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!

Things you notice about Australia

We are tied up at Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club today and just getting ourselves prepared to head south to Pittwater in the morning. The trip is only 60 miles but we have been at NCYC for so long and we have enjoyed ourselves so much that we are wondering if we even know how to get the boat untied again. NCYC have been fantastic hosts! There are many lessons about running a successful yacht club that one can learn from these guys. They are very very good at managing their facility. It is busy, friendly, efficient and fun. But then, you notice that about Australia – they are pretty good at their ‘clubs.’

Sophrosyne is tied up at NCYC -- our home for the past month.
Great facility with good showers (important) and
 a Happy Hour every day (more important).
Tonight we are having American Thanksgiving at the Club
prepared in the finest Australian Tradition.

S.L.S.C. – That means, I think, Surfing and Life Saving Club, and there are lots of them. Maureen and I went for a walk the other day along the Memorial Walkway which is a suspended walkway connecting Newcastle’s downtown residential area with a series of beaches and ocean baths. We walked past Beach Bar SLSC, Meriweather SLSC, Newcastle SLSC and a couple of other ones besides. It was the weekend and each of these clubs had swimming lessons and shoreside activities for 100s of kids ranging from 3 to 16. The most familiar part of the experience for us was the smell of frying onions though as some parents were working the concessions while all the rest donned brightly coloured pinny’s and bathing caps and were shepherding the ‘little nippers’ back and forth across the surf. Everyone was having a grand time and the time honoured ballet unfolded seemingly without effort.

We were thinking of the ‘little nippers’ yesterday when we went for a swim. It was 42 deg. C and the wind was humming so we hopped into our rented car (because it had air conditioning) and drove to the beach. At 42 deg. C even Maureen goes for a swim -- but it is not really straightforward. We know enough to swim between the flags (we had been told they are pretty good at spotting the riptide). But there are still waves, and they were pretty big. Maureen was walking out slowly getting used to the still pretty cold water – until the first wave came through -- and then that was pretty much it. Once I found her again she was ready to head out into the deeper water past the biggest breaking waves. It was fun.

Later in the day Maureen was chuckling when she bent over noticing that the ocean was running out through her nose. At least she said it was water.

I was thinking to myself that even girls think snot is funny.

Later in the day we went to join in with some of the other rally members for Sundowners and then out to the most amazing Jazz club I have even seen! We had been told about Jack McLaughin’s jazz band, but just like you are thinking right now, I said to myself. ‘Whatever’.

Well, Jack had his 81^st birthday last night and he celebrated playing at the Carrington with his son-in-law who also had his 41^st birthday. They were serenaded by the lead singer who was a gal who looked like she had just finished up at the library, except that when she sang it made Norah Jones look like an amateur. There were only about 30 or 40 of us at the bar so we all pretty much had front row seats. I visited with the bass player during their break just to say how much we were enjoying the music. He told me that he was 66 and had been playing with Jack for 42 years. And I haven’t even mentioned the drummer!

I know it sounds like all we do is visit the beach and have fun, but we have been to a couple of wine tastings in the Hunter Valley too!

It has been a fun couple of weeks. Fun for us because Australia is the first point on this trip where we have been able to source boat parts without needing to arrange complex shipping. Don’t get me started on “the pallet”.

Maureen models our new salad tongs. Purchased from
K-Mart for $2 they fill a significant deficiency aboard Sophrosyne.
Hopefully now we can keep the salad in the bowl and not on the floor?

What does that mean? Well it means we have a new toilet! We went in to the shop to get a gasket kit for the old toilet but since the whole toilet was on sale we got rid of the old scratched seat at the same time. Maureen was happy!

For my part I found I could finally get good quality stainless hose clamps – I was happy. I mean, it is not such a pleasant job that I am keen to do it again real soon so I just bought the good hose clamps.

That is just the beginning of the bathroom renovation. We have also replaced our broken plexiglass shower enclosure. We found some beautiful frameless mirrors that were big enough to cover the holes from the PFO. And on a boat that is pretty much a complete renovation – there really isn’t anything else in there. It looks good!

With that success under our belt you can imagine that the kitchen was next. New custom carpets (from Bunnings) and a fire blanket to hang next to the stove. Not having a fire blanket has been bugging me ever since Yacht Kate asked us back in Fiji “do you guys have a fire blanket?”

Allan, from A&R Mobile Sharpening came to the club parking lot
and sharpened all of our knives and scissors.
That is good service! 

