On the 14th May we flew to Dubai, a city and an Emirate in the United Arab Emirates known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture and serious traffic jams. Dubai has two seasons: hot and very hot. We were lucky to have 38 – 42 deg C temperatures. But, made the mistake to walk around the city to see all the amazing architecture, covering 15 km in the process – knackered!
Restored Dubai houses of 50 years ago.
Burj Khalifa, an 828 m-tall tower, dominates the skyscraper-filled skyline. At its foot lies the massive Dubai Fountain, with water jets choreographed to music, every hour. Fifty years ago, this was a desert, but oil riches has changed all this. On artificial islands just offshore, “The Palm” and “Atlantis”, are resorts with beaches, water and marine parks.
Burj Khalifa – at 828m, the world’s tallest building.
View down to Dubai fountains from the 125th floor.
Dubai and surrounds has a population of 10 million people. Two million of these are Emirati citizens, descended from the first Emir and his 800 people who settled here to fish and eke out a living. The other eight million people are indentured labourers from India, Pakistan and the rest of the world, who have come here for a better life. They have no hope of becoming citizens of Dubai. We spent three days exploring Dubai before flying to Lisbon.
Twisted building at the marina
Apartments on the coast.
Museum of the future close up.
Lisbon, the second oldest city in Europe after Athens, was the home of the first navigators like Vasco da Gama, Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) and Bartholomew Diaz, who ventured out in their small caravel sailing ships, to explore the world. They discovered the Americas, rounded thesouthern tip of Africa and reached as far as present day Australia. They colonised countries like Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and many others.
View over Lisbon from San Jorge.
In the process, by getting there first, Portugal became a powerful and wealthy county, exploiting the minerals and wealth of their colonies. Many years later, these colonies demanded independence, (often after prolonged wars against their masters in Portugal). Today, Portugal, like many former colonising nations, are reaping the fruits of the past.
The street of our AIr B&B lodgings.
Lisbon tram route to our lodgings.
Vast areas around Lisbon have now become borderline ghettos. The people are mostly from the former Portuguese colonies, Mozambique and Angola in Africa; São Tomé and Principe around the coast of Africa; Goa, and Colombo on the Indian subcontinent; Macao in East Asia; and a few from Brazil. The older parts of Lisbon on the Tagus River are colourful and charming with 100 year old trams running down impossibly steep and narrow streets.
Praca Camoes – historic square.
Lisbon street.
Basilica Baroque period interior.
With our Lisbon travel cards, we used all the public transport options to cover the city. With the steep hills and cobbled streets this is a necessity and it’s worth navigating the trams, buses, trains and metro rail services. Our first and fourth days covered the city, whilst on the second day, we took a train to Cascais on the coast. A picturesque town with constant winds and a large sailing community. The dinghy sailing worlds will take place here later this year.
Cascais waterfront.
Cascais art precinct.
On our third day, we took a train to Sintra in the West, where the erstwhile royalty built their castles. These are in beautiful and verdant forest settings in the mountains, which requires bus transport, stopping of at these spots and in small villages. Already, long entry queues were forming at these attractions, which made buying tickets online before arriving, the sensible thing to do. On our last day, it was time to do our washing.
Sintra town square.
Annie hanging out our washing.
Enjoying wine and snails with Anna our landlady.
After four days in Lisbon, we boarded a train for a three and a half hour trip to Porto in the North. An ancient city with well preserved historic architecture, surrounded by a region which produces arguably, some of the best port wine. We spent two days exploring the sights of Porto. The city is more compact and is situated on the banks of the Douro river. The historic centre of the city rises steeply from the river with churches and cathedrals around every corner.
The church next to our hotel.
Inside, Rococo period church interior.
Lavishly decorated buildings.
The historic centre can be explored on foot in a day, albeit with lots of up and down streets and stairs. We also bought our “passports” for the Portuguese Camino at the cathedral, which is one of the many starting points for this walk. The beautiful steel Luiz bridge connects the city to the Gaia area to the south of the river, where all the Port wine cellars like Ferreira, Cockburn’s, Taylor, and others are located.
The Luiz bridge over the Douro river and the castle beyond.
Apartments on the riverside.
Salad for Annie, tripe on rice for me.
So sensible – electric police cars.
