Sublime to the ridiculous

Oh my, but it's cold outside.  Jumping from temperatures in the 40's (Centigrade) to those substantially below freezing comes as a bit of a shock to the system.  I arrived at Toronto's airport with a temperature of minus 14 but the wind chill factor dropped that to minus 24, something I haven't experienced for what seems an entire lifetime and something that this poor tropically spoilt body will take some getting used to.

However, there is a positive side to all this.  Firstly, I arrived to find my Mom looking extremely well despite the fact that she's just returned from hospital, have got to see my sister and all her family and woke up this morning to a winter wonderland.  It had snowed the day before and into the evening and having no wind, the ground, trees, fencing, everything, was covered in that beautiful white fluffy stuff made even more beautiful by the bright sunny day we were delivered today.  It brings out the kid in me.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (Calypso), Paul tells me he's working flat out sanding all the pillars and posts inside as it hasn't stopped raining since I left.  It appears even more nasty weather is on its way with some severe storms so I can only hope things don't get too uncomfortable for him down under.

  

PHOTO GALLERY:

My brother-in-law digging out the cars

A winter wonderland outside the front door

 

Up the River

Our anchorage on the Brisbane River

I must be mad.  I’m off to Toronto in the morning where it’s the dead of winter but right now am sitting sweltering inside the boat in about the coolest position I can find; it’s 32°C; heaven only knows what it is outside in the sun.  Sydney recorded their highest ever temperature yesterday at 45,6°C!  I think I'm in for a bit of a shock.

In preparation for the trip, I now have a beautiful pair of knee-high leather boots which will definitely go a long way to hide my usual mode of ‘hobo’ fashion.  My friend, Gillian, who has lent me her winter jacket, arrived on Friday with the boots and some scarves so now I’m well set and reasonably fashionable.

I managed to find a pair of shoes as well.  This then meant purchasing a pair of stockings to wear with said shoes.  Stockings, yikes, haven’t seen a pair of those in a month of Sundays.  Nor have my feet seen the inside of a pair of closed shoes for some 9 years so, when buying the stockings, I threw in a pack of bandages knowing darn well what new shoes on these inexperienced feet are going to mean.  With stockings and shoes in place, I went off into town yesterday to practice (yes, one has to practice after such a long hiatus) but very wisely took my flip-flops along for good measure.  Thank goodness, a couple of hours of practice and my feet rebelled.  I guess this means sneaking my flip-flops into my carry-on luggage.  I tried again in the evening, managing all right but very thankful to be home to get them off.

Gillian is a friend from way back when, having first met her in England before Paul & I got married.  Her youngest daughter, Tarryn, who was also with us on Friday, is my god-daughter who I hadn’t seen in a dozen years either.  They moved out to South Africa after us and followed us down from Johannesburg to Durban before settling in Australia; so great to meet up with them again. 

For so long, we’d said that we wouldn’t come to Australia due to the expense and all the negative things we’d heard.  It certainly is expensive but no more so than New Zealand and, here we are, anchored right in the middle of Brisbane free of charge.  We can’t complain.  As far as the negativity goes, how wrong can rumours sometimes be!  From the moment we arrived, we have found everyone so helpful and friendly and are saddened that they receive this unwarranted reputation especially in the cruising community.

We loved Sydney and the same goes for Brisbane.  It’s a vibrant city of over 2 million people, 3 million if the surrounding areas are taken into consideration, and lies on the banks of the Brisbane River which winds through with a myriad of s-bends making for some very pretty settings.  We’re in a spot by the City Botanical Gardens with a sheer rock wall on the far side where we can watch dozens of rock-climbers each day slowing working their way to the top.  Below, hundreds of avid exercise enthusiasts walk, run, cycle, paddle, spar and BBQ along the pathways and parks that line the river. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing my Mum and all my family despite the cold.  Just hope they've saved me some of that white fluffy stuff to play in.   Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Paul will be doing the usual, boat work.  This time, he's hoping to refurbish much of the woodwork which is in sad need of some TLC.

PHOTO GALLERY:

The pedestrian mall

Renovated old on top but modern below

 

Walking through the City Botanical Gardens

City skyline from our boat

And in the evening

Doing the River Tango

Anchored by the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens

 walking distance to the centre of the city

We're back in Brisbane after having our holiday with Lioness rudely interrupted.  No sooner had we sailed back to Dora Creek to plan a few more activities, when we received a phone call to tell us that Calypso had dragged and hit another boat.  This is about the most frightening news a boat owner can hear so it meant a really rushed trip back to Brisbane.

Well, the good news is, we hadn’t dragged and the ‘hit’ was just a light touch so a mountain was made out of a molehill.  The French cat involved had moved (as he was there first, it really should have been us) but then they left the next day anyway so we’re still shaking our heads as to the panic created.  Regardless, this is the first time we’d left Calypso for any length of time just on anchor so we were rather anxious about her anyway.

Terry and Marjatta, thanks for a truly wonderful time.  You gave us a fabulous holiday, one we won’t ever forget.  Perhaps, one day, we can reciprocate, maybe back in Panama.

And some might give a slight smirk when we talk about a holiday as, to non-cruisers, you probably think we’re on a permanent holiday anyway.  Believe me, cruising is not for the faint-hearted.  You either have to be a very wealthy gentleman sailor to have ‘them that do’ do it for you or be a jack-of-all trades which means constant maintenance and hard work.  We fall into the latter category so this holiday meant an entire fortnight away without Paul worrying about having to fix this, that or the other thing and we saw so much into the bargain.