And more besides. We now have a nice small pair of salad tongs so that when you set them down on the bowl they don’t tip the salad bowl onto the floor. And the high point -- for Gord, and Brent, but everyone else besides -- we have sharp kitchen knives. It takes a larger population to have a mobile sharpening truck that will come to the Yacht Club parking lot to sharpen knives and scissors. And I really do think it takes Australia to have that truck kitted out with a 1000 watt Yamaha gas generator (inside the truck) to provide the electricity to run the sharpening tools.

You won’t believe me, but space allows me to report on only the most significant boat improvements made in Newcastle. There were many more besides!

Well tomorrow we will sail down to Pittwater. We have been told that this is a pretty special part of Australia so we are looking forward to the visit. After that we will sneak around the corner and spend a couple of weeks in Sydney Harbour. Should be fun.

Fat & Happy

I love baguette!

So, we have been sitting at anchor in Port Moselle for a couple of days.

We came back to town to enjoy the wonders of a shower on land -- and to gorge ourselves on the bounty that New Caledonia provides. I haven’t quite been able to sort out whether the abundant delights of this place are derived from its great wealth of natural resources (the largest copper deposit in the world -- to take note of just one), or its obvious connection with French history and culture (baguettes here are the same price and quality as in the 5^th arrondissement in Paris – 12,000 km away). Or whether one causes the other?

For the purposes of this story it is only important to observe that it is curious and delightful.

In the past, as we were getting ourselves and the boat sorted out we noticed that we could cruise by ourselves for about 2 weeks at a time. After two weeks, if we were very careful, we could limp back into the marina with empty water tanks and dead batteries. We would plug into shore power and fill our watertanks and then head out exploring again.

We have couscous and rice -- and a couple of cans of corn.
But really, doesn't this look like it's worth a trip to town?

Now, in our second season, we feel more like we have some of these basic building blocks of cruising life behind us.

We have new lithium Ion batteries and they just won’t quit. Each day I smile as my eye catches the flashing green light on the monitor of our solar charge controller. Its rapid blinking tells me that it has our house batteries fully charged and is now shunting excess electricity (didn’t we just run the watermaker for 4 hours?) . Strange that I still find this a magical process – like a circus clown pulling a rabbit out of the hat -- I know the trick, I have seen it done a million times, but it still makes me smile every time.

Why is this important? Well, it seems that we now have to watch for a new set of cues about when to check back into town. Whoops the fridge is empty!

True we do still have a good supply of couscous and rice and beans and noodles, and a cupboard full of tins and jars so that we can manage a good and wholesome meal, but with all that cheese and chocolate just around the corner it does seem like a crime against nature not to be doing our part to help sustain the great French culture. And who needs wholesome?

Wouldn’t it be nice to go back to that pizza place where they make the Quartto formaggio thin crust pizza? And the café gourmand?

And so it was that I was waiting this morning in the cockpit for the crew to get organized for the shoreside adventures (as I sometimes do) and I noticed a couple of boats sailing across the small harbour. I noticed these boats in particular because they are working their way through a mooring field which has close to a thousand boats of all shapes and sizes.

Now it is true that I don’t really have a clue how many boat are moored in the harbour -- so let me just say that there are A LOT of boats! There are always a lot of boats in New Caledonia we are told but in October, as the seasons start to change, and boats collect from all corners of the Pacific this harbour hits MAX capacity. We are ourselves moored at the edge of the moorage area. I say ‘the edge’ generously because we are actually about 20 metres outside of the well-marked and designated area for mooring and well into that part of the harbour which is also well marked as a traffic lane. But we are not alone because there are boats moored all around us and it seems that everyone is understanding of this seasonal anomaly. And we don’t really feel alone because we know most of the boats around us, Songlines, Huck, Bella vita, Scotia, and many more too. We have seen many of these boats in Fiji, and in Vanuatu, and we have visited with many of these folks over the past two years. We don’t know everyone, but just like walking down your street, even if you don’t know everyone in every house it still feels a bit like home.

So, I was sitting in the cockpit this morning with the binoculars, doing what all good neighbours do. I was spying on our neighbours -- and I caught a glimpse of these boats working their way through the ‘hood’ -- and I recognize them too. They are from the Base Nautique, which we had walked by yesterday. They are ten identical boats, new and rigged identically. They are about 6 metres long, fast, and I can tell even from a distance that they are well handled and that they mean business.