On Friday the 24th May we caught a bus in Porto to Vigo, just north of the border in Spain. Arriving in Vigo, the local bus to Baiona was ready to depart, which was 30 minutes away. Baiona is a pretty little seaside town, which we explored in the afternoon, before dinner at 8:30pm. The Spanish dine late!
Baiona beachfront and fortifications.
View from our hotel window.
After breakfast on Saturday morning we hit the Camino trail north along the coast, for a pleasant walk to Nigran. The weather was cool, with clear skies – ideal for walking. We arrived at our hotel by lunchtime after a short 10 km walk, leaving the afternoon free for a nana nap and exploring.
The start of our walk.
Day 1 Praia America.
This was to be our settling in day and our last easy day, as from here on the walks would average between 17 and 20 km a day for the next seven days. To add to the fun, we both started sneezing and coughing, having contracted colds in Lisbon.
Day 2 stone house in Nigran.
Day 2 Panxon.
This slowed us down a bit, to the extent that we were constantly passed by other hikers. It is however not a race, but a spiritual experience, we were told. By day five, we started a course of amoxicillin to try and sort out the colds.
Day 3 Patos.
Sculpture in Vigo.
The demographics of the “Pilgrims” (me, I’m just a hiker) was interesting. Most people were between the ages of 50 to 70, while women, either hiking alone or in pairs, outnumbered men by at least two to one, during our time on the trail.
View over Vigo city as we walk North.
95 km to go.
The bigger cities that we passed through, like Vigo, Redondella and Pontevedra, had quaint historical centres, but their outskirts and resultant traffic was boring. In the countryside however, the scenery was outstanding with numerous streams and rivers running through forests and vineyards.
Day 4 on track to Pontevedra.
Day 4 Pontevedra.
Day 5 on track to Caldas de Reis.
Day 6 Caldas de Reis.
Only 9.87km to go!
We arrived in Santiago de Compostela on day eight, sore of feet and weak of limb, having walked 142 km. Not much, compared to some of the serious “Pilgrims”. We can now tick this one off Annie’s bucket list – although I still think she was trying to kill me!
The two old farts have finally made it – in front of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
Exhausted walkers and cyclists in front of the cathedral.
It seems more cyclists than walkers finished today.
Beers and lunch to celebrate!
Berlin is our next stop and we will keep you posted on our progress.
On the afternoon of the 1st March 2024, we tied Esprit up at the Shellharbour Marina, with twelve other boats from the RMYC Cruising Division. The 100 nm distance from the Pittwater was broken roughly halfway at La Perouse on Botany Bay, south of Sydney. We had sundowners on “Knot again” after a day of a lumpy big sea and a weak N-E wind, forced us to motor sail all the way.
Esprit route March 2024.
La Perouse anchorage on Botany Bay.
The light winds persisted on the Friday, but we decided to sail despite the lumpy seas. We were rewarded with a pleasant dinner at the Waterfront Tavern in the Shellharbour marina, This man made marina was excavated from a marshy area in the golf course just south of the town. Surrounding the marina is new housing and retail facilities, which is an economic boost for the area and provides a much needed safe harbour for the South coast of NSW.
Dinner at the Waterfront Tavern.
On Saturday afternoon we were treated to an air show which coincidentally, happened at the local Shellharbour airport. There were flyovers from WW2 vintage Spitfire fighter planes, to the latest RAAF F35A Lightning fighter aircraft. The evening was very social with drinks on various boats, ending on Esprit late at night and me doing my Houdini disappearing trick.
Commercial and residential developments around the marina.
We managed to do a few walks along the coast on Sunday. The management of the marina laid on a splendid BBQ lunch with drinks at lunchtime. We were planning to sail further south to Jervis Bay on the Monday, but a southerly wind put paid to that, so we left the marina at 10:00 to sail north. We poled out the jib and dropped anchor at 4pm at Jibbon Bay in Port Hacking.
Apartments next to the marina.
It was short hop to Port Jackson where we tied up to a mooring at Manly Cove. We went ashore and did a walk down the Corso to Shelly Beach and back. Graeme and Jenny Smith joined us for lunch aboard Esprit and we spent a quiet night on the sheltered waters off Manly. A southerly came through on Thursday, so we sailed out of Sydney Heads and poled out the jib. We had a pleasant run up to Broken Bay where we tied up to our mooring at 2pm.
Annie and I walking above Shelly Beach.
