We’ve been back in Pittwater for a month or so now and it has been a busy time.
It was with a great sense of anticipation that we sailed back into Broken Bay and took a mooring in the Basin. It is such a beautiful boating area and so very familiar to us. Yet at the same time very different as this is the first time we have been living here on a boat rather than in our house. It is a bit of a half way feeling. On land we have our old car, running around “home”, shopping, seeing friends, going to the beach, walking the cliffs. And yet at the end of the day we return to our floating home and liveaboard life on the water. It is all good, but sometimes a bit dislocating.
Certainly having the freedom to stay where we like in these superb waterways is a real treat. There are safe, well maintained moorings everywhere, stunning sheltered anchorages all through the Kuringai National Park and easy access to magnificent surf beaches.
We are members of a local yacht club that has moorings scattered around the area. In particular there are 2 moorings just off the main yacht clubs in Bayview and available to book by the week. Barely used we have had no problem using them and they have made life so easy for us. A friend has a boat in one of the club marinas where we can tie up our dinghy and keep the car in the car park. So we have now stayed on the mooring for a couple of separate weeks whilst we do all the land based stuff we have wanted to do. In between we can take off “up the river” to enjoy the area and get away from the noise and crowds (we have become less comfy with the “busy”ness of land life).
These weeks have been full of catching up with friends, shopping for parts/materials for the long list of boat projects that have been waiting our return and a few routine medical check ups to make sure all is still going well under the hood.
It has been great to see our friends again after 18 months away. We have also spent plenty of time with son Edward and fiancée Alicia, not to mention using their unit as a post drop for deliveries and giving their washing machine a work out!
Christmas on the boat was fun too. Alice was back home from Bangkok and we hosted some of her closest friends on the boat for a lovely day sailing. She was back for a while so in between her hiking in Tasmania and hanging with her Sydney friends we got to spend some time on the boat together too. Ed and Alicia joined us for a few days so the 5 of us had a really lovely Christmas off Halletts beach. Once again we were missing Wil who stayed in Europe with friends in Bruges.
Then it was a return to our favourite Bayview mooring for New Years Eve. It happens to be perfectly located to see the firework displays so we hosted a bunch of friends aboard and Piet and Kirsty rafted their boat up. Such a good evening. Normally we all begin to flag a bit after the 9pm display and have been known to be in bed before the midnight ones (old fogies that we are), but this time we were all firing and partying on.
So now we are continuing our mix of sitting on the Bayview mooring and disappearing into the national park. Lots of boat projects are getting done (mostly interior cosmetics like new sinks and taps, cleaning and new mattresses).
The only hitch has been a recent spate of shark attacks in the harbour and northern beaches which has kept everyone out of the water (we’re not even game to swim off the back of the boat even for a quick dip). It has been really eerie to go to the beach, perfect sunny day, great surf and not a single person in the water. A combination of season, torrential rains clouding the water, bait fish runs and bull shark migration have created an exceptional situation. 4 attacks in 3 days and tragically one young lad dead and others with serious injuries. It will be a while yet before we are back in the water.
We are busy now planning our haulout in March in Port Stephens where we will be leaving the boat on the hard for 3 months as well as getting a few jobs done (of course).
Then it is off to Europe where we have to sort out some family stuff in Jersey, catch up with family and friends and then go on some adventures. So far we have decided to visit Ireland in a campervan, go hiking and twitching on a remote Hebridean island with friends, perhaps Cyprus to see my sister, cross paths with Wil wherever he happens to be and maybe a few other outings that will occur to us at the time. We will also break our journey there and back in Bangkok to see Alice. It is so good to have the freedom to plan like this. We very much appreciate how privileged and lucky we are.