Weekend Visitors from Canberra

Like I said in the last post, even though we are crazy busy with a multitude of pre-departure tasks, some bigger and more time consuming than others, there is still time for plenty of fun on Lucey Blue! Last weekend was one such time, with visitors from Canberra expected on both days.

The weekend forecast was for patchy cloud and showers, but our visitors on Saturday crossed their fingers and toes, piled their four kids in the car at 0500 (YIKES…this would have been a deal breaker for me) and headed north.

We had great luck with the weather, and although it got cold and windy at times, no-one got wet…well, at least not from the precipitative kind of water…I did, however, spy a few soggy limbs towards the end of the day following some skylarking on the sugar scoops!

We managed a tour out through The Spit Bridge, up the harbour and past the Opera House, under the Harbour Bridge bridge and up to Darling Harbour…

Calisthenics on the bow!

Underway and enjoying the view

Sticking with Mum (literally)…just in case

Learning the finer points of navigation from an old salt

The Sydney Harbour bridge is no match for this 7 year old

…then we turned around and motored back to Athol Bay and moored in front of Taronga Zoo and had some lunch onboard. After lunch the kids (big and small) went ashore in the dinghy to scout for…lions, tigers and stuff!

Hope this dinghy chauffeur knows what he is doing!

The boys waiting patiently for their ride

Revving them up on the bow

We then motored back to Pearl Bay and had some afternoon tea prior to bidding our friends farewell.

A small power nap was required after a big day out on the harbour.

On Sunday, we also had pretty good luck with the weather and missed any torrential downpours (wish I could say the same of the weather we have had since then…but more on that later). Our friends arrived and we motored up Middle Harbour to beautiful Bantry Bay in the Garrigal National Park, just a few kilometres from the hustle and bustle of Sydney's North Shore. We picked up a mooring and sat back to enjoy the view...there was 'so much serenity' (and only the occasional drone of a big two-stroke engine on full throttle ;-)...

There were, of course, the mandatory skippering trials to be undertaken…some skippers being slightly more theatrical in their approach than others ;-).

Followed by the post-lunch explore ashore…which apparently also involved a little tick shopping (ooops)!

In all it was a really lovely day out and about.

Thanks so much for making the big trip up to see us everyone! We loved catching up with all of you and showing you around our floating home :-).