Ad for the Sydney Skinny swim for brain cancer on the way to Shelly Beach – should we join?
The following week, we took a bus into Wynyard in the city and walked through the beautiful QVB building to the City Hall, to view a Banksy exhibition – a favourite street artist of ours. We were impressed with the breadth of his art, comprising more than 150 reproductions of his work. For those familiar with Banksy, he has an uncanny ability to use anarchic wit to highlight environmental, social, political, authoritarian and war issues.
The Queen Victoria Building.
Soldiers painting a Peace sign.
Authoritarianism – rude copper.
Consumerism – happy shopper.
Communism – instead of throwing a Molotov cocktail, throw flowers.
Religion – Mother Teresa.
The 24th Biennale of Sydney was also on at seven exhibition locations across the city. We visited the art exhibition at the now defunct, but spruced up White Bay power station. I am glad the power station wasn’t demolished as the impressive spaces with boilers and turbines provides an interesting backdrop for the large installations.
In the meantime, I have set my bike aside, bought new Merrell hiking boots and now walk every day in preparation for our silly attempt at walking the Camino Santiago de Compostela in Portugal and Spain in May – 126 km in nine days. I am secretly checking out bus and taxi services in the area, in case I have to develop some ailment to cut down on the distance. I have already managed to convince Annie that her planned 200 km hike over ten days, was madness.
The Enormous Horns in full flight.
On the 22 nd March we joined a full house at RMYC for dinner and a concert by the Enormous Horns band. The evening was a blast with us dancing the night away – if they had witnessed our moves, John Travolta and the late Olivia Newton-John would have thrown in their towels. It took all of Saturday with Voltaren gel and Panadols to recover.
Marcia and Annie dancing back to their boats.
After a relaxed four day recovery at Towler’s Bay, we tested the resilience of our livers on the Easter weekend with a Sailing Division Sail away to America’s Bay. Weather over the Easter long weekend can be dodgy rainwise, but we had sunny weather the whole weekend with lots of activities on land and on “Pearl”, the RMYC floating party pontoon. Pearl was towed to Refuge Bay and was packed with about 70 people on the Saturday, enjoying music, drinks and food prepared by our CEO, Jayson McDonald and his team. A good time was had by all.
One corner of the Pearl.
Jayson and his team.
The party continued on Esprit with 15 people and 2 dogs.
On Sunday, I had planned to clean the bottom of Esprit with my new plastic scraper, donated by Stef Adelbert. Alas, the day was spent reading, due to circumstances not foreseen the day before. On Monday we picked up Graeme and Jenny Smith at Akuna Bay to show them the eponymous Smith’s Creek, where we had a BBQ on board. We returned home on Tuesday, just before it started raining – what good timing!
In the meantime, I received photos from Karen and Michelle about their Easter weekends:
Karen & Evan at the Byron Bay Bluesfest. My favourites, Tedeschi Trucks Band – I’m so jelly!
Michelle and friends – sailing and surfing in the Mamanuca Islands, Fiji.
Michelle on her Malibu board.
Heavy rains battered Sydney for the next three days before it cleared, allowing us to attend the CCCA Commodore’s dinner at Canada Bay on the Saturday evening. The crowd enjoyed a three course dinner with a very good Elvis floorshow and lots of dancing. Annie and I were awarded the CCCA Blue Water award, with a plaque and engraved crystal decanter.
The Elvis impersonator.
CCCA Blue Water award.
Annie dragged me out of bed on the Sunday morning to do a 10km walk along the coast. I suppose I have to break in the new Merrell hiking boots. The bush walks were very muddy after we had a months worth of rain in one day during the previous week.
Warriewood beach from Turimetta Headland.
Above Narrabeen lagoon – and note the new shoes!
On the Sunday arvo, we had one of our regular sundowner events for the residents of 153 Garden Street, to welcome some new residents to the complex.
Welcome Todd and Niki.
The RMC Sail Cruising Division held the next iteration of the Mediterranean Long Lunch at Bobbin Head on Saturday the 20th April. This event is a culinary extravaganza with much wine and laughter, enjoyed by all the sailors. We worked off the excess calories the next day with a walk from North Harbour reserve through Fairlight to Manly and back.
Manly Sunday markets.
Manly beachfront.
