full of Duty Free Bottles. Beasts of Burden. We arrive just as Doug does, dinghy ride to Sophrosyne and off we go. Cheryl and Karen drive while Doug started to put the boat back together as he had just had some boat repairs done the day before, as he is readying her for a passage to New Zealand. We dropped the anchor in Rose Bay two boats away from our friends on Huck. We are set...ready to watch the fireworks the next night. The Hucksters, Joe and Heidi, came over right away, it was fantastic to see them after almost two years! With hugs and Kisses all around ....it was a tremendous welcome from Heidi and Joe. Dinner on Huck, beautiful hamburgers and laughs and more hugs and practice light show on the bridge to boot, what a day. We ended up calling it for the night and went and crashed on Sophrosyne. Tomorrow is News Years in Sydney....we were like kids waiting for Santa.
THE BIG DAY....
With our stuffed packed up we left Ian's apartment and off we go to SAIL TO SYDNEY HARBOUR....way cool. So we hopped on the bus to Newport, do remember that our stuff includes all our duty free...2 small backpacks, 1 large and a now a bag full of Duty Free Bottles. Beasts of Burden. We arrive just as Doug does, dinghy ride to Sophrosyne and off we go. Cheryl and Karen drive while Doug started to put the boat back together as he had just had some boat repairs done the day before, as he is readying her for a passage to New Zealand. We dropped the anchor in Rose Bay two boats away from our friends on Huck. We are set...ready to watch the fireworks the next night. The Hucksters, Joe and Heidi, came over right away, it was fantastic to see them after almost two years! With hugs and Kisses all around ....it was a tremendous welcome from Heidi and Joe. Dinner on Huck, beautiful hamburgers and laughs and more hugs and practice light show on the bridge to boot, what a day. We ended up calling it for the night and went and crashed on Sophrosyne. Tomorrow is News Years in Sydney....we were like kids waiting for Santa.
THE BIG DAY....
Coffee first, then Cheryl helps Doug with a boat project, some things are just easier with 4 hands.
The New Years events start early! So we are all on Huck for dinner, yummy pulled pork and all the fixin's. First up is the air show, our dinner time entertainment. Later we settled in with a cheese plate and some wine as we watched the family fireworks. If this the family fireworks what is the adult one like???..
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| Heidi, Joe and Cheryl getting ready for 2017 |
The
next morning we moved to our next new home Chateau Huck, yup the Hucksters
boat. After the bags where stowed off we went to move to another anchorage, a calmer
one. It wasn't the weather, but the number
of boats and therefore the seas! Okay
does this mean we get to go by the Sydney Opera house and under the bridge we
asked ....yupper...So off we went. We
were supposed to be on the bow watch and pointing out ferries and boat traffic
but instead we were like little kids pointing at everything but the boat
traffic. Joe and Heidi were killing
their self laughing at us on the bow taking pictures and point every which way
BUT... Half to say, that is some way to start a new year!
After
a night on Huck we moved back onto land, to the Morgan Hotel. A nice hotel in a great location, with
cooking and a view of the opera house and Sydney bridge from the roof.LIG no
Life is amazing.
Okay we are in Sydney so let's
explore, yup we find a free walking tour. After 3 and some hours we had
absorbed a lot. The feet needed a rest
so we found a restaurant in the Rocks which we learned about on the tour and
had a wonderful lunch. With rested feet
we decided to go up one of the towers on
the Sydney bridge some 100 feet short of the top of the bridge. But it cost $15, not $280. Then we walked back to our hotel. Over 24,000 steps, (actually, Karen had to do some circles in
the room to cross the 24,000!)
The city is quite young, even by a Toronto perspective. Their tallest building for 40 years was a church that was maybe 6 stories tall. (Whereas Commerce Court was built 1930's and was 30 odd stories.). Their tallest building now is 700 feet, compared to the CN tower at 1500 feet, but still much of the architecture is the same, some beautiful century old buildings, well maintained. The Rocks is very much like the distillery district in Toronto.
Then there is the bridge! It is still the largest or heaviest bridge in the world and it was finished in 1932! We can imagine the tension in the air when the north and south sides joined up!
Next day we meet the Hucksters at Circular Quay, where the opera house is. We went through the botanical gardens and the art gallery, then started a pub crawl! So it was a good day, but a long day. The girls got into Rose at the roof top bars, Joe was sensible, he stayed with beer.
Thank you so much Doug (Sophrosyne) and Joe and Heidi on Huck for an amazing start to 2017.
The city is quite young, even by a Toronto perspective. Their tallest building for 40 years was a church that was maybe 6 stories tall. (Whereas Commerce Court was built 1930's and was 30 odd stories.). Their tallest building now is 700 feet, compared to the CN tower at 1500 feet, but still much of the architecture is the same, some beautiful century old buildings, well maintained. The Rocks is very much like the distillery district in Toronto.
Then there is the bridge! It is still the largest or heaviest bridge in the world and it was finished in 1932! We can imagine the tension in the air when the north and south sides joined up!
Next day we meet the Hucksters at Circular Quay, where the opera house is. We went through the botanical gardens and the art gallery, then started a pub crawl! So it was a good day, but a long day. The girls got into Rose at the roof top bars, Joe was sensible, he stayed with beer.
Thank you so much Doug (Sophrosyne) and Joe and Heidi on Huck for an amazing start to 2017.
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