33.36S; 151.15E
Around the world with the Aqualunies
Jonathan & Gabrielle Lyne
Mon 9 Jan 2012 01:20
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
A long time since I last wrote my blog. We have had a lovely Christmas. We arrived in Cammeray Marina, it is right up at the end of a creek beyond Split Bridge, not a place we would have chosen if we had had any choice, VERY alternative, scruffy and in need of much maintenance, it is also so sheltered that it was very damp or very hot. To walk out of it there are hundreds of steps the only way in and out up to the road.
The drinks party on Christmas Eve afternoon was fun and we met a couple who lived in Lympstone!!! Neil (he is an ex marine) and Heather who bought a yacht in Australia and are renovating it.
Having left the party early at 4.30 pm we got ready to go to old friends (the Brocklehurst family) for dinner and fun, a very alcoholic evening which ended with us playing charades, huge fun, the Hining and Robertson families were also there so a lovely reunion and a great way to start Christmas properly. The following morning we drove up to Avoca Beach to stay with the Bonsalls for three days, a lovely family lunch of about 25 mostly Sue's family who live locally. Lots of beach walks over the next couple of days (although another southerly buster came in) we decided to go and watch the new film about Margaret Thatcher with Merrill Streep, brilliant acting.
Guy Bonsall, their son, is going to do the sail across to New Zealand on Aqualuna to get his 600 miles in for his yacht master certificate. I have now decided not to do the sail across as there will be four guys on board, Francis Williams, Guy Bonsall and David Saunders wants to do it as well, so Jenny his wife has invited me to stay with her which will be fun and a bit of girlie time as well. If I did the sail across I would end up mostly below decks being galley slave, nurse and cleaner, part of doing any of the RYA exams is being able to cook and clean below decks as well as run the yacht so I am gladly handing that role over to the others. I will fly across when they get near the Bay of Islands and join them for that, before we lay up Aqualuna in March.
We spent the New Year anchored off the Saunder's garden again just north of the Bridge. A good party which we all provided food for in the garden, the fireworks this year were far better than last year, besides the Bridge fireworks there are barges placed all the way up the harbour from one end to the other also with fireworks and the whole lot are synchronised so quite spectacular to watch, we crawled into our bunk at 4 a.m.
On the 3rd of January we took Aqualuna over to Noakes yard to have play in her rudder sorted and will take her back next week to have the engine and generator serviced. Whilst she was out of the water we stayed at a hotel on the North shore close to the marina the trains ran from a station just under it so it only took a few minutes to reach the CBD but it was only 5 mins walk from Noakes Yard.
We also met up with old friends who received my Christmas email and emailed back immediately to say they had just moved to Australia to be near the grandchildren, they belonged to the International Wind and Food Society in Devon, so we ended up having a lovely evening with them in the CBD.
After re-launching Aqualuna we spent a night in Rushcutters Bay one of my favourite marinas as it is clean and convenient for everything. Penny, George and Alice joined us for drinks on board and then we all went out for dinner in Double Bay. The following day they rejoined us at midday to sail for Pittwater. It was a fantastic sail with about 15 -20 knots of wind from the NE. George had just got back on New Years Eve from the Sydney Hobart race on 'Midnight Rambler' as foredeck crew. He had great fun taking Aqualuna's wheel for the afternoon. Dinner on board and then cards and too much red wine it got very silly but fun. The next morning we went to another beach where Penny and Alice swam and we had a long lazy lunch before taking them back to Palm Beach to get the bus home as they had to work on Monday.
We are now in Refuge Bay up the Hawkesbury River a massive thunder storm last night with tons of rain but we were very sheltered. The Cicadas are VERY loud enjoying the damp. We discovered, yet again, that the battery sensor is showing OVERHEATING even though it had just been switched on and we have had a guy look at it twice from Brisbane and supplied a replacement control board so it is obviously not that, very frustrating.
Just pottering this morning doing odd bits of yacht maintenance and below decks cleaning waiting for yet another expected Southerly Buster to come through.
We plan to head back down to Sydney on either Wednesday or Thursday to meet up with Maggie Crichton who is in town for just a week.
We gave up on the idea of sailing to Tasmania as we did last year as there are far too many Southerly Busters coming through and the weather in Sydney is not hot so it will be even cooler down in Tas'.