Alterior motives?...

So I guess it's no suprise about the lack of nautical miles we've covered...

TRUE. We've been on the water since June, and away from home since Sept, but, um, we're still in Pittwater.

Started here. Went (all the way!) down to Sydney. And, now we're back here. Again.

Granted, Xave wanted to spend New Years Eve on Sydney Harbour, and we did that. But it's now the end of Jan and he's making noises about staying here for Feb too.

My suspicions are setting in.

Do you think, perhaps, that my husband is planning, and for that matter, has intended to all along, STAY HERE FOREVER?

Well, it is one of the most beautiful spots around, and I could think of worse places to be, but are we not going to go even a little bit further? Xave?

XAVE?

In the meantime horever, we have just had a lovely visit from our photographer friend anna.lord - I finally got to meet Molly who was the CRUISIEST boat guest ever! The following pics are courtesy of Anna.

Cookie in a Kingfish Costume.

A friend recently gave Cookie the most adorable pair of sparkly silver swimmers.

We have however, banned her from wearing them whilst jumping off the boat into the deep water.

WHY?

Because she looks like a very. tasty. kingfish.

(and we certainly don't want to attract any unwelcome kingfish eating visitors).

..... the swimmers are now her 'dancing' clothes.

Little Penguins.

On a recent ferry ride to Patonga, the driver (pilot? captain? skipper?) told Xave that Lion Island, just inside the entrance to Broken Bay, is the northern most habitat for little penguins in the southern hemisphere.

Fabbo.

Yesterday morning, whilst lying in my cabin, on a sparkling windless morning, I heard a strange 'call'.

I hopped, actually clambered, out of bed to investigate.

The sweetest trio of penguins, were cruising around our boat, and they were very vocal.
- apparently, they were working in teams, signalling to each other, letting each other know where they were so as to optimize fishing performance.

They spent the day fishing around Dark Gully where our boat is moored. Coming together from time to time to check on each other.

I took a photo but it didn't work - was more like a kind of 'see that speck on the water? well it's a penguin' type photo. (Not worth uploading).

Thanks for your company lps, we hope to see you again.

Mum and Dad

We've had a busy boathold of late...

Firstly, Xave's niece and her fella came on board for a sail up the coast, then our mates and their beautiful girls arrived from home for a night on board, and finally, Mum and Dad, who have just spent a week or so with us.

It's been LOVELY to finally fill that front cabin.

Our week was spent relaxing, drinking, & swimming. We showed Mum and Dad the beauty of Pittwater and the surrounds. We had a lovely couple of nights away, during which Mum and Dad celebrated their wedding anniversary with a bottle of fizz and a perfect sunset... We caught a ferry on an overcast day to the Patonga Beach Hotel for lunch, ate fish and chips on Palm Beach during a balmy evening with friends, and Xave and I, actually had an evening out, sans children. Such a treat. but most of all, the kids enjoyed the extra attention from their grandparents. We were sad to see them go...

Below are a handful of pics taken through [mostly] their eyes. It's interesting to get someone else's perspective of our current existance!




coffee anyone?


hair washing duties


Dad on pirate watch


Dinner preparations

A little bit of common courtesy goes a long way.

We're back in Pittwater. It's certainly a lot busier than it was the last time we were here...

The moorings which we 'borrowed' prior to Summer, are now highly sought after, and so consequently, we were unfortunate enough to be kicked off one recently.

Now, this post is actually about MANNERS.

M.A.N.N.E.R.S.

You know, those things we were brought up with. The pleases and thankyous.

One evening, we were moored in The Basin. We were happily preparing dinner, when a yacht sailed by slowly, it meandered around, then sailed by again, this time mentioning, almost hesitantly, that the mooring we were on belonged to the RPA YC. Now, these sailors had every right to ask us to give up our mooring, instead, they very kindly - and politely - asked if we'd mind if they rafted up beside us for a few hours whilst they had dinner.

OF COURSE.

The next morning, an altogether different version:

A yacht arrived, did a few laps around the boats and all the vacant moorings, then announced to us, with much savvy and unnecessary attitude, that we were on a RPAYC mooring, and that we are not members, and therefore, [move]. NOW.
(whilst we circle you menacingly). Interesting.

The system works well most times, and borrowed moorings, are happily relinquished when requested, but a little bit of manners and courtesy goes a long way.

Cookie's pearls of wisdom...

Cookie, jumping excitedly into the companionway : "Mum, MUM, MMUUMM, a bloody cor re ment has shitted all over our deck. It's disgrusting!"

She is all class, and clearly her mother's daughter.

HNY!!!!!

Well, that certainly went off with a bang!

One thing on Xave's 'must do' list, was to be on the harbour for new year's eve celebrations. tick.

We dropped anchor in Double Bay,

dropped anchor, I mean splashingly, heavily actually dropped anchor - (sorry, still patting myself on the back for that one).

as I said, we had dropped anchor the day before so as to secure a good pozzy. Nick had suggested Double Bay, as it was less of a circus than the very popular Athol Bay at the base of Taronga Zoo. It turned out to be such a good spot - and we had nothing but water between us and the sparks. (We later talked to a couple who had been anchored in Athol Bay, who said that it was utter chaos over there and actually quite stressful).

So the Tsoukaris & Robinson boats were rafted together thereby creating 2 spaces - one with music, a dance space, and comfy seats, and the other with lego down below and a quieter, if not less comfortable, chill out zone. Perfect. During the rafting process, when Xave & Nick were busy on the starboard side, a water taxi arrived on our port side, calling out for me to accept his passengers.

Um, OK, but who exactly are they? Thankfully one made himself known to me (I would have welcomed them regardless), and so I got ready to catch the rope to tie up the water taxi... the driver obviously thought I was quite hopeless as he suddenly asked for the 'deck hand', to which I happily (and rather braggingly) replied 'this is MY boat, and you're looking at her'. Nobody likes a bragger, but gee it felt good!

(We transferred the passengers without incident.)

Initially, knowing that Roo & Cookie were the youngest on board, I was a nervous wreck - and when 2 of the teenage kids jumped in for a swim, I ran, panicked, to the side thinking that Cooks had gone overboard. My friends got a drink into me soon after that, they then stapled, superglued, and velcroed Cooks to the 3 x 12 year old girls, and Roo and the big boys busied themselves down below with the lego etc- we had to put a stop to the 'chasey' game they started around the 2 boats later in the night. Xave and I took turns supervising the kids, and we had such a fun night. For Xave in particular, it was brilliant to hang out with all his old school pals.

The kids LOVED the fireworks, (Roo set his body clock and re-awoke for the midnight ones - clever boy). We feel so lucky to have been able to enjoy the spectacle from aboard Awaitea. We also had all of Xave's kids on board together, which was wonderful. Happy New Year to you all.

* There are lots of hilarious photos of people in varying states of inebriation, but without their knowledge & therefore their permission, I'm only posting pics of our family. Oh how I'd love to post more....









Alex & Phoebe


Dan & Jake


A happy dad with his 4 kids all together