April brought another milestone: Our 37th wedding anniversary and my 77th birthday. To be fair to Annie, we have been together for 44 years – living the first seven years of our beautiful partnership “in sin” as my parents called it. Annie’s mom, being widely travelled and more sophisticated, referred to us as “co-vivants”. This sounded much better.
We celebrated my birthday with a 10km walk from Manly to North Head and back.
View from North Head – 28th April 2024.
We will be flying to Portugal on the 14th May, to visit Lisbon and then walk the Camino Santiago de Compostela to Spain. Following that, a visit to Berlin, then a campervan trip in northern Italy, before finishing with a canal barge cruise in Holland. We will report back in July.
As reported in our last post, we had a festive new year on Sydney Harbour, celebrating Annie’s 69th birthday with family and friends on the 1st January.
Happy days!
A Southerly to sail back to the Pittwater was predicted for the 5th January. With Graeme and Jason Smith on board, we set sail at 10:30 and reached Barrenjoey lighthouse on the Pittwater at 14:30. After many days of Northerlies, we encountered a confused sea and the predicted 20 knot Southerly to push us through the chop, barely reached 10 knots, forcing us to motor sail all the way.
Karen our daughter had an unwanted New Year’s present up in Orange. A mob of kangaroos live in the surrounds of the Orange hospital. On her way home after work, a kangaroo decided to jump across the road and hit her little Nissan Micra, damaging the front end, bonnet and roof of her car.
Hallett’s Beach.
I celebrated our 28th year in Australia on the 12th January like a good Aussie bloke, by mowing the lawn, washing the car and doing 3 loads of washing. The next day we picked up Ron and Michelle Watson to sail up to Hallett’s Beach for a “yacht rock” lunch BBQ with the Sail Cruising Division. The pizza dinner on Esprit carried on till late, with me folding early, unable to keep up.
Tug of War on the beach – Annie’s team.
Finals: Marcia digging in.
The winner of the vino: Marcia Paxton!
Australia Day on the 26th January was contentious this year, as a group of people protested the arrival of the first fleet in 1788, as the occupation of their land– ironically, mostly white fellas masquerading as black fellas. They now mark 26 January as a ‘Day of Mourning’ and more recently ‘Invasion Day’, or ‘Survival Day’.
Australia Day at the Opera House.
Navy helicopter fly by.
Either way, I took the B-line bus into the city to celebrate the invasion, having not done so for the past seven years, due to our absence. I enjoyed the buzz and music events around Circular Quay and Darling Harbour. In the evening, we celebrated Australia Day at our friends Martin and Rose Campbell, with our old Madison Way neighbours.
Crowds at Circular Quay.
The Firies joining in the fun.
The following evening was a humdinger with dinner at Michael and Jackie, before hitting the DY RSL for an INXS tribute show. Having caught an Uber home, Ron and I fetched our car in the RSL parking garage the next day. We joined the Dipper’s, Dunlop’s, Wade’s and Fox’s the next day for a long lunch, ending at 5:30pm. These are St Luke’s parents from Karen’s final year at school, who have kept in touch and invited us to a reunion.
Early dinner at Michael and Jackie.
INXS tribute band.
“Febfast”, “Dry July” and “Octsober” are all month long events to try and encourage Aussies to abstain and not drink alcoholic beverages for a month. I decided February, being the shortest month, would be the one for me. Also, after relentless pressure from Annie to start gym, I caved in and started a free month long trial the her gym “Freshstart” on the 1st February.
Downward Dog in my new gym dacks and wife beater singlet.
After nearly splitting my pants in a 7:15am Circuit (60+) class during weight lifting, I retreated to the 10:15am Yoga class the next day. I am now happily settled in with the ladies at 10:15am each day, for 3 classes of Yoga and 2 classes of Pilates a week. The “Febfast” caper was not successful either – as a result of aforementioned Yoga and Pilates, I had to start self medicating to relief my body aches – so, back on the turps again it was on the 8th February!
In the meantime, our old friend Jim Petrie from Cape Town came for a short visit. We had a pleasant afternoon at the Church Point Cafe and General Store with Morris and Rani Rosario, rocking away to Matt Trapnell’s “Mama said Don’t”. Lead singer Narelle Thistlethwaite’s pregnancy didn’t slow her down in the least. I returned to the real world on the 8th with our “Old Sailor’s WhatsApp” group, sampling the bevies at the Modus Brewery in Mona Vale.
