A day on a boat on Sydney Harbour

---

I had a call from Dad last night asking me what I was doing tomorrow. Never sure where these questions might be leading, I told him I had a date with the furniture... sanding it all back in preparation for a paint job and make-over. When he invited me to come out on a little boat with him and a few others on Sydney Harbour instead, the decision was tough but after.. oh, about 0.03 of a second... I'd ditched the restoration and renovation for this far, far, FAR... better offer.

Wow, and what a great decision I made...! The weather was just glorious, beautiful blue skies, no wind or big swells. Mum unfortunately had an unbreakable appointment with the dentist (ouch) so couldn't come. But Dad, and their friend Graham Schute, met me at Killarney and we picked Gowz up on the way to Rose Bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The boat trip was actually a Fathers Day (or birthday?) present from Leith - thanks Leithal!! Wish you could've been there to enjoy it too. x

How exciting.. we got to go putting about on the harbour - wherever we wanted - driving ourselves, no skipper - for 3 hours. We might not have gone fast but we went everywhere! Out of Rose Bay and over towards Lady Macquarie's Chair, the Botanic Gardens, the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the city in general.

It's amazing what a different perspective you get from the water. Everything looks so different. YOu realise how big the harbour, and Sydney, is. Some suburbs are much bigger than you think due to the fact that we usually see everything from the perspective of the arterial roads, which often bypass large swathes of land, bays, headlands and exclusive waterfront areas.

We went right under the Harbour Bridge and followed the harbour westwards towards Balmain on the left, and northern Sydney on the right. Rozelle and Drummoyne etc on the left (south) and Wollstonecraft, Greenwich and Hunters Hill on the right (north). It was great to check out the massive private houses, units, mansions, beaches and parks which cram into every available metreage of the waterfront. Each with million dollar views. I would LOVE TO KNOW how so many people get so much money to be able to afford all those places. Where DO they get all that money???????

Us plebs sure could see a lot of swank from our hire boat!

We swung past Spectable Island and circumnavigated Cockatoo Island where they used to film the Sydney cop show, Water Rats, and where before that they built big ships and things. Maybe they still do. There are loads of small islands in the middle of Sydney Harbour. You don't realise this until you go out there on it exploring for yourself.

Believe it or not we also saw a small power boat in the shape of an accoustic guitar. There was a quaint looking man driving it with his feet in the hole wearing a jaunty looking hat. It sure was an odd sight getting around the middle of Sydney Harbour. I'm not sure it was the most hydro-dynamic vessel on the water but it sure gave us a good laugh. :-)

And then we made our way back towards the Heads, past Taronga Zoo and Clifton Gardens, over to Watsons Bay and Vaucluse.. very "exclusive" areas of Sydney (but not a patch on the Northern Beaches). When Graham had successfully landed our vessel we made our way back to Watson's Bay, by car this time.

What would a trip to the eastern suburbs be without lunch at Doyle's? For me and Dad it was salt & pepper squid, Gowz had the calamari and Graham went for the baramundi grilled. YUM.

Does life get much better than this? Sure beats working.

---