Let’s visit Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

Only a few nautical miles away from the marina in Pittwater is Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, a place which is best appreciated via the water. There are a few areas that aren’t accessible via sailboat, but the vast majority of it is and takes the shape of inlets and creeks surrounded by dense forest.

We left Pittwater on the 7th of February and spent 3 days and 3 nights exploring a few different areas of the park: Refuge Bay, Smith Creek, Cottage Point café, and America Bay. Despite being the height of summer February was a lovely month to visit the area. There is a major holiday in Australia at the end of January (Australia Day) and given most Australian’s take their leave between Christmas and Australia Day, the park was mostly empty in February.

Our days were really relaxing. We went ashore a few times with our dinghy and kayak to explore, Thomas swam around the boat (dodging a few big jelly fish). Despite being so close to civilization we didn’t have cell reception or many neighbors so it really felt secluded and serene.

Let’s go to Sydney

While we were going around the national park I kept a close eye on the upcoming weather forecasts in order to get us to Sydney as smoothly as possible. The 10th was shaping out out to be best day, it was forecasting the right wind direction but very light.

We had anchored in America Bay the night before in order to be protected from an overnight thunderstorm and to be close to the Pittwater inlet which would allow for a shorter passage the next day.

We woke up in a thick fog (as you can see in the pictures above), luckily it was mostly gone by 9 am. The journey from Pittwater inlet to Sydney was mostly uneventful, however the ocean swell did have a negative impact one one of our new crew members. Sophie got sea sick in route, and only started feeling better once we arrived at our second anchorage in Sydney harbor.

Despite her situation, we were all excited to have finally made it to our final destination. Once we turned into Sydney harbor our anticipation grew as we slowly started to see the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney bridge! On our way in we had to weave through the busy harbor, something we hadn’t done since sailing in the Solent many years ago. Giving way and navigating safely was a bit nerve racking, boats were coming from all directions. We also had to keep in mind that ferries have the right of way here, and there are lots of them.

I really wanted to stay the night in an anchorage called Fame cove, which is just next to the Opera House, but there was no protection from the wake of the boats going up and down the river. In the end the roughness of the water and Sophie’s seasickness made us revise our plan. We stayed long enough there to photobomb a few wedding pictures being taken ashore, if they zoom in they might see a particular seasick passenger hanging over the back of our boat (doing what seasick passengers do). Given the situation we very quickly identified a calm anchorage at Gore cove in Balls Head Bay. Since it was mid day on a Saturday, we expected the nice anchorage areas to fill up quickly. Luckily we had arrived before everyone and we were able to pick the most protected spot, which allowed us to leave our boat (almost) worry free.

Sydney and the Blue Mountains National Park

Sophie and Thomas had made a list of places they wanted to visit prior to arriving. Chat GPT also helped to confirm the plan haha! Since Erica still had lingering back pain, we were happy to tag along with their itinerary, we just had combine walking with a few buses along the way.

10th of February

There wasn’t any time to waste. On the day we arrived, we made lunch around 1 pm, and then made our way to the Sydney Botanical garden. Sophie, being a gardener for Paris’ parks, has a different perspective on city gardens and always likes to visit.

Next to the botanical garden is The Rocks, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Sydney. We decided to find a dinner place and make a plan for the following day. After spending the morning sailing down and the afternoon walking around the city we headed back to our floating home for the night.

11th of February

We had a long day head of us. We wanted to visit Hyde Park Barracks, do more walking in the city center, enjoy lunch at the famous Sydney Fish Market, come back to the boat for a shower, and then head to the Sydney Opera for dinner and to see Simone Young Conducts Mahler’s First Symphony.

12th of February

The 12th was the first night that we had booked at our Marina in Sydney, the plan was to leave early in order to avoid the forecasted wind gusts late morning. Unfortunately there was a bit too much chitchat and laissez-faire attitude by the crew in the morning and we ended up arriving at the marina at exactly the wrong time. I had 20+ knots of wind blowing on our bow while reversing into a shared berth next to what looked like an expensive motor yacht. I had to keep between 3 and 4 knots of speed over ground to maintain control of the bow, which was a little too fast for me to be comfortable.

Thankfully I had given a heads up to the marina management and we had two people waiting on the dock ready to catch our lines. There is always a rush of relief once we are tied off.

In the afternoon we continued our exploration of Sydney. We headed to Alexandria for lunch and Newtown for drinks and wanders

13th of February

Super Bowl LVII vs Manly. There were two activities the morning of the 13th, Sophie and Thomas went to visit Manly Beach and Erica was planning to watch the Super Bowl. Originally we were going to watch the Super Bowl from Manly beach, but after a lot of walking the previous days and plans to go hiking in the days to come she thought it would be best to stay and rest on the boat rather than push it.

I stayed behind with Erica to rest as well and watch the game. With the help of a VPN she found a website that was streaming US TV, and we could enjoy the full show, which apparently has to include the commercials.

What a game that was! We still have a few months before we leave to visit Manly.

We met Sophie and Thomas for dinner in the city at Dumpling Bar Restaurant and headed home after an ice cream.

14th of February

On the 14th we drove west to the Blue Mountain National Park. It’s only 1.5 hours away from Sydney. We decided to rent a car in order to have more freedom there, and that was a good decision. Not only for ease of travel around Katoomba, but also to be able to see much more than what’s accessible via public transport.

However that day was really foggy, we didn’t see anything blue, we just walked and drove aimlessly through the thick fog. One of our friends, Camille, had told us about the curse of this national park, I was definitely hopping the weather would clear out at some point over the course of the the next two days.

15th of February

The fog lifted on the 15th, but we still weren’t see anything blue! We explored Katoomba’s view points, the Yellow Deli which was a really quirky sandwich place, and the highest lookout of the National Park at Evans lookout!

16th of February

As we had been able to see most of the view points the day before, and because we had a car, we decided to go further into the park and explore the Jenolan Caves on the 16th. This was a refreshing visit and let us appreciate natural beauty but also showed us the affect of 2019 draught, fires and the 2020 floods. The roads are still being repaired and they are far from being complete. Covid-19 pandemic added to this dyer situation as the region and the park relies on tourism.

17th of February

It was now time to go back to Sydney and drop Sophie and Thomas at the airport for their flight to Melbourne. Since we had time in the morning we decided to go through the cider mill towns on our way back and enjoy local apple pies, pizza, and ciders.

18th, 19th, 20th and 21st

Finally some calm days! They went quickly, while Sophie and Thomas were enjoying Melbourne, Erica and I did a bit of US immigration visa work, getting finger prints and requesting police certificate from Sweden and Singapore.

Once they came back on the 21st, we had one last dinner at the Sydney Rowing Club before their flight back to France the next morning. What a trip!