Monday-Tuesday
We picked up a mooring ball opposite the historic Bantry Bay Explosives depot.
Bantry Bay was a popular recreational area from about the 1840s then it was taken over by the government in 1907 to build this facility to replace the existing storage facility at Powder Hulk Bay. It began construction in 1910 and by 1915 the magazines were declared open.
There were/are nine specially designed “magazines” that were used to store military explosives between 1910 and 1974. It’s specially designed buildings included an integrated cooling system using water from a concrete dam, double brick walls and special roofs designed to lift off in case of an explosion. There was also a small tram network linking the buildings to each other.
The depot is hidden away in the Garigal National Park near Killarney Heights. In the last few years works have been taking place to restore the roofs of the magazines. It currently remains closed to the public due to site contamination but can be viewed from Bantry Bay or, via a 30 minute walk down the hill from Seaforth Oval on the opposite side of Bantry Bay.
There are some great walks along Bantry Bay and to the bluff overlooking the Bay. Around midday we dropped the mooring, filled up with diesel at Spit Bridge Marina and then passed back under the drawbridge down to Rose Bay. At Rose By we picked up a mooring with a view of the Sydney Harbour bridge, our last night in Sydney was to be a room with a view!
Wednesday
After dropping our mooring at 0830 we were motoring at 5 knots towards the heads when a group of 7 kayakers, crossed across our path and continued to paddle about 50 metres off the starboard side of the boat at a constant 5 knots, not a bad effort!
The sea was a bit rough to begin with as the swell bounced off the Sydney sea cliffs, but it only lasted for about 30 minutes and then the sea/swell became more comfortable. Four hours later we turned into Port Hacking right on a high tide not worried about passing under the powerlines or crossing over the shallow section on our way around to Dark Bay, unlike the previous time we came into port. We picked up a mooring alongside MusicMaker with great views of both suburbia and the National Park.
Thursday-Tuesday
The first thing we noticed was the tin-can cowboys must have been at school as the waterways were quiet.
On the bank opposite, which was less than 200 metres from our mooring, there were accommodation blocks and a high ropes course. The facility is owned by Youth Work Centres who specialise in working with troubled, at-risk youth and children with a disability.
The weather was not looking good for the next week with strong winds from the wrong direction and big seas and swell. There were a few days where the wave buoys recorded a wave height of 6 metres. When Mark told us, Georgie was feeling ill just thinking about the way the boat would roll in a sea that size.
To mix things up a bit, so we did not go stir crazy, we had a progressive dinner one evening with Peter & Sal on MusicMaker. Entrée was cooked by Georgie consisting of pizza, garlic and cheese scrolls. Sal made a seafood risotto for the main meal, followed by a desert of lemon passionfruit tart (recipe provided by Oma). All three courses were a success and very tasty.
Once school-work was completed we would take the dinghy and explore Yowie Bay and Cronulla. Cronulla has a great track that follows the beach and the cliffs along the coast.