Anchoring up the river in Brisbane creates its own source of entertainment.  The river is highly affected by the changing tides, contrary winds and rapid currents.  All this creates havoc in an almost laughable way.  If one were to sit and watch those on anchor over the change of tides on a fairly windy day, it would be similar to watching  Mexican jumping beans in action.  There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the dance they all perform.

 We were told that there’s a sunken boat somewhere in the region and we think Calypso found it. We, along with Peter from Troutbridge, decided to go to see “The Hobbit” one afternoon so Pete and I went on ahead to do some wandering and Paul was to join us at the cinema.  About an hour before the time, Paul called to say we were beached.  Not again!  We rushed back to find that we were stuck high and dry on something but the surrounding waters were all fairly deep.  ?????  We seem to be making a habit of this so again we waited for the tide to come in to float free, pulled up some chain and problem solved.  The water is far too muddy to see below but it must have been some object down there and, true to form, we managed to get stuck on it.

This should help keep Paul out of mischief for the next month as I’m going to be away.  I’m flying back to Canada to see my Mum, sister and family and he’ll remain behind doing the usual (boat maintenance that is).  This will definitely be a bit of a shock to the system for me.  While we were in Sydney, it reached 42°C, here in Brisbane a tad cooler but still hot and sunny and, me, I’ll be heading to the dead of winter with casual summer clothes for a wardrobe, flip flops for footwear and a borrowed winter coat.  Hope I don’t look too much like the drifter and vagabond that I am – it wouldn’t exactly inspire the airlines to upgrade me to business class I’m afraid.

PHOTO GALLERY:

Beating the heat Ozzie style

My first Kookaburra sighting

Farewell Sydney

After a tough day grocery shopping

More Wanderings

After our day out touring around Sydney, I thought this poor body of mine would need a day's break, but that was not to be.  The following day was out again, this time to wander up through the streets of Glebe, a cosmopolitan bohemian-style suburb full of boutiques, foreign restaurants, coffee houses and tea gardens galore and some beautiful old terrace homes with 'broekie-lace' balconies.  Again, all the streets were lined with trees and, this time, some beautiful hanging baskets as well. 

Walking further took us to a large shopping mall which gave us some idea of Australian products and prices.  We've always been told how horrendously expensive Australia is and, to be honest, it isn't cheap but if you look around and shop carefully, you can certainly come up with some bargains.

We stopped at a little Turkish restaurant on our way back that afternoon as they'd advertised hamburgers for only $5.50.  Thinking that this was too good to be true, we just had to find out and were very pleasantly surprised to find that, not only was it cheap but it was a delicious home-made hamburger and chips with home-baked rolls.  Certainly excellent value as it was a sufficiently large portion that we didn't have to have dinner that evening.

 

Previously we'd had another meander around Manly, along the waterfront and the seaward paths.  Many of the rocky cliffs had interesting artwork embedded in them and, above, were many incredible cliff-hanging homes with spectacular views out to sea.  The weather was sunny and warm so the locals and tourists were out in full force on all the beautiful beaches.

PHOTO GALLERY:

Around Glebe:

Around Manly seawalk:

Walkabout in Sydney

After seven hours of traipsing around seeing the sights of Sydney, we have to admit that it has to be one of the prettiest cities we’ve ever visited.

Our friends gave us the grand tour by shanks pony which proved to be a great way to see a lot.

Firstly, we anchored in the little bay of Rozelle which is right beside the Sydney Fish Market and only a 10 minute walk from the city through tree-lined streets.  The market itself was quite an experience as we’d not seen such an array of seafood ever before.  The selection was beyond amazing.  Not only do they sell all the fish fresh but there are umpteen dozen eateries servings every seafood dish imaginable and, by the number of people sitting consuming this lot, it appeared to be a very popular stop to do so.

 

Our walking tour took us to Paddy’s Market , a huge covered bazaar that was shades of the markets in Bangkok selling a host of Chinese rubbish and local souvenirs but a great atmosphere and fun to browse around.  After this, we stopped for lunch in Chinatown where all the signs are Chinese, everything Chinese is available and one can get a huge plate of food for very reasonable prices.

 

After lunch, we wandered along and through Darling Harbour which is chock-a-block with every type of restaurant one can imagine from absolutely everywhere in the world.  It’s a continuous hive of activity with music, buskers, a busy waterway, hundreds of tourists and an enormous convention centre.  From there we went on past the beautiful Chinese Gardens and into the city centre.

 

The centre was clean vibrant, tree-lined, full of every name brand shop and a thousand more with a host of shoppers to keep it humming.  There are some gorgeous old buildings that have been maintained beautifully and a lovely wide walking street full of buskers which all added to the ambiance and atmosphere.

 

Once we left this, we found our way down to an area called The Rocks which lies at the base of the Sydney Bridge, the old original section of the city filled with beautifully restored old buildings circa 1870.  This overlooks the point where the Opera House is situated so gives a lovely view of that spectacular building too.

By this stage, it was evening and these poor old legs were beginning to feel that they needed a break so we headed back, stopping at an old pub with pressed steel ceilings for some ‘light’ refreshments.

 PHOTO GALLERY:

Oh, how I love oysters

And these......

And..

Them's mighty big mangoes

The Chinese Gardens

Around Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour

Entrance to Chinatown

Fun at Paddy's Market

Inside the old Victoria Building

A chocoholic's dream come true

 

The old & the new

An Aborigine with didgeridoo

Old buildings at The Rocks

Paul & Terry with the Opera House from The Rocks

North Sydney with Luna Park in the foreground

Scene by The Rocks

On the side of a bus

Street entertainment

Looking across one of the many waterways