Cowan Creek - Brooklyn - Hawkesbury River

We spent three nights at a beautiful spot called Jerusalem Bay, down Cowan Creek in the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. According to our guide book this area is "loved to death" during the summer, but in winter its fantastic - we've largely had the place to ourselves, except for some local fishos and a few bushwalkers. The weather has been gorgeous - perfect sunny winter days and cold, clear, calm nights.

It was the perfect place for me to work. Full internet access, mobile coverage... I feel incredibly spoiled - here are a few views from my office window.

 And here is my chief finance officer procuring dinner.
 

 

We're thinking of renaming Bass Voyager to The Office (just kidding)

7 on one mooring... Pretty sure this is illegal...

This week I also learned a new phrase - apparently we are now "digital nomads" - which wikipedia describes as "individuals that leverage digital technologies to perform their work duties, and more generally conduct their lifestyle in a nomadic manner."

Yesterday we moved to the moorings just off the little community of Brooklyn at the mouth of the Hawkesbury so I could catch the train into Sydney today for a meeting. Brooklyn has a definite alternative arty vibe. Nice.

We've decided to stay around the area for a little longer as I have another trip to Sydney next Tuesday, there is heaps to explore, and plus there is a chance we will be able to catch up with our friends on Wind Warrior and Bravado which would be fantastic.

Bye for now!

Sydney - Hawkesbury River

Today we left Sydney and pointed BV north again. It felt fantastic to get underway, but I surprised myself by getting a bit 'motional about leaving! Its not hard to see why it was hard to leave - we had a great few weeks in Sydney in an amazing central location (did Michael mention, for FREE?) explored the city, mingled with the arty student-types on Glebe Point Road, scoured second hand bookshops and wandered the fish markets, met some lovely people, and all round had a fabulous time. I think maybe after achieving the huge milestone of reaching Sydney and sailing under the bridge ... well it kinda feels like "Act 1" of our trip has come to a close. Which is pretty cool really, because that means Act 2 is about to start!

Today we had a fabulous sail into Broken Bay and we're now anchored on the north side of Dangar Island at the mouth of the Hawkesbury river. We had strong NW winds today and were sailing close hauled the whole way - I am still so impressed by how well BV sails to windward - just 30 degrees off the wind and we were scooting along at almost 6 knots. Not bad for a big steel yacht I reckon.

What a pretty area this is - so glad was never developed like Sydney Harbour just to its south. Huge parts of the bay are National Park, which we want to explore over the next week. The only complication of course is I have a work project to finish and money to earn, so I am fantasising about a secluded cove, somewhere down Cowan Creek in the Ku-Ring-Gai National Park WITH internet access (!) where I can put in my 8 hours each day while Michael catches fish and I'm serenaded by native songbirds. Hmm. I have high expectations of my Telstra wireless internet. We might end up back here near Brooklyn/Dangar Island.

We plan to stay in the area for the week, before aiming for our next stop at Lake Macquarie.


Approaching the Bridge at dawn this morning




Bye bye Sydney


Our anchorage at Dangar Island

Sydney Harbor - Rozelle Bay

Well here we are in Rozelle Bay not five minutes from the Sydney CBD in a very well protected, surprisingly quiet and FREE anchorage! That's right, we now live, albeit temporarily, on Sydney Harbour with three hundred and sixty degree water front views, easy access to shops and public transport, did I mention we haven't paid a cent?

I am quite surprised that we have spent so long here as we had heard from other cruisers that's its a pain to stay here with Maritime NSW hassling boats who stay too long and what not. We have had a great time and enjoyed Sydney more than we expected. Caitlin has also picked up some contract work which will fit in well with our current lifestyle and provide some much needed funds to keep cruising in comfort.

The weather is getting better by the day and has improved dramatically since leaving the Jervis Bay area - days are much warmer when the sun is out, right now I'm sitting in the sun with a light Northerly blowing - feels about 20C. We are now feeling the urge to move on though and have Pittwater in our sights by the end of the week if we can get the right winds.

So a few maintenance jobs to do this week while Caitlin works (real work) and hopefully we will be posting from Pittwater some time next week.

Best thing about our anchorage? Fish market 5 minutes by tender! And cheap!

Wharf where we leave our tender to go 'sploring. Crap location... ;o)

People watching at our anchorage...

Only in Sydney...