The top picture was taken on Whale Beach in 2005 when we came to Sydney for the first time during a vacation. Nicky was 1 1/2 years old then and we were given a memorable tour of the scenic spots north of Sydney by our hosts Julie and Tony.

Now we're anchored on the "other side" of Whale Beach in Careel Bay and during a little excursion on shore today we took the bottom picture on the very same beach - this time with a 10-year old Nicky. Time flies...

After almost a week in Pittwater we splurged on a new head for Namani. Something we originally wanted to do in 2011 before we left Maine, but that never quite made it to the top of the projects list... We installed it yesterday and we're still admiring the shiny white thing. Also felt kind of funny zipping across the bay with a toilet in the dinghy...

Over the past few years this blog has brought us in touch with a few fellow owners of an original Dufour 35 of Namani's vintage (the series was built in the 1970's and early 80's). We've enjoyed the exchanges and they have often been helpful as a sounding board for boat questions regarding modifications and repairs. Why re-invent the wheel if someone else has already thought of a good solution?

We left Coffs Harbour on Tuesday (03DEC) morning for an overnight sail to Port Stephens, about 170nm to the south. The weather was supposed to turn nasty again by Wednesday night so this was our chance. We spent most of the day Monday beating into southerly winds and by late afternoon were able to sail directly to our destination without tacking, once the wind had sufficiently shifted to the SE. At that point we were firmly in the East Australien Current, averaging well over 8 knots (remember the turtles in "Finding Nemo"?) and making up for the time we had lost tacking during the day.

A week after our arrival in Australia we're still in Coffs Harbour, slowly "getting settled" into the country with the usual routine: replenish food stores (after having to give up our remaining fresh supplies when we cleared in last Monday), get SIM cards for cell phone and internet access, and open a local bank account (much cheaper to transfer money from Europe/US once and then pay in local currency).