Saturday
There wasn’t much to see in Greenwell so we lifted anchor at daybreak and crossed the bar on the flood tide. We were anticipating a 9-hour voyage to Port Hacking. We had a 1-1 ½ metre swell with less than a 10 knot wind from the west.
The coastline was becoming more populated the further north we sailed. As we passed Port Kembla there were 4 cargo ships at anchor waiting for their turn to load. It was interesting to note that despite the wind blowing from the west, the ships were all facing north into the Eastern Australian current (EAC).
We arrived at Gunnamatta Bay just off Cronulla at 1530 and dropped anchor in a very crowded anchorage.
Sunday
It was amazing to see the number of houses built on the hills in each of the bays on the north side of Port Hacking, the southern side of Port Hacking being National Park. On the northern side of Port Hacking, it was not uncommon for 3 homes (very big homes) to be built on the sides of a hill. The two lower homes did not have driveways, but they had access to a lift that would travel up and down on a track to the road above.
It was too busy in Gunnamatta Bay for our liking with ferry’s and boats coming and going, we wanted somewhere a bit quieter and closer to the National Park on the southern side. After much research and cross checking, Mark worked out that we needed the high tide to cross the shallow channel between Burraneer and Turriell Point, but we had to get under the power lines that were 24 metres high at Burraneer (our mast is 21 metres high plus the windvane and VHF antenna). Checking with the far-away lookers as we slowly motored under, I guessed that we had about 3 metres to spare. The shallow section of the channel was about 200 metres long and we squeezed through with 0.5m under the keel.
We picked up a mooring buoy opposite Yowie Point, the change of location was well worth it. We looked out at the National Park, much better!
Monday
The wind was forecast to increase to 30 knots with very large seas, so we delayed our departure from Port Hacking for another day. For a change in scenery, we motored around to South West Arm and picked up a mooring buoy.
We took a ride up the creek in the dinghy and anchored. There was a deep pool with a rope swing which would be awesome on a warm day for a swim. From this point we walked up along the creek to the Winifred falls.
Later that afternoon we witnessed an interesting past time for the local teenagers. They had tinnies with overpowered motors, they would tilt their motors right up and then apply enough power to get the bow of the tinnie up in the air and then ease off on the power as the bow came down, and then repeat. There were times that we were sure that the tinnie was going to flip, but it never did.
Tuesday
The wave rider buoy off Sydney was measuring a maximum wave height of 5 metres with a 12 second period. We were not too concerned as the swell would be following so it should be a reasonably comfortable trip. Georgie took her Travacalm and at 0800 we cast off and made our way out of Port Hacking towards Sydney Harbour. The waves offshore were certainly large but not uncomfortable.
It was a lovely sunny day as we entered the heads at Sydney, Mark had Georgie and I out on deck as extra eyes assessing traffic and reporting back when and if the vessels were heading our way. We saw Navy helicopters completing sorties lifting people from the water and Navy divers a bit further up the channel. High speed ferries were coming and going along with numerous super yachts. It was a stark contrast coming from Port Davey in Tasmania to the most populated city in Australia.
Along with S/V Music Maker we slowly cruised passed the Opera house and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Georgie was in awe (actually, we all were!) trying to take in all the sights. Lucy was out on deck with us, not wanting to miss out on any of the action.
After passing under the Anzac bridge, we were fortunate enough to squeeze into the anchorage in Rozelle Bay (one of only a few areas you can actually anchor close to the city). Here we were only a short dingy ride to shore where there are parks and walking tracks, perfect!