Jim, Dirk, Annie and Rani.
Narelle and “Mama said Don’t” going strong.
The Coastal Cruising Club of Australia asked us to do a circumnavigation talk and slideshow at Drummoyne Sailing Club on the 15th February. The talk was well attended and was also transmitted via Zoom to the members elsewhere.
I was invited by our friend Ian Addinsell to attend a Beefsteak and Burgundy Club dinner at the Waterfront Cafe, Church Point on the 20 th February. This is the RPAYC chapter of a club that was started by some winemakers in South Australia, in July 1955. It has grown to 175 affiliated clubs worldwide with more than 5,000 members. It was interesting to hear the comments on the wines in the blind tasting, which accompanied the three course dinner.
Finally, I attach two photos showing the progress of the two gardens I have established on common areas in our complex. I have named them after the famous English landscape architect Capability Brown (1716 – 1783).
Capability North.
Capability South.
That wraps up our news for January and February. Tomorrow, we will sail south for two days, to the new Shellharbour Marina, with the RMYC Sail Cruising Division for a weekend full of fun events. Cheers,
Please note: We have added a new page “Post Archive” under the pages on the right, and at the bottom of all pages. It lists the contents of all our previous posts for a quicker search in the archive calendar box on the right.
Ron and Michelle on Esprit.
October drew to a close, sailing with Ron and Michelle Watson on the Pittwater, followed by sundowners at 153 Garden Street, our community of 19 townhouses in Warriewood.
The ladies of 153 Garden Street.
The first weekend in November saw us in Orange, central west NSW, for a visit to Karen and Evan, who we hadn’t seen for three months. It gave us the opportunity to visit the annual Garden Ramble in Millthorpe, 24 km from Orange. This quaint village has some spectacular gardens and ten properties were open to visitors.
Evan and Annie on Millthorpe main street.
Beautiful garden in Millthorpe.
We also had dinner with Gideon Sauer, an old friend, who sailed with us in Greece and Turkey, 37 years ago. He and his partner Francois Bothma, who was in London, recently moved into a new house in Orange with beautiful views across an adjoining farm.
Gideon and Francois’ country view.
The sailing scene also got busy, with the Sail Cruise Division organising a sail to Patonga Beach for a pub lunch, followed by sundowners at Refuge Bay and a sleepover.
SCD sundowners at Refuge Bay beach.
The waterfall above Refuge Bay beach
A free weekend in middle November allowed us to tick off the last items on our maintenance list. We replaced two cams on the Spinlock Power clutches as well as the Spinlock winch feeder on the coachroof. Having replaced two cams in Antigua, we knew this was a big job and had been putting it off, cursing, when the clutches didn’t work.
New winch feeder, winch skirts and the Spinlock clutches.
This work involved stripping the ceiling panels, disconnecting the lights and switches, before removing a plethora of screws and bolts necessary for the clutches to cope with substantial halyard forces. This was followed by disassembling the clutches to replace the cams and then reversing the process. We also replaced the damaged skirts of the Harken coachroof winches and serviced the winches. This took a full day and a bit of shouty-shouty with Annie, my reluctant offsider.
The next day, I went up to the top of the mast to replace the two sheaves for the main halyard and the topping lift, which were totally shot, making it difficult to hoist the mainsail. We spent the rest of the day polishing the dull and marked gelcoat on the stern of Esprit.
After 7 years: Note how the spindle hole of the mainsail sheave on the right has worn.
By the third week of November, it seemed like La Nina was back, with a lot of rain over most of NSW for more than a week. This rain was welcome, as the summer fires had already started in north western NSW and was now mostly brought under control – for the time being. Some of our RMYC Cruising Division sailing was cancelled as a result.
After six years of daily analysis of weather forecasts, to plan our safest route around the world, we find it’s now part of our daily existence and difficult for us to ignore.
Weatherzone forecast 8 December 2023. Click to enlarge.
However, the rain wasn’t to last long. By the 7th December El Nino was back with a vengeance. The NSW forecast for the 8th December indicated a heat island over our area with temperatures over 40 deg C. To add to the excitement, Cyclone Jasper, the earliest cyclone in 18 years in our part of the world’s cyclone seasons, incubated south of the Solomon Islands.
Cyclone tracker 9 December 2023. Click to enlarge.
