Dec 2008

Decided we needed to try and find a nice and more quiet spot to sleep the night. Found one just around the corner from Fox Studios. Steve plotted a course to Imax, being the CBD one on fisherman’s harbour, so after paying $10 to park for 2 hours in the street, we replotted a course to Moore Park and the Hoyts Imax. Saw The Day the Earth Stood Still. It was amazing to see it on a REALLY big screen with earth moving sub woofers @ $22 a ticket it was something you wouldn’t do too often!

Found a nice large park surrounded with monstrous large deco houses over the road from the Equestrian Centre. The parking was 4 hours between 8am and 10pm, so we left at 5pm and returned after 6pm so we could stay the night. It was a pretty quiet night.

Enjoyed a lazy day watching the comings and goings around this busy part of the world. There are hundreds of people in the water, on the boulevards and on the park. It’s a really small little spot, and there isn’t much parking and there are people driving up and down and up and down in search of a spot.

At 12 noon people started que up to get into Doyle’s. We couldn’t believe how many people want to eat here. Does that mean it must be good?

Kept walking around to the point and Camp Cove. A pretty little beach totally covered in sun bathers. The houses in the area are amazing. They vary from a lovely old limestone and shingle original with boathouse, through to small timber workers cottages and 3 storey Victorian brick terraces. It’s a classic spot.

Camp Cove

Met a guy Martyn who lives in the house behind our van right on the waterfront. He was the one who told us to park straight in (not reversed in) as they give a huge fine. He absolutely loved Midget and couldn’t stop playing with her or patting her and eventually invited us to spend new years watching the fireworks from his deck.

view from Watsons Bay Hill

He recently purchased the house for $3m. It’s a run down old 1930s 3x1. he’s just submitted plans to council to renovate and extend up into the roof space to make a two storey house on top of his already renovated garage at street level. Its an interesting place where you have to enter the street gate and walk down a laneway right to the back door of the house. It’s a strange way to enter, but space being a premium, I guess its what you have to do. He at least has a large double garage at the front of the house.

view over The Gap to The Heads. The Gap is apparently a popular suicide spot.

Didn’t get a lot of sleep due to the constant traffic all night long along the beachfront? What is this all about???

Hard to beat the last few days, and to be honest we needed a quiet day to catch up on the adrenaline expended in the last few days. Decided for a bit of culture, so after another entertaining breakfast at the doggie café. Arrived a few kms around the bay at Vaucluse House for a personal tour by their new young guide Mary. We enjoyed our tour and the leafy surroundings.

Stopped for the High Tea at the gorgeous café to find they were hosting a birthday party high tea later that day. We returned to the van to decide we’d hang around as the grounds were shady and peaceful. After two Australian Federal Police vehicles arrived to escort one of the guests to the party. Must have been some party. Then Bentleys and other flash cars arrived for a wedding taking place in the gardens. What an interesting day.

Stayed till we were asked to leave and headed down to Watson’s Bay and found a lovely spot on the waterfront next to their Pilot Station and their Baths. Very cute spot.

Enjoyed a nice night, after correcting our reversed parking into the bay, back to forward parking. A neighbour over the road told us the sign is hidden by a tree, but the ranger polices it really heavily. So we parked straight in (a lean back instead of forwards which is a little more uncomfortable to sleep).

Had a lovely peaceful sleep… Can’t believe we’ve found the most perfect place to stay in the centre of Sydney – and for free! Don’t tell anyone okay!?!

the boat we were crusing on

Got up and took the dog for a play with every other Sydneysiders Dog on the way to the Dog Café at the end of the park. Enjoying a lovely coffee and pear and berry toast when who should be walking past but Lance Rock – a fellow sailor from Mandurah Offshore Fishing & Sailing Club. Couldn’t believe he was wondering around. Turns out he was coming over to watch the race, and at the 11th hour, David Dicks came down with pneumonia and they were short crew. Lance and his son Neil were joining Jon Sanders and his crew of 7 in total to Hobart. We couldn’t believe it!

Seahold Perie Banou II (Jon Sanders and crew)

We wandered back around the club and were still surprised that they allowed public entry to the club and all the boats! We found “Finistere”, another Fremantle boat that we’ve seen a few times at the Busselton Race Week we’ve been twice to. We chatted to one of the crew and they had a difficult 3 weeks’ journey over to Sydney with two stops for both spreaders broken along with their cables to the rear of the boat. They managed to get repairs done, and a Perth rigger over to make it all good in Sydney. Also found “Optimus Prime” a Marten 49 – nice new boat and had a good handicap. Is supposed to do well in the race. There is one other WA vessel called “Limit” a Pugh 52 we didn’t find on the 4 jetties that occupied the starting boats.

