Sydney New Years Eve 2015

There are times while cruising that I am filled with such joy at our choice to take off on a boat – not a plane, not a campervan, but a boat – because whatever I’m experiencing is so much better from the vantage of a floating home.

Being on Sydney Harbour, with our own boat, after having sailed there across an ocean, watching the fireworks explode seemingly over our head, from multiple directions was an experience of a lifetime.

We anchored in Farm Cove in about 35’ of water. We had arrived on the 30th of Dec and anchored farther into the harbour in shallower water. By noon on the 30th there were a dozen boats in the harbour and at least the same amount at the mouth of the harbour by the point on the East side. On the morning of the 31st we saw a nice hole in the anchorage with a better view and moved to it (S33°51'36.50" E151°13'13.07"). By noon, the anchorage was packed. By 5pm it was getting ridiculous and as the winds switched direction, people had to reanchor to avoid hitting other boats as we swung. By 8pm, the already packed anchorage had a few last minute additions – the last minute people being the least skilled at anchoring of course. We watched one boat try so many times that another sailor got in his dinghy, boarded their boat and helped them anchor (he was downwind of their gong show). With all of that said, the winds were light, the mood was exuberant and friendly all around us, and we only felt the need to put fenders down once on one side of our bow. Not too stressful.

The air show was excellent, the water spraying tug amusing, the lighted boat parade was classic and both sets of fireworks were spectacular. Go Sydney!

On a NUMBERS note, in the 2015 cruising season which began at the end of April for us and finished at NYE, we used 153 engine hours, about 43 gallons of diesel, about 50 gallons of gasoline and we refilled our 20lb propane tank 4 times.