Home Again – Pittwater, Australia

Reunited with our youngest son, Rob, on the dock at RPAYC
Reunited with our youngest son, Rob, on the dock at RPAYC

So here we are, back in our home port of Pittwater and back at The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht club, having completed “Part One” of our amazing adventure around the world – two and a half years and 19,000 NM from the East coast of USA to Australia. What an incredible journey it’s been. It feels very surreal – almost as if we’ve been time-travelling – as everything and everyone still look exactly the same as when we left!

We had a pleasant couple of days in Newcastle re-stocking our fresh food supplies, enjoying good coffees and hot showers at the Yacht Club (Oh, the civilization!) and waiting for the strong southerlies to subside. We were hoping that the wind would shift more to the east, but it remained resolutely in the south-east – Huey was determined to make our last little leg a beat to windward! But after a slow start with very little wind, we eventually turned the motors off and had a fun sail in 15-20kt breeze, dodging the big boys anchored off Newcastle. We even managed to overtake a monohull off Lake Macquarie – who said cats don’t go to windward?!

Even though it's at anchor, it still feels sketchy sailing in front of one of these monsters
Even though it’s at anchor, it still feels sketchy sailing in front of one of these monsters

And then there they were – the familiar sights of Lion Island and Barrenjoey Head guarding the entrance to Pittwater, bringing a lump to our throats.

Barrenjoey Headland and approach to Pittwater
Barrenjoey Headland and approach to Pittwater

Under full sail we dodged and weaved our way through the myriad of boats out for their Sunday afternoon sail. Approaching Longnose Point I said to Bruce “watch out for the little blue motorboat that seems to be on a collision course with us”. As it got nearer, we saw two people madly waving and realized it was our wonderful friends Geoff and Mia Sherman on “Lina”, come to give us our official ‘Welcome Home’ and escort to the club. What a magic surprise! We chatted as they puttered alongside us, until a gust of wind filled our sails and we were off, doing 8 kts down the bay. “Sorreee!” I yelled, as our little escort fell behind! But by the time we’d taken down the sails and tidied the boat up they were there on the dock to take our lines.

The welcoming party/escort team of Shermans and 'Lina'
The welcoming party/escort team of Shermans and ‘Lina’

And then all that remained were the celebrations, which went on most of that evening and the next couple of days….thank you to all our wonderful friends and family for the warm welcome home, it’s great to see you all again!

Enjoying some bubbles with Geoff and Mia
Enjoying some bubbles with Geoff and Mia

We’ll stay on the dock for a couple of weeks while we try to get our dinghy repaired and then we’ll move onto a club mooring. Lovely as it is to be back, it’s somewhat overwhelming at the moment – we realize it’s going to be a huge re-adjustment for us after the relative isolation and tranquility of cruising. The short-term plan is to get ourselves settled, buy a car, get jobs and get stuck into rebuilding our finances. The long-term plan? Hopefully in another couple of years we’ll be in a position to start “Part Two” of the great adventure and complete our circumnavigation. In the meantime we may not be blogging as frequently, but we’ll try to put up some posts about our experiences back in the ‘madding crowd’ of Sydney, and of some of the inevitable boat projects we’ll be doing. For now we just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has followed our journey on this blog, your support and encouragement has been fantastic. Stay tuned, there WILL be more!!

Rainbow over RPAYC
Rainbow over RPAYC

4 Replies to “Home Again – Pittwater, Australia”

  1. Hello there!

    We are so late in thanking you both for the beautiful calendar!

    Welcome home from us both and a huge congratulations! And yes, we too have lived vicariously through you and can’t wait to follow your next adventures.

    We aren’t living at the marina any longer but still in Annapolis – as a still newly married couple. (How long does the newlywed stage last? We’re on day 347 as of today!) Our first anniversary gift to each other is our own sailboat to bounce around the Chesapeake on for the next few years.

    Warm regards to you both!
    John and Shannon Barbaro

    1. Great news on the newly married and the sailboat. Who knows maybe you might exit Annapolis and turn right and keep going, it’s well worth the effort. We are planning to return sometime in the not too distant future so there will be more vicarious living to be done. Take care and say hi to everyone for us.

      Bruce & Di

  2. A belated welcome home and congrats from Pam and Peter in Annapolis. That’s a lot of blue water under your keel (keels?)! And thanks too for the wonderful calendar. A few of us here in Annapolis are living vicariously through your adventure. We miss our Aussie friends at the end of the dock!

    1. Hi Peter and Pam, thanks so much and glad you liked the calendar! We’re pretty sad that the adventure has to come to a halt for a while, but that’s even more incentive to get cracking on building up the funds again so we can get going and revisit you all in Annapolis. I hope your winter hasn’t been too brutal and I bet you’re looking forward to getting out on the water again. All the best xx

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