I have not mentioned yet that it is windy. Across this very crowded harbour the wind has been whistling at 25 (gusts to 30) for the past 3 days. There are no waves but the boat still dances on its mooring and it’s ‘raincoats on’ for the dinghy ride into town as the warm salt spray gets blown off the tops of every wake and ripple. The wind is important to my story because these 10 sport boats are coming toward me and in every case the full main is inside out and they are driving to weather on the small jib alone, and they are moving quickly toward an open area in the harbour. Behind them is a wonderfully kitted out committee boat, and behind that 2 large centre console ribs as mark boats, 2 more umpire boats, and several more coach boats, and I think, this could be fun to watch.

Now remember that I am waiting for the crew to be ready to town so I only have about 35 or 40 minutes to watch but it is marvelous. The race boats were pairing off for heats of match racing and these folks are well schooled because there was a start every 10 minutes and the maneuvering was fast, aggressive, and purposeful. And did I mention that it was windy?

So we did eventually pick our way across the harbour. There are all shapes and sizes in Port Moselle and our path took us across what I will call the ‘local’ section. It reminds me that all harbours seem to have an area that we might call the ‘Last Stop’. In this situation I am always reminded of trying to find our way into the marina after a Transpac race. We were watching for markers and noticed what we thought was a stick marking the channel entrance. As we got closer we realized that it was the top section of a mast. That boat had sunk at its anchor and all that was showing above the water was the top 2 or 3 metres of the mast.

But in New Caledonia it isn’t the boats that are not used that catch your eye -- we see those everywhere. It is the boats that ARE used. People are on the water everywhere. They sail. They windsurf. They kiteboard. And judging by the outstanding fish market, it seems they fish too!

Our walk to the pizza joint at Baie du Citron takes about 30 minutes and winds across two beaches. These are remarkably different because one is in the lee and one is in the wind. The leeward beach is just another beautiful south pacific beach. Azure blue water, sunny, warm, families playing in the water, kids swimming, parents reading – the stuff of life. But the walk also takes us across a short isthmus to the windy side. This is a short walk, maybe 250 metres but it is worlds apart. The first thing we noticed on the windy side was kid’s water toys being blown along the beach like missiles. I tried to catch the first one, but even though they look like simple styrofoam toys they are actually highly sophisticated stealth devices designed to alter course sharply if a human gets within 2 or 3 metres. Clever.

But the beach is orderly too. There are the windsurfers. Maybe a hundred or so, and they are fast. Very fast. I have seen Jason Thompson wind-surfing at Wanasing beach -- but with the greatest respect -- this is a new level. Unbelievably fast.

In another corner of the baie are the kitesurfers. And they are good too. Skitting along and then off a wave and 10 metres into the air – for 10 or 15 seconds. And just beyond is a small island where there are 20 or 30 more boats all picnicking and enjoying a spring day.

I live on a boat and I am thinking that I have not even scratched the surface!

Later in the day, back in the hood, I am reflecting on how all these boats came to be here in Port Moselle. In our little area there are a couple of dozen boats that are heading into the final stages of the Island Cruising Association Rally that started for them in NZ in April or May. They have all sailed together from NZ to Tonga to Fiji to Vanuatu and now to New Caledonia. Fun.

Over these next two weeks everyone will sail back down to NZ to avoid the summer cyclone season which is approaching over the next month or two. Maybe, if they are smart, they will do the same thing again next year. I know that I am thinking “how can I work that into my plan”

We are part of a different group about to start making our way to Australia. The next leg of our journey is as part of the Down Under Rally which will see us heading to New South Wales.

Next week we have the arrival of crack crewman Kent Locke from Nanaimo to round out our roster and then we will start watching the weather for a chance to make our own 1,000 km. crossing to Australia.

Looking forward to it mate!

Pines & Palms

A masterpiece created by Caleigh, depicting Soophrosyne's wonderous crew.

New Caledonia is okay I guess -- If you like eating two baguettes a day and swimming on white sand beaches...
The majestic Sophrosyne Yacht has made it's way to Isle of Pines, 70 miles out of New Cal's capital city. Surrounded by palm trees, huge turtles, and a beautiful full moon, Sophrosyne's crew are starting to wonder why anyone would ever want to leave this magical spot.

Yesterday's outing to the Isle of Pines highest point gave us a view of the whole island. We tramped up the rocky, mars-like path to the summit, and looked out at the turquoise ocean in awe.

Some of Isle of Pines beautiful pines (and palms)

How lucky we are to get to spend one more whole week here!

A plus tard!
(Now that my first post is done, it is official that I won't be kicked out of UUD)

-Caleigh

Lights! C'est magnifique

Courses at UUD (University of Uncle Doug) continue apace. Here Caleigh is stitching on our new wheel cover. We initially thought of this as a luxury item but with our recent passage 'sans Autohelm' we have used and appreciated it immensely.

