Sydney Sightseeing and Back to Pittwater - 33 38.419S 151 17.144E
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Wed 23 Jan 2013 12:44
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Came back up to our buoy at Pittwater the weekend before
last and have started to get on with the work we want to do on the boat.
However, before leaving we had another week of Sydney sightseeing, including
going up the Sydney Tower Eye (fantastic 360 degree views of Sydney), the
Zoo (a lovely setting), the Aquarium (the best we have seen) and seeing a
show (Blaze) at the Sydney Opera House. Sydney is a lovely city,
particularly in the summer sun. The Sydney Festival started on 5th
January and continues on to 26th January, which is Australia Day, so there's
lots going on. We loved the waterside areas - full of
ferries and people coming and going, or just standing and watching the street
entertainers. We really enjoyed our 'holiday' there. But it was time to go,
so with a favourable forecast we headed back under the
Bridge, passed the Opera House and headed out through Sydney Heads to the open
sea and headed back north, all of 18 miles or so to Pittwater.
The weather here has been quite strange (or at least it
is to us). While the interior of the country is having one of it's hottest
ever heatwaves, the temperatures on the coast are very
dependent on which way the
wind is blowing. If from the south or southeast it tends to be around 20
degrees; if from the north or northeast it's around 25 degrees, but if it's from
the west or northwest it gets up well above 30 degrees as the wind is blowing
from the hot interior. We had northwesterly wind last Friday and
Sydney and this area of the New South Wales coast recorded it's hottest
ever day - 45.8 degrees! There wasn't a warm wind blowing, it was a hot wind. So
having had the wettest Christmas Day in Sydney for 70 years, we've now had the
hottest day on record! However, the temperature
in Sydney dropped to 18 degrees the following day and it rained
- so it dropped 27.8 degrees in 24 hours. We spent most of Friday shopping, which may seem strange, but
the shops all have air conditioning so if you couldn't be on the beach and in
the water, the shops weren't a bad place to be. When we got back the temperature
in the boat was 37 degrees (having been closed up with all the curtains drawn to
keep the sun out). But a southerly change came through at around 17.00 and
2 hours later the temperature inside the boat had fallen to a nice 25 degrees.
At 18 degrees the following evening we put the boat heating on!
Before the southerly change we had a thunderstorm with lightning down to ground. Shortly afterwards smoke started to rise above the trees and a bush fire was burning, probably 3 miles or so away in the National Park that surrounds the western side of the Pittwater inlet. It was the other side of the hills so we couldn't see the flames, but from the billowing clouds of black/grey smoke, it was clear that it was getting bigger. Then helicopters arrived, one with a water tank which it used to douse the fire. Once it had dropped the water (which we couldn't see) it came over the hill to Pittwater, lowered a big suction hose to fill the tank and off it went again back to the fire. This carried on for several hours into the evening. It seemed to work as there was little smoke in the morning. Then we heard on the radio that New South Wales had 120 bush fires burning, 17 of which were still out of control. It's just as bad, if not worse down in Victoria where one of the fires out of control was expected to burn for the next 2 weeks! For bush, read forest - it's not just scrub, it's quite thickly wooded, at least it is up here. The first job
back at Pittwater was to clean the bottom of the boat. Since arriving in
Australia the fouling has been worse than Fiji and it took 2 full
scuba tanks to get it clean. It really needs a 3rd go at it, but when
taking our tanks into a dive shop in Mona Vale we found out that scuba
tanks in Australia have to be hydrostatically tested every year and that will
take over a week. In New Zealand it was every 2 years and I seem to
remember that in the UK it was more like 4 or 5 years. So once a year at $50 a
tank seems excessive. Finding clear water to clean the bottom was a
challenge in Pittwater. We did the cleaning over 2 days and tried different
places, but in both cases I couldn't see the bow from the stern when in the
water. It was clear enough to clean, but in these waters it's nice to see what
else might be lurking around you. They do have a shark net in one of the
bays inside the Pittwater inlet!
 We've put up loads of pictures of the
outside of the Sydney Opera
House, but this is
what it looks like on
the inside in the Concert Hall
where we went to see Blaze (a modern dance spectacular).
 Pictures from the highest building in Sydney
- the Sydney Tower Eye. The Sydney Heads, the
entrance to the harbour, is just right of middle in the distance.
So this is the route we had to take
when sailing into the
harbour.
 Looking north, with the bridge to the left
of the high building and the Opera House just visible to
the right.
 Looking northwest, and our mooring buoy is
almost visible just left of middle (if you have a very
powerful
telescope!).
 Looking down on Darling Harbour. Note the
yellow object just behind the warship at the Maritime
Museum. All will become clear later!
  This is it, the Sydney Tower Eye - 1,014ft
(309 metres) high. It looks very top
heavy. It did in 2001 when we first saw it
and decided not to go up, but on the
basis it had stayed up for another 11 years,
we thought it would probably last one
more day, so up we
went!
 In the viewing gallery at the top.
 The Taronga Zoo. Although the spelling is
different, having stayed in Tauranga in New Zealand
for
10 months we sort of felt we ought to go. It's in a wonderful
setting up the side of a hill overlooking
the harbour and city.
The cable cars make it easy
- you ride up to the top and take your time
walking down.
 Probably the best view in the house, if you
have a long neck to see over the trees!
  That's what people who don't have boats keep
asking us - what do you do all day? It seems
kangaroos get a lot more rest than we do!
 Off to the Aquarium and a manatee swims over
the top of the tunnel you walk through within
the
tank. It is one of the best aquariums we have seen and it helped us
make a decision on where to go
from here, but more on that another time.
 Walking through the shark tank gave a chance
to study the sharp end much closer than you ever
want to in the wild! We have swam with sharks in the water, and
coming close, but although they
were quite big, they were white tip or black tip reef sharks which
are generally not aggressive.
And they were below us, not
on
top!
 The live reef systems were very
colourful.
 A sawfish. Not something we have seen
before.........
 ... and looking up underneath it. Quite a
smile! This one was resting on top of the walk-through
tunnel.
 Back to the yellow object - and the
start of the Sydney Festival.
 There it is again - creeping up behind
us!
 The Festival started with the giant duck
entering Darling Harbour and it will remain there until
the end of the festival on 26th January - Australia Day. It reminded
us of the container full of
little toy ducks that went overboard from a
ship years ago. The container broke open and
ducks
floated free and helped map out world
currents as they turned up
in the most unexpected places.
 Another giant cruise liner docked in front
of the bridge. It's very convenient for seeing the
sights
of Sydney.
 Closer to home, from our mooring back in
Pittwater. Hot Friday when the temperature went up
to a record 45.8 degrees. A few flashes of lightning and a fire bush
fire started.
 Not in the zoo, but just on a garden bush
next to the pavement as we walked past. This one and
.....
 ....................its mate, tucking into
the nectar on this bottlebrush (or similar).
 Double-Decker trains! The local Sydney
trains are all like this.
 The doors are midway between floors, so you
either go downstairs or upstairs to sit. With no car
we're getting good at traveling on the buses, trains and
ferries. On a trip this Monday we went on
3 buses, 4 trains and
1
ferry!
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