The forecast as of the 9th December was for Jasper to make its landfall near Cairns in Northern Queensland. You may recall, we were hit by Cyclone Debbie in the same area back in April 2017. It wasn’t pleasant. We’ll keep an eye on Jasper and report on its progress.
Part of the 40 person SCD Xmas BBQ.
In the meantime, the Christmas parties around this time of the year, built up, resulting in our bathroom scales malfunctioning with erroneous readings and us feeling somewhat ordinary on some mornings. For example, the Sail Cruising Division’s Xmas BBQ at the Basin on the 14th, which carried on until late at night on Esprit – hardly afloat with 14 people in the cockpit.
Stumpy, the blue tongued lizard harassing us for food at the Xmas lunch.
The Parks ranger helping Stumpy back to the bush.
The next day was spent recovering with reading and swimming, before I donned my diving gear on the Saturday, to scrape the barnacles of the hull. Once again, I was attacked by the water lice living in the growth on the hull – lice getting under my rashie and covering my legs – mongrels! The lice bites subsided in time for our Garden St. Xmas party on the 17th Dec.
Cyclone Jasper landfall 13th Dec 2023. Click to enlarge.
Cyclone Japer made its landfall between Cairns and Port Douglas in Northern Queensland on the 13th December causing wind damage an widespread flooding, despite decreasing in strength to a category 2 cyclone. The Captain Cook highway between Cairns and Port Douglas is still closed due to landslides and the flooding in this area is quite severe.
Captain Cook highway – one of the landslides.
Christmas day was celebrated with friends at Mona Vale beach. This is the annual Orphan’s Christmas lunch for those friends without family in Sydney on the day. There were about 20 of us without kids, parents or other rellies around. A great time was had by all.
We set up this gazebo for the expected rain.
Lunchtime spread.
The hardliners still standing at 5pm.
Dirk discussing Patricia’s 72nd birthday today – Michelle heading home on her bike.
This year, we watched the Boxing day start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on TV, rather than on the water, as in the past – a much better view and less tension with the hundreds of yachts jostling for a good view.
2023 Sydney to Hobart race start on Boxing day.
It was only on the 28th December that a suitable north-easterly came through, for us to have a good sail to Port Jackson – also known as Sydney harbour. First on board the next day, was Michelle who arrived from Fiji. She was joined by four of her friends to watch the New Years eve fireworks on the harbour – spectacular as usual.
Laura, Jack, Fergus, Kate and Michelle on a harbour cruise.
The new casino and office buildings on the harbour, built during our 6 year absence.
Our view from Rose Bay – 7 Million dollars worth of fireworks.
New Year’s day champagne breakfast for Annie’s 69th birthday.
Karen and Evan then joined us on New Years day – she had to be back at Accidents and Emergencies in Orange again two days later. She drew the short straw this year, also worked on Christmas day. I take my hat off and salute all the people of our emergency and essential services and the hospitality industry who are on duty while the rest of us gather with family.
The Schady-Muller family together again – the first time in a long while.
Our friends Stef and Cath’s son Heath, made a beautiful card and birthday cake for Annie.
Finally, all the best for 2024 to our friends and family. May it be a happy and healthy year for all of you. Cheers,
This is a re-posting of our spring news, which was published without any photos!
Spring has sprung in Sydney and we are enjoying our sailing again, after a major refit of the electronics on Esprit. Weekends have been busy with the annual Jeanneau Rendezvous, where we were lucky to win a $1,500 voucher for anti fouling at the dinner. Also, sail aways with the RMYC Sail Cruising Division and the Coastal Cruising Club of Australia (CCCA).
Flying the new 135 sqm Code Zero.
Early in August we drove to Redfern to load Karen and Evan’s clothes and things for their move to Orange in Central west NSW. Evan would follow a week later and her Nissan Micra had limited luggage space. So, our BYD EV was loaded to the roof. EV range with a full charge should be 480 km, but with the load and topography going over the Blue Mountains, we played it safe and stopped in Lithgow for a fast charge during our lunch at the Lithgow Workers Club. We could have made the 300 km to Orange.
Free charging at the NRMA chargers in Lithgow.
