"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #41 Sydney, Australia February 10, 2018 Saturday Sunny & 83 degrees Part #1 Of 4 80 Pictures

We have arrived to the country of Australia with a population of 21,010,000 people mostly English-speaking. The capital is Canberra. The vast area of Australia has endless plains, dense tropical forests, and wild southern beaches. They also have deadly spiders, snakes, and sharks. The more interesting and famous animals include kangaroos, crocodiles, koalas, wallabies, platypus, and wombats. They fill the country sides.

The best time to visit is any time. The saying around here is: if it is cold down south, it’s warm up north. Good time to see Uluru or Ayres Rock, the Blue Mountains, and the Great Barrier Reef. Kakadu National Park and native aboriginal history are fascinating subjects to study. A stark opposite pastime are the tours to wineries of the country.

Trademarks are dangerous creatures, surfing, endless coastlines, pubs, BBQ’s, beer, opals, digeridoos, convicts, and vegemite. A random fact is some interesting things were invented here. They include the bionic ear, the black box flight recorder, the note pad, and wine casks. Who knew?

Tours from the ship offered today were fewer than usual. They included 3 to 8 hour trips for $90 to $200. They took in the Taronga Zoo, city highlights, and a ride to the Blue Mountains. The more pricey ones were the bridge climb for $600 (wow), a seaplane flight for $800, and an evening at the opera for the performance of Carmen. These tickets went from $255 to $335. Another wow.

Anyway, the Amsterdam arrived in the wee hours of dawn, right before sunrise. The sail into this harbor is always a scenic one. We have had the pleasure of seeing it many times, so this morning, we slept through most of it. Barbara H gave a commentary all the way to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, then because of local restrictions, she had to stop her narrative.

By the time we docked, we were eating breakfast in the dining room, waiting for the mandatory Australian Immigration Inspection to commence. We know from experience that once we go through immigrations, we would not be allowed to come back on the ship, until everyone had gone off. So it made no sense to go first, with our priority number A, because it was way too early to be off for the day.

So we held back, and headed off around 9:00am. By then, they were calling number 15 and 16. Even though we had been asked to bring our letter with our number assignment, no one asked for it. The line was long going into the terminal, but it was moving. While we were close to the officials, we saw three custom officers with service dogs rushing to go onboard the ship. Rumor had it that they were searching deck two with their dogs. Wonder what that was all about? Continuing on, we passed the inspection, and our passports were collected by the ship’s front desk girls.

Speaking of the terminal, we were docked at White Bay, very far from everything. The Viking Sun was in the slip in front of us. Since our reference book for cruise ships is dated 2014, none of the Viking Ocean Cruise ships were listed. So we have no details on her, other than it was registered in Bergen, Norway, and had far fewer lifeboats than we do. In Circular Quay, the NCL Jewel was there, where we used to be docked several years ago. That is really the best spot in town.

The bad thing about being at White Harbour is that we have to take shuttles across the Anzac Bridge to the Central Business District. Of course, not having a shuttle bus would be worse. Besides the HAL tour buses, there were three buses waiting to be loaded. Now you would think that one line of people would fill the buses one at a time. Nope. Without good directions from the terminal crew, it was a free-for-all. Buses filled from three separate places, cutting people off in the middle. So rude. Finally got seats on a comfortable coach with a nice driver. At least, we were able to pick up the local booklet with maps before leaving the terminal. And while we are thinking about it, there was no wifi at this location. People were getting cell phone access, even on the ship, however.

The ride took about 20 minutes, but instead of being dropped off at George Street near Circular Quay, we were taken to Darling Harbour. To be more specific, we were off-loaded by the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. The area surrounding George Street (our usual stop) and Circular Quay were under construction, because light rail is being introduced. Much of it was fenced off, inaccessible to traffic and pedestrians.

Having a good street map was a must, even with all of the times we have been here. One of the most impressive buildings we passed along the way, was the Queen Victoria Building. Or as most locals call it, the QVB. It is a Romanesque revival structure built in the honor of the Queen in 1898. This is something we did not know - this building was originally used as a produce market, and that it the reason that the mosaic-tiled floors are slanted for easy cleaning and drainage. We always figured that the building was settling over the centuries. Today the QVB is the home to 170 shops, boutiques, cafes, jewelers, and home wares. Taking a few photos of the entrance was as far as we got today. Perhaps we will come back tomorrow and check it out.

We found our way from the jungle of skyscrapers to Circular Quay, the main transport for the local ferries. That area was already getting very crowded with the guests from the NCL Jewel and local families and tourists out for the day. Many of those tourists are Asian, because those countries happen to be closer to Australia. It is the destination for them, especially this time of year, when it is winter up north. Forgot to mention that it was heavily overcast, but very humid this morning. Hopefully the sun would peek out later, and we kept our fingers crossed that it would not rain. It must have rained last night, because everything was puddled up on the pier.