We finally caught up with Lance and the rest of the crew. We also met Hazel his wife and Neil’s partner, Cheryl. We had a great chat with them and they were really excited to be flying to Hobart tomorrow to continue the celebrations on the boats’ arrival. Cheryl had two extra tickets on a boat and asked if we were interested in them. They couldn’t go to waste. We couldn’t believe our luck!

We took Midget (tired from all her doggie antics for the morning), back to the shady van, to enjoy a well earned rest while we joined the celebrations on the boat.

oops a few too many before photo!

We had to wait for Wild Oats to vacate the jetty before the Majestic Cruiser could dock and get us all on. I don't know how many people there were on board, but we had tickets numbered 116 and 117. We had no idea at the time, that this was the CYCA’s official boat hired for the members and families of racers to use. It was also one of only 3 boats allowed in the exclusion zone (the race area), one was the start boat, the other a large cat with mast (another cruise boat) and us, the largest spectator boat around!

We had the Clubs’ Commodore announcing the boats as they came by and said hi to all the spectators and supports. It was amazing. The food was great, and we had all the alcohol we could drink supplied. We met some great people standing upstairs on the top deck. Including a couple from Esperance, and another from Perth who had booked their tickets last year for this year’s race (and were flying to Hobart tomorrow). The atmosphere was electric.

Unable to really capture the experience in pictures or video, we had the most amazing day. It was truly magic. We followed the boats out to the heads and then turned and did a lovely cruise around Sydney harbour for another hour and a half and then returned to CYCA at 3pm. We then joined the rest of the WA set back at the bar for a few drinks then picked up Midget and walked the others back to their hotel in Sydney.

you can see all the boats here in the exclusion zone in the background. they were squashed in like sardines and you could imagine how stressful it would be trying to manoeuvre around while everyone was jostling for pole position.

We couldn’t believe the number of people taking in the Boxing Day sales in town. Arriving at DJs for a toilet break, we were shocked to find out they were open till Midnight tonight! Oh the poor staff. They opened at 6am I think!

here's the crowd trying to move through the water and chase the boats out to the heads - you wouldn't have caught me trying to manoeeuvre any boat around in this!

We walked around to Darling Harbour and then back to Rushcutters’ Bay. Collapsing back in our second night in poll position, we decided this was the spot to be in for the New Years Eve fireworks. Since all the other bays between Sydney and here would be closed. That was the aim…

not sure if you can see in this artwork, its an old scene painted on the side of an old building in The Rocks. There is a laneway up the side of the railway line, but the picture of the woman with the child is painted on a building.

Merry Christmas!

Got an early start to the morning and Leanne and Ben took us out to join them for an early morning fishing expedition into the bay. We were the only boat out there on Christmas morning. What a fabulous way to start the day!

Midget assisted in the catching of 5 fish (two photographed). She had the best fun (as always). We then ventured back for Eggs Benedict and coffee for breakfast and decided we should make tracks for Sydney.

We took a very scenic route through to Avalon Beach for a slight siesta and then plotted a course to Vaucluse where we through the best vantage point would be had for the 2008 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. We set a course to be without tolls and also to warn us if we were approaching tolls. It appears it didn’t work and we did go over a bridge and under a tunnel so not sure what will happen there. Have to sort that one out!

Arrived at the end of the tunnel at the top end of Hyde Park. Then went through another tunnel pointing towards Vaucluse. When we came out the end of that one, we immediately spotted Rushcutters’ Bay and the Sydney to Hobart Yachts waiting in the bay ready to go. Thought we’d head in and have a look see at what we mere mortals could check out. We parked fairly easily and found we could freely wander around the whole club! Amazing! We checked out all the boats and found Perie Banou II. Saw John Sanders getting ready. Wished him well and he said he thought it was something to do.

Picture of Skandia with its little grey tender...

Finistere with two of its crew

We were quite in awe of the spectacle and atmosphere of the place. It’s an incredibly cruizy Cruising Yacht Club of Australia allowing dogs around the whole yacht club, including the outdoor bar and eating area.

Time Lord (Auckland NZ) with Mascot... looks like a fun boat!

The calm before the storm

We took a further walk, and found the entire bay park area is a dog park. Of course, needless to say, Midget had a lot of fun. We took a walk to the end of the point and found that there was free parking on the river side of the road that didn’t have a time limit! We drove from our 2 hour roadside park further down the road and got the second last park on the point. What a view! Cant believe we have a fabulous view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House under the generous shade of a large Morton Bay Fig! Unbelievable!