For her next four years as a registrar, Karen moves to a new hospital in Northern NSW every six months. Challenging, but in order to provide the country folks access to her speciality and to ease the pain for her and Evan, a fully furnished house with everything down to linen is provided free of charge. As an occupational therapist, Evan got a transfer from Sydney to Orange. They are enjoying the less hectic pace at the brand new Orange hospital, with wineries aplenty in the area and a town which is not a cultural backwater.
Karen and Evan’s house in Orange.
The 2023 FIFA women’s soccer world cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, had us all excited. The Matildas did quite well up to the semi-final, but more importantly, pulled the nation together in support, whilst promoting the sport to the younger generation. A lot more skill is required than women’s rugby league or union, as well as almost no concussion injuries.
My wetlands walk.
My walking and cycling regime came along apace, cycling to the library and shopping errands, losing some weight in the process. This was inevitably offset by frequent dinner parties and the RMYC Sail Cruising Division weekends at various destinations. Our monthly first Friday boat owners drinks evenings are now themed with the August evening, a Miami evening. (think Miami Vice and colourful threads) Pirate and other themes to follow.
Some Sail Cruising members at the Basin
Early September, we thought Michelle was visiting various Pacific Islands for her work, but it turned out she was in the UK for a conference and a reunion hike in the Cotswolds with her British hiking group. Her flight back to Fiji was via America, so she attended the Burning Man Festival, again. Instead of the usual dust, unexpected downpours turned the event into the Burning Mud Festival!
Another SCD weekend at Refuge Bay
Karen celebrated her 35th birthday on the 21st September and Evan treated her to a hot air balloon flight. The following weekend we joined the CCCA for a sail away to Dangar Island where we attended the annual Oktoberfest party, overnighting at America’s Bay with drinks on Esprit. This gave the members of the group the opportunity to check out the cut of our jib to see if we were suitable candidates for their group. We seem to have passed muster.
CCCA Dangar Island Oktoberfest.
Australia went to the polls on the 14 th October in a referendum to say Yes or No to a Voice to Parliament for the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. A majority of 60% of voters decided that this proposal could be divisive along racial lines and that all Australians should be equal before the law.
Oktoberfest music by the Sauer Krauts.
On Sunday the 22nd October Annie did the 28 km seven bridges walk in Sydney – in aid of The Cancer Council. She finished in 8 hours looking perky and happy.
Seven Bridges Map
We look forward to the warmer months and sailing weekends and will post more news in due course. Cheers for now!
Early in June the Watsons and us made our way to the Pittwater RSL for dinner and a show with a ten person group playing Motown music. I love the Motown sound of the seventies and went prepared with anti-inflammatories, to dance the night away. Clearly, our age group haven’t forgotten Motown, as the joint was packed to the rafters with the 60-80 demographic, dancing like they were in their twenties. An excellent time was had by all the silver tails.
10 piece Motown band
Our bathroom renovations also started first week of June. Annie and I didn’t like walking straight into the laundry when entering the house and she felt we needed a second bathroom for visitors. I moved the washing machine and tumble dryer into the garage with the help of Bryce our plumber friend.
Laundry demolition.
Two builders quoted on the plan we had drawn up for a second bathroom and we selected the builder who could start and finish the soonest – Three Crowns Construction started on the 1st June and finished exactly four weeks later. Lars, Adam, Daniel and their tiler, plumber and electricians co-ordinated well and did an excellent job. Annie and I did the painting of the ceilings and walls.
The completed job.
On the 21st June, one year after finishing radiation therapy, I went for a PET scan to find out if there were any defiant cancer cells still present in my body. It was a relief to be given the all clear and return a PSA blood test of 0.33 – celebrations were in order. I have to have a PSA blood test every 6 months.
Michelle for dinner.
In the meantime, we had a surprise one night visit from Michelle who was in Sydney for an UN conference. Neil and Judith, now living in Perth also paid us a surprise visit and due to too much wine and laughter, I cremated a chicken on the BBQ.
Another out of focus dinner party.
Jeremy and Gerda Wiley came for a visit, dinner and a walk up to Barrenjoey lighthouse.
Our travels in Fiji – click to enlarge.
On the 6th July we flew to Nadi in Fiji, with a connecting flight to the capital Suva in the east, where Michelle lives and works for Unicef.
View from Michelle’s apartment.
Early morning exercise.
She had a busy programme laid on for us, with a tour of Suva and drinks with some colleagues at the Suva Bowling Club.
Drinks with friends at the bowling club.
