Sailing Around Australia; In the City

Cronulla Marina, Port Hacking, Sydney NSW.

6/5/2015; In the City

After the initial shock at a major change in our surrounds, we have come to enjoy the hustle, bustle and life that is the southern Sydney suburb of Cronulla. As long as it goes around us, that is.

We had a visit from my Aunt Jo and Uncle John that started with drying them off. During their trek from the car park to Easy Tiger it rained quite heavily, as it had for several days since our arrival.

John and Jo must have sensed our cabin fever as after morning tea, the offer of a tour en route back to their place got Leanne and I off the boat in the blink of an eye and out into Suburbia.

They showed us around the lifestyle village that they live in. We were very impressed with the number and quality of the amenities such as the café, the swimming pool and the gardens in this village. The best part I could see was that you get to use all these, but someone else does all the work maintaining and looking after the place. Great concept! If only they had marina berths! As my Uncle John reminded me several times “you only have to be fifty to be able to move in”. I think that I have more sailing around Australia adventures to do first.

Uncle John and Aunt Jo then very kindly leant us their car for the weekend. The challenge was to find our way back to the boat, without waypoints and charts!

The good thing about being loaned a car was the ability to save money when I refueled the boat. The marina was asking $1.89 for diesel and less than ½ a kilometer away the BP service station was charging $1.32. As I bought 176 litres of diesel, I figured that lugging the jerry cans (with the help of John’s car) was worth the $98 saving.

The not so good thing about having been loaned a car was that on Sunday it allowed us to find a nearby Bunnings and Whitworths boating supplies. Doh! Fortunately not too much damage done to the budget.

That afternoon we had a visit from my cousin Sue and her husband Doug. They immediately drew a warm welcome from Leanne. My kind of people she remarked later. I think that was because they brought a bottle of really nice champers with them.

A trip back to Sue and Doug’s was topped of with a roast pork dinner prepared by Doug and some family reminiscing.

Each morning we have been for a walk under the train line past the Cronulla shops and along the beach foreshore of the bay. The walking path is quite elevated in places and allows a really good vantage point to watch the surfers enjoying some really good waves. It is a battle to keep walking as we are supposed to be getting exercise, you know, heart rate up for ½ an hour. But it is equally nice to just sit and watch the surfers, whiling away an hour or so as city life walks, jogs and runs around you.

We took the car back out to Jo and John’s and had lunch at a nice new sportsman’s club yesterday. More marvelous facilities that they have close by.

Then we caught the train back to the marina. Perhaps I should say we caught three trains.

It felt quite unusual to be amongst the daily commute of Sydney-ites. One thing that struck me was, in such a colorful, vibrant city, why do the majority of the commuters we travelled with wear black?

Last Night, as we sat in the outdoor area of the RSL, wearing only a shirt, no jumper for the first time in months, I was reminded we had forgotten to check the weather and start planning on leaving the Cronulla Marina, to head into Sydney harbour. How easy it was to say manyana. Maybe tomorrow.

As we read the forecast this morning, we had a moment or two of feeling trapped. There are strong wind warnings in place until Friday. But the realization that we are safe and secure, we have all the electricity and water we need and we can catch a train or walk along the foreshore soon undid any tension or angst about getting going.

The deserted bays, the turquoise water and the long walks along clean white beacehes will have to wait a few days more. We are in city mode this week.