Sydney, Australia

The night before we got to Sydney, we said goodbye to two of our dear dinner companions. Bill and Heather were getting off in Sydney and spending five weeks in Australia. Heather, though she now lives in Pennsylvania, is originally from Tasmania. Their children are joining them for a portion of the trip and they will visit family and friends in Tasmania. Heather had asked Brian to play his guitar and sing some songs for them before they left, so, after dinner, a small group of friends met in the chapel and Brian did just that.

I was up bright and early when we sailed into Sydney the next morning. Our passenger choir had to be on deck 14 at 5:45 so we could sing while we sailed past the Sydney Opera hHouse. Evidently, this is one of the most beautiful sail ins on the cruise and, since I couldn’t see it, Brian took pictures for me.

I’m at a loss for words to describe Sydney. It is really the most amazing place! A young, vibrant city, Sydney has a lively, welcoming feel. This is a place I could easily spend much more time in. There is so much to see and experience. The mix of old and new architecture, all the public art and the lovely green spaces were a treat for the senses. Our shore excursion for the day was a Hop On, Hop Off bus tour. We spent about an hour and a half riding around this beautiful city. I took way too many photos. These are some of my favorites.

Sydney was celebrating a many weeks long Pride Festival and the city was decked out in honor of that. The Pride rainbow was everywhere.

We even saw some local wildlife. Only one of these creature is real. Hint…it’s not the giraffe.

After we hopped off the bus back where we got on, we decided a cold beer was in order. We stopped in at the Fortune of War pub, which is the oldest pub in Sydney. The Australian beer was good and the locals were very friendly.

After cooling down, we wandered around the area near the cruise port poking our nose in shops and having lunch. There were way too many options of things to do, so we decided we’d just have to come back for a longer stay. It would take weeks to experience everything Sydney has to offer. Brian decided to hike over to the Opera House and I walked back to the ship. It was a beautiful Saturday with lots of young families out and about.

We left Sydney in the evening during a rainstorm. The passengers on the other side of the ship got to watch an amazing fireworks show over the Opera House which, I understand, occurs every Saturday night in the summer. We didn’t even know it happened until yesterday.

Our call in Sydney marked the beginning of the next segment of the world cruise. This portion of the trip ends in Dubai. Over the next month, we turn our clocks back an hour 9 times. This should be interesting!

Yesterday was a sea day, so my choir began rehearsing new music for our next concert which will be the night before we get to Dubai. After dinner, we went to trivia with our friends and dinner companions Mike and Karin and Steve and Carmen. It was music trivia and the topic was Cher. The host plays 20 second snippets of a song and we have to guess the title. We discovered that we suck at Cher trivia. We got a total of 7 out of 20, but since the winner only had 9, we did ok!

Today we’re at anchor off Moreton Island which is a private resort. Brian took a snorkeling shore excursion and I stayed on board to do laundry and write this blog. Passengers are being tendered to shore on a water shuttle and it is going very slowly, so I’m not certain if I’ll go on shore or not. It’s very nice and quiet where I’m sitting right now and there is a lot to be said for that!