From here, we followed the harbor to the Sydney Opera House. It’s most impressive with a Danish design, built in 1973. There are 2500 performances and events held there every year. Walking around the back at Bennelong Point, we enjoyed views of the famous coat-hangar bridge, The Sydney Harbour Bridge. Considered the world’s largest steel arch bridge, it’s one of the two famous landmarks of Sydney. (The Opera House rivals it for number one.) This span opened in 1932, and was finally paid off in 1988. It cost 13.5 million Australian dollars to build, and it took 21,120 gallons of gray paint to give it one coat. Why the color gray? Well it was the only shade that could be purchased in such huge quantities. Friends of ours were making the climb today, having booked it online just last week. Once at the top of the bridge, they would be up over 400 feet high. The cost for each of them was $300 (not sure if that was Australian dollars or US dollars). But it was a much better deal than the $600 the ship was charging. But then, the HAL tour included a walk through the Rocks with a beer. Another interesting tidbit about the bridge, is that it can expand up to 7 inches, depending on the weather.

The next part of our hike would be one of the best – a walk through the Royal Botanic Garden, 74 acres of what used to be a farm colony in 1788. Today we were treated to seeing 9000 Australian and foreign plant species. Entering through the Queen Elizabeth Gate, we followed the path towards the Government House, a Gothic Revival structure built in 1845. Slowly making or way through the meandering paths, we ended up in the center of the park at the Palm Grove Center with a café, a garden shop, visitors information, and more importantly, restrooms. Up to this point, we had seen many ibis, doves, ducks, and the best - sulphur-crested cockatoos. Lots of them, in fact. They cannot hide, since they are quite noisy. These birds live in grasses, shrubs, an trees, and feed on seeds, fruits, palm hearts , and insects. They can be destructive to crops, and for that reason, are shot in some countries. They like to nest in cavities of eucalyptus trees, laying 2 to 3 eggs. In past years, this park was over- run with fruit bats, but they have successfully been removed. Perhaps that gave these cockatoos a chance to thrive.

Leaving the garden, we found our way to Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, a sandstone rock carved into a bench for Elizabeth, the governor’s wife in 1810. Usually this point is so crowded, you cannot get close to it. But today, it was wide open for photos. The nicest part of this point was catching a breeze from the Woolloomooloo Bay. Several types of tour boats were in these harbors, some catamarans, speed boats, and even crafts carrying pink rubber tube swans for floating in water somewhere.

This spot was the closest view we got of Ft. Denison, a tiny island in the bay. It used to be a prison for the worst of the convicts, and the last place on earth they saw, as this was also where executions took place. Later on, it became a military installation to protect the harbor from attack. Today, it is a museum with a restaurant, which is a most popular venue for wedding receptions.

This was our turn-around point. Following the water’s edge, we passed by a shoreline entertainment stage. A huge screen must pop up with films, entertaining the folks in the grandstands. It was posted that the proceeds go to the Royal Botanic Garden.

On the walk back, we swung up to the garden’s main and waterlily ponds. The main pond is home to many fish about 12 or more inches long, together with some eels. A tree in the center of this pond houses a flock of black cormorants, who occasionally dipped into the water for their lunch. Little kids, out with their extended families, delighted in throwing pieces of stale bread in the pond to lure in the hungry fish. Despite signs prohibiting it, the fish seemed to enjoy the feeding, as we did.

The Rocks district was our final destination for our lunch. Exiting the park at the Government House Gate, we passed by the more modern Conservatorium of Music. It was about another hour leisurely walk to the Rocks. One of the places we stopped was at the Intercontinental Hotel, a modern structure rising out of the center of a historic building. Many years ago, we spent a few days here following a cruise from Auckland to Sydney.

The Rock district overlooks the Circular Quay area, as well as the bridge. It was the local of the prison back in the early days of colonization. Tons of history here. The cobbled lanes were cordoned off today for the weekend flea market of tented souvenirs. The vendors are here every Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm. To accommodate the crowds, there are numerous cafes, restaurants, bakeries, pubs, and museums. The best place to get pizza has to be Caminettos, a mostly outdoor café serving lots of Italian dishes, as well as the much sought-after seafood. They offered an all- day happy hour with Sol beer for $4.49 a bottle. Made from scratch, this has to be the tastiest Margherita pizza so far this trip. The waitress we have known over the years, Wendy, has left for greener pastures, last year, we were told. Can you believe she remembered us every year we had come here?

We must have relaxed over an hour, watching the activity around the souvenir stalls. Nothing is a bargain here, not even a silk jacket one of us spotted in a high-end shop on the way back to Darling Harbour. A tad shy of $400 AU, we passed on the opportunity. Since so many more evenings are going casual on the ships, formal wear is not necessary. Too bad.

Taking our time going up the street and over the hill, we were finally back to the aquarium and the bus stop. Lucky for us, one was waiting to be filled. The ride back found the Anzac Bridge more congested with weekend travelers. Still nothing compared to the commute we are used to going across the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. Sometimes an hour trip turns into a three hour excursion.

There was some time before we had a date in the Crow’s Nest for cocktails with a group of friends meeting with Greg and Heo, former tablemates from Sydney. The pleasure of our long walk today, turned into a painful back for one of us later in the afternoon. It was a disappointing decision to make, but cocktails and dinner would not work tonight. So sad to miss seeing the guys, we called Susie and explained our situation. Kind of in the same boat, she fully understood.

So the rest of the late afternoon was spent with photo work. At some point, a couple of hours into the process, Microsoft decided to shut down their site. Needless to say, one of us was not a happy camper when all of the work was lost. We ordered room service dinner, something we have only done perhaps twice in the past. Getting an extra hour or more of rest, was priceless.

Ready for another marathon day tomorrow.

Bill & Mary Ann

White Bay Cruise Terminal