Watson’s Bay

Boxing Day Sydney to Hobart Race From Watsons Bay

The Sydney to Hobart race is an annual race between the two cities that takes place on Boxing Day every year. It is about a 625 miles race between the two cities, Sydney; on Mainland Australia, and Hobart; on Tasmania to the south and is considered to be one of the hardest races of its type in the world.

The Sydney To Hobart Yacht Fleet

I first heard about the Sydney to Hobart race when I used to get up at 7.00AM on a Saturday to watch Trans-World Sports and it always had a mention about the yacht racing. I am pretty fascinated by the technology that goes into these machines. I guess that it is to boats as F1 is to road cars. In more recent years the controversy and the tragedy that accompanied it is probably most memorable.

It has rained on and off for the last two days, much to our disgust, so we headed up to Watson’s Bay for about 11.00 AM on the bus from William St. for about $4.5 each as our travel passes have run out and we can’t be bothered to get proper passes until we can get value for money from them. We passed by Rushcutter’s Bay where the racing boats were all moored up on the way to Watson’s Bay and it already looked to be a hive of activity.

We thought that we might be able to get a table at Doyle’s as the weather was horrible, but no such luck. Ian and I watched the start of the race from the Watson’s Bay WWII submarine net site and then walked quickly to the top of the hill above the park to watch the boats racing off down the coast.

Fish and Chips at Watsons bay

We wandered back down to meet the girls and had a few Hahn Supers and a hearty fish and chips from the hotel bar/outdoor restaurant.

Sydney To Hobart Fleet

There were about 120 boats racing, but the flotilla that accompanied them out of the harbour must have been nearly 600 or 700 boats – quite a sight to be honest.

Live tracking on the boats – really cool online updates of positions and whatnot: Live Sydney To Hobart Race

And updates seem to be regular on their twitter: http://twitter.com/rshyr

Full Picture Gallery:

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Himself. x

Tags: Hobart, Sydney, Sydney To Hobart Race, Watson's Bay

Saturday, December 26th, 2009 Hobart, Sydney, Watson's Bay No Comments

Sydney City Walkabout and Ferry to Rose and Watsons Bay

We have been getting about Sydney a bit more over the last week once we had got our travel passes and whatnot sorted out, and continued to find more places in Sydney that we like/are enjoying wandering about.

Northern Tourists? Never

We headed back over through the CBD to The Rocks and wandered through the wharfs just north near to the Harbour Bridge – loads of lovely restaurants and things of interest (Art and old buildings and things) – it looked rather posh with the apartments having their own moorings and things. Definitely worth a look, but quite why? erm – I guess its very quiet.

We walked around the headland taking photos and looking like right northern tourists, and then decided that we would hop on the ferry from circular quay to Rose Bay. The main reason that we took the trip was because it was free – I have talked about the [link] travelpasses in another post.

We had expected it to be like the ferry to Manly that we took the other week, erm – no – it was like a blooming speedboat up top – we were a bit blown about by the time we got to Rose Bay.

Rose Bay, Sydney

Erm… pleasant enough, no beach, bus station almost next to the ferry port in Lyne Park that you can hop on a bus over to Watson’s bay – which is exactly what we did. Apparently it is quite a sports and watersports centre of activity according to this website about Rose Bay.

Watson’s Bay, Sydney

My sister had said to make sure that we went to Watson’s Bay but to walk there from Bondi (which we will do in the coming weeks), and we were always going to head out that way on Boxing Day to watch the Sydney to Hobart boats racing out into the Tasman Sea past the headland.

We had a moment when we got down to the little beach there, and well – the pictures and video can describe it. Tranquility, Peace, Idyllic – you try and word it… Watson’s Bay Tourist Information here. Doyles Restaurant looked fabulous, if not a little sandblasted on the day that we were there. We hopped on a bus from the top of the park back to Kings Cross – the 314 I think (maybe wrong)

Oh For Stoke