It's Not Unusual...

Thursday, February 17, 2005
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
...to see yachts on Sydney Harbour, but when they've sailed halfway round the world it's definitely worthy of note, and even more so when I've sailed one of them!Getting out of New Zealand was enlivened when our shuttle bus driver got lost in Auckland's maze of similarly-named streets; fortunately Qantas are relaxed about check-in times!


Our first night in an adequate but charmless central Sydney hostel allowed us to admire the stunning Circular Quay vista by night, to the background of Tom Jones giving it his all at a concert on the Domain . The Welsh wonder was sharing the event with Aussie soft-rocker John Farnham; those also of a certain age may remember 'You're the Voice' which is definitely the best of his back catalogue, but as we could peek over the fence for free we weren't complaining!


Auckland does produce some good harbour views, but Sydney is definitely right up there with San Francisco. How will Hong Kong compare, we ask? We expected huge crowds for the finish of the Global Challenge Wellington-Sydney leg, so when we found things quiet on the waterfront next morning we assumed the yachts had arrived in the night. All became clear when several enquiries elicited responses of 'what yacht race?' - eventually we found someone who had heard about it and that the yachts were expected in the afternoon.


A walk to the seaward side of the Opera House revealed a small group of devoted parents in sponsor's t-shirts, and around 2pm a large sail appeared round the corner leading from the harbour entrance . (I don't know what this headland is really called, but I call it 'Ta-da! Point' because that's what you say when the Manly ferry rounds it and reveals the opera house and bridge). The boat was revealed to have a red hull and with a small escort and a large cheer 'BG Spirit' (previously 'Logica') crossed the line to a loud hoot from the committee boat. (Four and a half years since I sailed it in the Solent!) The next two boats were within a few minutes of each other, 'BP Explorer' giving additional value by hoisting the spinnaker to try and overtake. We tore ourselves away about 5pm to collect our bags for the trip to our hostel in Manly, and were in luck on the ferry ride when we saw 10th placed 'Vaio' sailing in. I waved and was of course delighted when the evidently exhausted crew all waved back. It's a shame there weren't more people around to welcome them; hopefully the restart on the 27th will be better attended. The Challenge is circling the globe in the same direction as we are, but their next stop is Cape Town so our paths now diverge .

After a visit to the yachts berthed in Darling Harbour we climbed 200 steps up to the Harbour Bridge pylon, which gives nearly as good a view as Bridge Climb for considerably less money. It is just as well we have a digital camera or the difference would have been spent on developing; if I can get the memory cards downloaded I'll attach some pictures to this report. While I was snapping away a group of Bridgeclimbers happened to look back at the pylon, I waved and they all waved back and cheered; we're all having a wonderful time in Sydney!

We've also done the Manly scenic walkway, quite an effort in the summer heat here, and spent a relaxing afternoon snoozing and snorkelling on Shelly Beach, where Andy saw the giant grouper fish known as 'Wally'. Sydney may look ordinary round the edges but you certainly can't fault the inside bits!Saturday is a stupidly long domestic flight to the other side of the continent and Perth; next despatch from the sunset coast.
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