31 Jan 2003: Sydney NSW

We've achieved the main aim of our visit - to visit family and a few friends and to ensure our grandsons remember us fondly. Tomorrow we will fly out from a very hot and fire-ravaged Australia to Vancouver where we hear there has been a mild winter. Hopefully this will continue and allow us to complete the work necessary for a long ocean passage - a VERY LONG one indeed for us. As a result of our medical checkups in Sydney we received news that means we will only be able to continue our cruising on the Australian coast, hence the proposed sail home across the Pacific, a distance of some 7,000 nm. But first, we need to make a list of all the jobs needed before we depart Canada - now that's a task in itself!