BONUS DAY IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

 DAY 51/138   February 9, 2024

                                              

Today was a bonus day for Sydney, Australia.   Last night we were told that we’d be arriving in Sydney at 2:45 am, and John  happened to awaken in time to take some night-time photos. 

This is the famous Sydney Opera House.  Always stunning but particularly more at night.   Today's stay in Sydney was unexpected and it was due to the Marine Pilot strike going on in Tasmania where we were headed.  Because the strike has been on again and off again, the Captain and probably the powers that be in Viking decided to swing us over to Sydney ASAP and clear Australian customs while we had an opportunity.  They took a lot of time and effort to arrange all of this including find an area for the ship to berth, arranging shuttles and all the harbour excursion.  We will be back to Sydney on the 15th for two more days. After a quick breakfast this morning we left the ship at 7:00 AM to clear Australian immigration. There was a tent with seating for us while we waited for the Harbor Excursion boat to arrive.  I had a very lengthy, interesting talk with one of the female terminal employees.  She had experience living in the U.S. for a while; living in San Diego.  She also knew the city where we lived.  But mostly we talked about Australia and all the trips that John and I have had here.  The best trip was in the early 2000's when we did a six week camping trip with Australian Pacific Tours.  That trip went from Sydney, across the Nullarbor to Perth, then up the coast going through Broome, then up and over to Darwin and then down the middle of the country going to Alice Springs and hiking around Ayers Rock.  There were only 14 of us on that trip and it was spectacular.   Around 8:30 the Harbour Tour Boat arrived and it was actually quite nice.   The boat had lovely refreshments for all of us including juice, coffee, and tea.  There was also a pastry called Lamingtons. According to the internet  Lamington cake – traditional Australian cake squares dipped in velvety chocolate icing and sprinkled with desiccated coconut; they are moist, comforting, and utterly delicious!  And they were!!  Here are several photos of things I found interesting in the harbour including the bridge, the opera house, gardens and other boats.  There are also more high end real estate homes than we had seen previously.

A staff member told me that the "boat" had a capacity of 1000 passengers but I think our group was around 300 or so.  It wasn't ideal for photos because we couldn't go outside and had to shoot photos through the windows, but nevertheless I managed to get some good ones.  

Here is Luna Park, Sydney's art-deco heritage-listed amusement center. It has been in existence since the 1930's and has gone through many remodels and revisions.  

The iconic bridge with an old sailing ship that is now being used for tourism. 

The Australian Navy has a small base in the Sydney Harbour.  I found one ship particularly interesting because it is undergoing refurbishing and there was a lot of scaffolding in the upper part of the bow and the workers were climbing all over it as they worked.  I was just hoping that they were clipped in for safety. 

                                        

This is housing used in a Government capacity.  Quite nice and right on the very desirable waterfront. 

Another lovely private home on the watefront. 

One of many lighthouses in the harbor.  

After the Harbour tour we jumped on the shuttle bus that Viking provided to get us into town.  We walked for a while until we found a yummy fish and chips restaurant.  Further walking got us into the area we would like to return in  a few days: the National Maritime Museum.  The downtown area has exploded in growth and there were workers out looking for lunch all over the area where we were walking.  Sydney was founded by the British in 1788 as a penal colony and in just 236 years it has been turned into a leading powerhouse in the entire region.  

My evening ended with completion of this blog as well as taking in a talk by guest lecturer, David Burgess, about the unique animals in Australia.  He calls them extraordinary and sometimes bizarre.  We look forward to seeing some animals on the east coast.  We've seen them before but they are so different that we never get tired to seeing them.  

Many evenings there are excellent musical performances but they start at 9PM and after I've already been up at 5AM hitting the gym, I don't have the energy to stay up that late.   Hope you enjoy my updates of our trip.  It has been great making new friends everyday.   Fran.