The billowing sails of Sydney

February 2013

For us as sailors, the maritime history of Australia is amazing. Remember that it took a few navigators over 100 year to search for the undiscovered continent, Terra Australis.  We found a lot of the stories displayed in the Maritime museum and anyway Sydney is one big maritime paradise.

Sydney Maritime museum

But it was the Dutch navigators, who discovered first the “lost southern” continent.

The fair breeze blew, the white foam blew

The furrow followed free

We were the first that ever burst

Into that silent sea

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner part II

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834

In 1623  Jan Carstensz reported to the Dutch East India captains of seeing a dry land, no use to mankind, whose inhabitants were 'the poorest and most wretched creatures ever seen'

Then it was the inspirer of this blog, Abel Tasman, who searched for the undiscovered continent and accidentally came upon Tasmania which he claimed and named Van Diemen's Land. He next found and named New Zealand.

Abel Tasman passage, a replica of his map in marble on the floor in the State Library

Capt. James Cook

Endeavour

April 1770, Captain James Cook on the Endeavour spotted and claimed the east coast of Australia for the Crown. He named it New South Wales. And as we 
know a penal Colony had been set up at Botany Bay a desperate attempt to ‘cleanse the festering sores' that were England's overflowing prisons.

The Rawson Institute for Seaman at The Rocks, formerly the Mariner's Church, was creating a mission for neglected seamen.

 










Sydney harbour is amazing and there are boats everywhere. Ferries, cruise liners, replicas, harbour tour boats, motor boats and yachts.

And with so much maritime inspiration, we were looking for a ship to sail on. The start of our job on the Royal Albatross in Singapore had been delayed, so we have a couple of weeks to kill. In the sailing world, you can try to send mails and resume’s, but much better is just to “rock up” at the dock. Networking is another must in sailing and with help from my friend Karla, with whom I sailed in St. Tropez in the Classic regatta; we met Marty from Sydney Tall Ships.

If we want to come out for a trial day sailing?
Of course, sailing bag packed and off we go to
Campbell’s cove to meet with the ship. Both Billy
and I were completely astonished to see he Soren Larsen moored at the quay. For the sailors, this is a very famous Tall Ship which was starring in the Onedin Line (my favourite TV program when I
was a little girl) and circumnavigated the world
several times. We both have sent several emails
with job applications, but we never got an answer. And guess: we are going to sail on the
 SOREN LARSEN!

Soren Larsen in Sydney Harbour

Of course I was nervous. After 4 years in the office being a landlubber, back on a Tall ship. Do I remember the lines, the pins, the sail setting commands and “do I still dare to climb the mast? “ Billy got immediately directed to the engine room and I got a climbing harness and instructions for the mooring lines (shit I hope that I can still throw a heaving line!). But we did it! End of our trial day we got the invitation from Marty the captain “yes you are more than welcome to be crew on the Soren Larsen. Your bunks will be ready; you can stay onboard for the next weeks". When Billy and I walked back to our hotel that evening we just sang the song “YES YES we are going to sail on the Soren Larsen, the freaking Soren Larsen”. For you as readers of this blog herewith the link to the website of the Soren and you understand our fascination.

Brasso, Brasso. Shiny!

http://www.sorenlarsen.com

We packed our bags in the hostel and moved to the ship. We stayed in a "luxurious cabin" but still so small that you at least sleep with one of your bags in your bunk !

So how the day of a sailor does looks? The sailing program is harbour tours 3x a day. That means waking up in the morning and polish the brass, scrub the deck and get the ship ready for guests. A lot of catering activities while the people get served drinks and food during the sail.

Going aloft, climbing the mast to get the sails ready

Coiling again and again

Going aloft, climb the mast to un-gasket the sails and get them ready to set. Set the sails, most of the time just a couple of square sails, staysail and jib. Tidy the ship, coil the lines and relax for a bit. Enjoy the wonderful view of Sydney harbour and chit chat with the guests.

Crewmate Mike and me

My big help and my buddy on deck was Mike to let me remember all the lines and sail setting commands and after a week I was back on track.  YES Tall Ship girl again.

