We had 3 goals when we reached Australia: 1. Spend New Years Eve anchored in Sydney harbor and get a front row seat to the greatest fireworks display in the known world. 2. Meet up and deliver the remaining 1/3 cremains of our beloved dog Satchel to his first family, the Burdens. 3. Meet up with a long lost relative that was rumored to be in Sydney from the English side of my (Greg’s) family. We’ve completed goals 1 & 3 with relative ease. Number 2 shouldn’t be that hard either. Before the NYE event in Sydney, we spent some time in Redhead, near Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, the largest lagoon in the southern hemisphere. A wonderful family that was friends with our crew mate Haak invited us to a family BBQ and by the end of the evening, an offer to use their car and camping gear while they were visiting New Zealand was suggested. We took them up on their kind offer and really enjoyed our time getting to see some of the hinterlands and outback. We visited Dunn’s Swamp and the wildlife zoo in Dubbo, before driving back through the Blue Mountains, outside of Sydney. It was the best way to spend Christmas. After getting back to the boat, we stayed in Lake Macquarie for a few more days until the weather gave us a sailing advantage to head south. The 4am start when we left due to the early morning timing the opening of a draw bridge and exiting another bar crossing to the sea at a rising high tide, had us in Sydney before the sun went down. We had positioned ourselves with a perfect view of both the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge right off Bradleys Head, near the Sydney Zoo. Over the course of several days, more and more boats showed up, spreading themselves out. On the last day of the year, so many 12-16 foot boats appeared. It was fun and a bit nerve-racking to watch the inexperienced boaters try to anchor. Several times boats got to close to us and they voluntarily moved. As the chaos evolved into the evening, the kindness and good natured Aussies did what was necessary to keep everyone happy. By the next morning, 80% of the boats had moved on, returning from wherever they came from. The trash was picked up, the beach cleaned, and the beauty returned to the Sydney shoreline. Many places around the world could learn a thing or two from the Aussies. More about goal #3 to come at a later date.