City Mouse, Country Mouse

We have had a wonderful couple of  weeks in Kauring-Gai-Chase National Park just north of Sydney. Lovely anchorages and great walks -- which is something you don't always find while cruising. Here Maureen has summited Towler's Lookout.
This is significant only because you can (almost) see our boat from here. 

We have been warned to watch for 'crocodiles' in Australia.

One our our favorite surprises was to find out how close we were to the Great North Walk. 168 kms. in total -- one can walk all the way to Newcastle from here. (We didn't do that...)

Turns out that watching the tide can be important. We are standing by our dinghy when we took this photo.
I have noticed that other cruisers have little wheels for their dinghies. I guess they don't watch the tides either?

One of our favorite little bays on Smith's Creek.
It was just like this -- until Maureen waved at the guys on the jetski -- before long we were joined by new neighbours on a rented houseboat called 'LUXURY AFLOAT'
Gotta love that Aussie sense of humour!

We got up early this morning and sailed further in to Sydney Harbour. We have found a little spot in Blackwattle Bay which is pretty much in the centre of the action. This afternoon we will head ashore and see what we can see on this great city. 

Yes. Those are 10 storey apartments in the background... Comanche out sail testing in Sydney Harbour -- before the big race.

Sometimes things just work out.
The pinnacle of our cruising success over these past few weeks has been finding these 2 litre boxes of wine at Aldi for $6. Sure -- it tastes terrible -- but look at how nicely it fits on the shelf!