Billy is mostly busy operating the engine controls and worrying about the clutch. When that was done he helped with hauling on some lines.

 Another famous character on the boat is Frankie, the host who tells about the maritime history and make sure that the guests have a great time.


But my goodness, my muscles were sore after a couple of days sailing and tired from all the physical strenguous work. I really had to shake off my office lifestyle and every day I got stronger and the mast seemed lower. What a fantastic Tall Ship is Soren Larsen and so much fun with the crew. Hopefully we will join her again in August to sail more and join the Tall Ships event.

YESSSS.... Tall Ships girl again!

 Ahoy Charlotte

Sydney; a hyper energetic marketplace of the soul

 

February 2013

We left Bali and her tranquillity behind with a little pain in our hearts. Going to Sydney, the city known for the loud, uncompromising and “in your face” mentality. We flew with Scoot airlines to Sydney, what was a very surprising experience of a low cost carrier. No luggage included in the fare and rocking up at midnight to check in, learned us that trying to travel with 80 kg’s of luggage cost you a fortune of excess fee’s. I had to get my negotiations skills out, paid cash and next time “book your excess luggage ahead!

Highfield hotel, Victoria street, Pott's Point

As budget travellers, we stayed in the Highfield hotel in Victoria Street, Potts Point. One block away from the "roughy toughy" area of Kings Cross. Our street was lovely and besides the shared bathroom facilities, which really needed a thorough clean and paint touch up, we were happy with our little room with even a fridge.

Of course we started with the icon of the city: The Sydney Opera House. The inspiration for the design of Danish architect Jorn Utzon, were billowing sails. Architect Louis Kahn said “The sun did not know how beautiful its light was, until it was reflected of this building”.

Sydney Opera House

Sydney is a beautiful city, with lots of outdoor enjoyment. Parks, Botanical Gardens and the beaches. I remember when I visited Sydney 16 years ago, that I thought “I want to live here”. Sydney has it all; the city buzz circles around the huge harbour with outdoor activities and boating. Unfortunately me being over 30 years old; no way to get a work visa, so not easy to fulfil this dream.

 

The Rocks, the old part of Sydney, were he sailors and whalers, joined the convicts and inns and brothels sprang up to entertain them. Today it is Sydney’s cultural and historic heritage with unfortunately a lot of tourist traps. Gazing at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, 134m high and 53.000 tons of steel.

The Rocks and Sydney Harbour Bridge

Australian Museum

 


With so many things to see we choose the Australian Museum as first to visit. A natural history museum, with skeletons of dinosaur, giant wombats and video projections of snakes, spiders, crocodiles and all these dangerous creatures, you wish you will never ever see on your “outback tour”.

Indigenous Australians

Most interesting for me was the exhibition about the aboriginals, the indigenous people. Aboriginal history and spirituality with their dreamtime stories. The snake is of great significance. The rainbow      serpent is regarded as the creator of life and created the rivers land and the birds and the animals. But also the sad story of the Aboriginal right issues, their stolen land, used for sheep and cattle stations and “the stolen generation” where the children of the Aboriginals were moved from their parents. And till today the aboriginals fight for their freedom. There will be a 2013 Referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution.

 

 The museum of contemporary art has been raising the most open minded eyebrows because of her controversial exhibitions. We went to Taboo with a lot of work about war, discrimination and sex which even made me as Dutch free liberal spirit sometimes astonished and ashamed.

Australian history & crime against the indignuous people

Self portrait as a narcotic from Jenny Watson

Shocking exhibitions

Sydney on Valentine’s Day. What a dream: Ti Amo (I love you) written for us in the air, a champagne tapas dinner at the Opera kitchen and a performance “la Soiree” in the Opera House. Finished off with midnight drinks and the view of the Opera House by night.

I love you

The Sydney food experience is changed from the colonial meat and two vegie culture, and changed into a food culture with star chefs, food festivals and a multi cultural kitchen. We tried the wonderful fresh fish from the fish market, the siphon coffee from Antidote (best coffee in Pyrmont), Chat Thai (make reservations ahead) .