Due to Covid lockdowns, we missed making a landfall in Savusavu, Fiji at the end of 2021. So now, we took a ferry to Savusavu three days later, where we stayed at Ian and Jan’s Gingerbread cottage for four days.
Michelle’s Suzuki Jimny on the ferry.
View down to Savusavu bay.
The Gingerbread cottage.
Sundowners on the beach in front of our cottage.
On a previous visit to Fiji when I turned 60, we focussed on Nadi and the West coast visiting the island resorts in the area. The area we were now visiting is low key and less touristy, which was great, as we are not into large resorts.
Savusavu yacht club.
We stopped for coffee at the Jean Michel Cousteau resort.
A highlight of this visit, apart from the beautiful scenery and friendly locals, was a boat trip out to the offshore reefs, where we snorkelled over pristine coral reefs with colourful tropical fish, before we returned to Suva.
Going to the reefs on the dive boat.
A low pressure weather system formed over Fiji after our return, resulting in rain and strong winds. This was disappointing as we had to cancel a trip out to the small Leleuvia Island, north-east of Suva – it however, allowed us more time exploring the markets and sights of Suva with Michelle.
Suva fruit and veg market.
The flower market.
Annie in the botanical gardens.
Drinks at the Grand Pacific Hotel.
On Sunday the 16th July we took an early flight to Nadi, followed by a flight to Kadavu Island to the South, to visit the Matava Eco Resort. This is really off the beaten track, ideal for a tech detox, as there is no internet or phone reception, roads or cars in this remote area. The Bures (bungalows) against a hill, overlook the Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef – one of the last remaining pristine coral barrier reefs on the planet.
Flying into Kadavu – the short airstrip with water at each end.
Arriving at the short Kadavu airstrip, a waiting ute picked us up for a short ride to a small mangrove bay to wade out in knee deep water to a Fijian longboat. The usual 45 minute boat ride to the resort turned into a one hour wet and bone jarring trip, into the teeth of the wind to the resort. With low tide, we again had to wade ashore to arrive at the resort drenched.
Bumpy, windy and wet boat ride.
The resort at high tide.
The deck area.
The staff gave us a warm welcome with hot coffee and a warm lunch, before we tackled the stairs to our Bure for a solar powered hot shower and a Nananap. The low pressure weather system over the island, resulted in very strong easterly winds during our stay, ruling out our planned snorkeling on the Astrolabe Reef.
Front deck of our Bure.
Our view out to sea.
Instead, we did some challenging walks into the mountains up to a 800 m altitude, with a guide clearing a path through the dense vegetation with his machete and us returning to the resort covered in mud. Our evenings were convivial dinners with a French family, visiting their son, also working in Suva.
Jungle walk – the “Survivor” series was shot here.
With the Frenchies from Bordeaux at the lookout.
View out to the Astrolabe Reef.
Slipping and sliding downhill on the muddy track.
After an emotional farewell and flower necklaces presented by the staff, our boat ride back to Matava was much easier, due to a light following wind. Note: evidently a flower worn above the left ear by Fijian ladies means “I’m cooking” (married), above the right ear, “I’m looking” (single).
Goodbye from the staff.
The boat ride back to the airstrip in the village.
We spend a night in Nadi before flying back to a very cold Sydney. Ironically, the warm Fijian weather we enjoyed (like summer in Sydney) was considered cold by the Fijians, as it was also their winter.
In the meantime, Karen & Evan who got married on the 1st April, got back from a belated two week honeymoon in Japan with a few days in South Korea, on the way back to Sydney.
Three months after the wedding – the honeymoon!
After selling the two small 14″ folding bicycles we took around the world on Esprit, I ordered a full size 27 speed 26″ folding bike with a 36V Lithium iron battery for uphill assistance. We used these bikes to cycle through the Bordeaux region some years ago. Getting older but not stronger, this is probably a sensible choice. My first ride around the Narrabeen lakes was a breeze.
My 27 speed, 36V, 350W folding bike.
On the 30th July we took Esprit out to sea to look for whales on their annual migration to the North. We may have been a bit late in the season, as no whales showed up. Instead, we anchored off Maitland beach for lunch and then had a fast sail back to RMYC for dinner aboard with seven friends.
No whales!
We are looking forward to spring and will report again on our activities down the track. Cheers for now, Annie & Dirk.
