The neighbour of friend we stayed with in Sydney just happened to be doing a bit of fibreglassing, so a crack in the bottom of one of the kayaks got some long awaited repairs.
That was excuse enough to let it see water again for the first time since Katherine Gorge.
Sydney even provided us a couple of jobs, leads from our rural connections.
Another new year is upon us, bringing summer's higher temperatures. It is also school holidays, which is a hard time to find work and a bad time to travel. Once again it is time to head south. The suburbs gradually give way to farms as we head south into the highlands.
First stop, Canberra.
A little quiet time at Bill's brother's place was a chance to catch up on some neglected chores, like sorting through our collection of boot disks and hard disks.
With Tasmania and the Cradle Mountain walk on the agenda, we also need to do some shopping.
Our small tent was getting old and leaky, and we needed to expand our mountain hiking gear a little.
We also indulged ourselves with a visit to the war memorial, the mint, and another kayak. The manicured shores of Lake Burley Griffin are a stark contrast to the banks of the Molonglo River that feeds it. The only gaps in the crack willow are home to weeping willow, elm, poplar, and blackberry. It would seem they need the help of our mapping team!
Since it was almost on the way, we stopped in to Thredbo. An email to previous customers generated a couple of jobs, but there was still time for hiking. Along with the usual crimson rosellas and spinebills, there were large flocks of gang gangs about in the mountains.
From there we headed across to the coast to see Steve and Kim again.
After a couple of days taking it easy, we headed south to Point Hicks in Croajingolong National Park.
The sandy soils support lots of banksia, but unlike those in the west, these are just an understory in a much more diverse bush community.
We camped a couple of days with Steve, Kim, and the kids. Our new tent held out the rain, which cleared quickly leaving us free to explore the dunes, beaches, and lighthouse.
With the scheduled day of our passage rapidly approaching, we headed off to Melbourne. Melbourne has a somewhat colder feel than most Australian cities - its early architecture is predominantly granite rather than the sandstone elsewhere. In addition to a small walking tour of the heart of the city, we spent a day at the tennis. Then it was onto the boat, and into the only state we haven't yet visited.