Coffee culture Antodote

 Harry’s cafe de Wheels an institution since 1938 and foto’s of special guests who ate here (Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken).


 The beach is an essential part of the Sydney experience. Join the bronze & beautiful, watch the surfers and eat an ice cream. Just hop on the ferry to Manly and half hour later you can stick your toes in the golden sand.

Manly Beach

Sydney, what a wonderful city! Next blog we will sail and see Sydney from the water.

Ahoy Charlotte



Bali Kembali

       Bali Kembali     

February 1-8,  2013

We think that we deserve a little holiday. We have been living in a whirlpool of activities the last 4 weeks. First with getting ready for our sailing adventure and then the week Singapore to get our crew position on the Royal Albatross. I just need sun & sea and chill to get my body and mind in the adventure mode. Let's shake off the city stress and change to nature and tranquillity.

No better place than Bali, a tourist haven for decades! And of course of important Dutch history. In 1597 the Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived at Bali and, with the establishment of the Dutch East India Company in 1602, the stage was set for colonial control two and a half centuries later when Dutch control expanded across the Indonesian archipelago throughout the second half of the nineteenth century.

We found the most beautiful little family resort in Sanur, named Bali Kembali (=  back to Bali).



 

The view from our little bungalow in Bali Kembali.
It had all the ingredients for super chill

  

But Bali has so much to offer, that we had to discover the island. Sadly I had to leave the swimming pool and my place in the shade under the trees. We negotiated a driver/ guide for the day for just RP 350.000 (= € 25). Bali is a great place for a hard core negotiator like me, especially in low season. You divide the asked price by two and start negotiating from there !

We started with Bali culture; the Barong dancing It is a story telling dance, narrating the fight between good and evil.

Barong is a lion-like creature and character in the mythology of Bali, Indonesia. He is the king of the spirits, leader of the hosts of good, and enemy of Rangda.

 

Balinese percussion orchestra music, known

as gamelan, is highly developed and varied.

 

Agriculture is still the island’s biggest employer most notably rice cultivation. And it took some pictures and stops for the driver to find the nicest rice fields. It is one of the most impressive landscapes of what I have ever seen.

 

And further we went in the agricultural world of Bali. The Arabica coffee production region is the highland region of Kintamani near Mount Batur. consistency. Many coffee farmers in Kintamani are members of a traditional farming system called Subak Abian, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana”. According to this philosophy, the three causes of happiness are good relations with God, other people and the environment. The Subak Abian system is ideally suited to the production of fair trade and organic coffee production.

Billy tried to become expert in the Traditional coffee grinding and we did the tasting of several coffee flavours. Our favoured was the vanilla flavoured coffee. A little disappointment the next day, tasting sugar and vanilla with only a little hint of coffee. The typical tourist trap!

 

And we wouldn't be real sailors, not sailing the Traditional Bali Fishing boats, the jukung. We found the most lovely old fisherman, named Agung Randut, who was willing to take us out.

Jukung are colorful wooden outriggers with ‘arms’ on either side for stability. These single-masted sailboats have a triangular sail. Hulls are hollowed-out trees, deep and extremely narrow, just wide enough to seat one slim person. Arms are constructed from bamboo and wood then slashed together with ropes.

It was a leisurely sail with only a little wind, but fantastic to see how the old man, knew every wave and blow of the wind to  keep the boat going. 

 The last part of the Bali experience is the food. Of course as Dutch we know the Indonesian restaurants but the special thing is the open-air food markets. Vendors  cook their produce (for example meat on skewers cooked on charcoal fires) for passing customers. This is the local version of fast food. Other foods (meat, fruits and vegetables) are sold for people to take home. These foods are usually wrapped in banana leaves instead of paper.

So we enjoyed the nasi goreng, rending, sate ajam on the Sindu nightmarket and in the little restaurants on the streets of Sanur.

 

As in the title of the blog 'kembali' we have to come back to Bali. To learn more about the culture, temples and the Hindu religion, to enjoy the friendliness of the people and to eat more nasi goring and  rendang . 

Ahoy Charlotte