Pittwater & the Hawkesbury River

Throw-back...

Next stop Pittwater - getting so close to Sydney we can almost taste it! Can certainly see it's effects at night!

Setting off through the Swansea Channel (against the flood this time, to again catch the bar at high tide) was no problem - getting expert by now, a lot more confident when you know it can be done. Another ex-SA Ozzie, Gavin accompanied us for the short trip as a suck-it-and-see before hopefully joining us again next month for the longer sail back north to the Gold Coast.

America Bay

We had the fishing lines out immediately and Sue quickly reeled in a couple of mahi-mahi for Gavin to land. Not keepers, though, so back they went. We expected something bigger along later, but sadly that wasn't to happen.

Sue loves spiders...

Arriving quite late in Pittwater, we went straight to anchorage at Careel Bay, where Gavin disembarked the next morning. Then off to explore the Hawkesbury!

First In America Bay, from where we hiked a sweltering 20 km along the Lambert Peninsula to West Head to check out the aboriginal carvings, general wildlife and superb views over Pittwater.

Then up the Hawkesbury River to famous Refuge Bay. "Considered by cruisers to be one of the world's best anchorages..." [Alan Lucas] might be a bit of a stretch, but it's certainly pretty. We nick-named it 'The Bay of 1,000 Moorings', after the sea of private moorings cluttering the place. Including 2 or 3 public moorings, one of which we grabbed.

Sphinx monument

...and explanation

Thence all the way up Cowan Creek to Bobbin Head marina, not to overnight, but to check out hikes at the Tourist Info office at the Kuring-gai National Park, and to fill with water. We picked up a public mooring in Houseboat Bay then dinghied ashore in the morning for a long hike to the Sphinx war memorial - quite something.

And so on: exploring Castle Bay, Jerusalem Bay, Pinta Bay, and lastly Hallets Beach where we enjoyed afternoon drinkies with Heather & Steve aboard cat Inforapenny II. Sadly, we couldn't stay for their CYA sail-in and beach party the next day.

Hawkesbury River

All lovely, but by now we were looking forward to the Big Arrival in Sydney, so after a fortnight amongst the lakes, rivers and creeks it was time for our last leg south to Port Jackson...

[Not forgetting the fascinating aboriginal art, possibly thousands of years old...]

carving 1

carving 2

carving 3

sign 1

sign 2

sign 3