The sun rises behind us as we approach Noumea. What the camera cannot catch (or at least the photographers could not catch) are the array of flashing strobes off our bow which guide into town with exquisite assurance. You probably "have to be there" to appreciate what a friend a flashing white light really can be!

Snug as bugs in Port Moselle, New Caledonia we are enjoying the warm fresh delights of our new home. Yesterday evening we had warm fresh baguettes with some lovely french cheese and our last bottle of wine from Fiji. Today we will hunt out some of the promised French wine which was on the shelf yesterday but behind the red & white tape saying FERME.

We had a great crossing from Port Vila (or at least that was my opinion). There is great power in being the recorder of history. Our sail included wind that was close on the bow -- perhaps 50 deg. AWA. The boat performed perfectly -- though for the first time the Autohelm did not.

The initial setback of no self-steering was daunting. We could stop at the Loyalty Islands but even then they were 120 miles away for an anchorage.

On Sophrosyne, we were not overwhelmed with capable human helmsmen, and some of the best potential candidates were, at the moment, laying on the cabin settee with a bucket close at hand.

In the end though we sailed far enough from Efate for the confused seas to settle, and found the correct sail combination (triple reef main and about 1/2 of our small jib) to power the boat through the water at +/- 7 knots in perfect balance with 2 finger steering -- lovely -- and the stars that come out on a clear night with a new moon! All is well.

New Caledonia appears to be a treasure trove of discoveries. Our first impression though comes before we even touched land. The approach to Noumea includes a long stretch of islands, reefs and close channel passages. Looking at the chart in Port Vila, it seems daunting and no way to make the full passage in daylight. Nervous tummy.

As Robert de Niro famously says in the movie Ronin "the map never equals the territory."

In New Caledonia this turns out to be a lovely positive surprise. After so much time sailing in Fiji where navigational aids to serious hazards laying 6 inches below the surface may (or may not) be in the form of a 'stick' we were delighted to find the range of white, red, green flashers all working and exactly where the chart said they would be. Together with the iPad it was a piece of pie to move through these waters and a treat to arrive in Noumea with the rising sun behind us! Perfect.

We will spend a couple of days in Noumea enjoying the European lifestyle and sorting out that itinerant autohelm. After that we will make a make our way to some of the outer islands before we come back in to Port Moselle to prepare for the next leg of our journey to Australia.

It's all good!

Sights and Sounds of Vanuatu

Our first sight of Vanuatu. Efate in the early morning. A welcome sight after a coupla days sailing.

I look at this picture and I think, if I am Caleigh, "my god, my life is in these people's hands..."

CG "in the Rafters" Someone let the loose end of the lazy jacks fly and Caleigh had to run up and grab it.* We say 'someone' when it is Doug who makes the mistakes. We try to record all others with a greater degree of accuracy.

Finally, I am in the zone.
If only they had just let me organize things from the beginning. Sailing -- really, it's a piece of piss!

Queen Maureen is escorted ashore by her expert guides Eti, and Max. All had a wonderful day together exploring the the beaches of Ambrym and the worlds of it's exotic visitors. A smile is the great shared currency!

CG -- And off!

It's a fun day aboard Sophrosyne! We are joined by our newest crew member. Caleigh will travel with us for the next couple of months as we make our way from Fiji, to Vanuatu, to New Caledonia, and finally on to Australia.

This morning was a very fun morning for us. We were up early to meet the plane!

We hear it fly over every morning but usually we just roll over and sleep for another hour. Today though we were excited to get to the airport to meet our newest crew member and second favorite niece : ). Caleigh Grace will sail and explore with us over the next several months as part of her 'walkabout.' We feel privileged to spend the time with her!

This morning after breakfast the three of us put both jibs onto the roller furlers and tucked away as much as possible of Caleigh's belongings. To be fair -- and in true Sophrosyne tradition -- her bag was half full of our stuff so packing away wasn't too tough.

We are off for a swim now and then we will let Caleigh rest before we head to the Boatshed for 2 for 1 pizza night. Tomorrow we are up early again to head into Lautoka and stock up at the market. If that all goes well, we will come back and untie for the afternoon to head out for a wee boatride so that we can run the engine and watermaker and send Caleigh over the side to scrub the bottom before we head out to sea on Thursday.

For those interested to watch our progress you can visit:

http://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Sophrosyne

to see our position as we move toward Vanuatu starting on Thursday (Wednesday in Canada).

Next post will come from CG!

Stand by for her wisdom, humor and grace!