(Almost) Noon Sighting
30°49′11″ S 153°18′19″ E

Oooops, I forgot my sextant at home so I had to resort to my backup technologies – good old iPhone compass, GPS & Google Maps.

It’s just as well as I really have no clue about how to properly use a sextant.

The ship was at sea all day today so we had lots of time to explore some more.

There were some fun graphics painted on the exterior walls on the upper deck & many people were posing with them.

Tonight was a formal dinner evening so there was lots going on. We got dressed up for a “night on the town” ….

Our first stop was to see Scott Williams, an Australian comedian. He promotes himself as “the laugh doctor” & he was very funny.

He used a lot of graphics (like the one below) to point out that there can be humour just about anywhere & in any profession.

Maybe I could get a graphic like this for Santosha’s flybridge. I have a feeling that Catherine would exercise a veto on that idea.

Next on the agenda was to go to the ship’s main gathering area where the Cruise Director introduced the Captain & all of the executive members of the crew.

This was followed by the champagne waterfall. The area was packed with people so we took a pass on getting a glass of bubbly & headed for the dining room – time to eat – again!

I wonder if one of these towers has ever fell over. What a mess that would be! 🙀

After dinner we went to the main theater to see the special show “Encore” put on by the cruise ship troupe featuring musical theatre songs, opera arias, dance plus an amazing violinist. It was really good – probably the best one we have seen on any cruise we’ve taken.

After such a busy day we were ready for bed. The ship docks in Brisbane early in the morning.

Tonight we pass through a time zone so we will set our clocks back 1 hour. That means we will have to wait an extra hour before the breakfast buffet opens. I hope I can last that long.

Cheers!

Sydney Cruise Terminal
33°51′28″ S 151°12′37″ E

We were up early this morning to pack our bags & check out of the hotel (Novotel Darling Square).

The past 5 days have just flown by. We saw a lot of Sydney but we also just scratched the surface of what the city has to offer. I’d love to come back & spend a month exploring more of it!

A shuttle bus took us to the cruise terminal which is located in between the Harbour Bridge & the Opera House. We arrived at the very beginning of check-in time & were able to get on board right away. It was the fastest boarding we’ve ever had.

Photo below copied from the internet: The Majestic Princess – our home for the next 10 days while we cruise from Sydney along Australia’s east coast up to the northern edge of the Great Barrier Reef.

We thought the ship was mostly empty until we arrived at the main dining area – it was packed & it looks like it will stay that way until we disembark back in Sydney 10 days from now 🙀. Better sharpen my elbows.

We joined the buffet line & picked up a light lunch. Thankfully the ship’s dining areas are very efficient at handling large crowds.

After lunch we explored the rest of the ship & found some of the quiet & out of the way spots where there are far less people around you.

The trick is to get to them early in the day & stay parked. As soon as you get up someone else is there to take your place.

Our luggage was delivered to our cabin early in the afternoon so we unpacked everything & then had a short rest while enjoying the fantastic view from the port side of the ship. We could get very used to this!

We spent more time getting oriented to the ship and wandered around like deer in the headlights. Fortunately the staff are used to this behavior and are very helpful in directing lost souls. They are from all over the world – Eastern Europe, Australasia and the cruise director is from Vancouver.

We cast off at 6:45pm & the ship’s horn played a few notes from the musical theme for “The Love Boat” TV show. It was pretty loud, but fun to hear. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to record it. Hopefully the Captain will play it again when we leave our next port (Brisbane). I’ll have a chat with him about that tomorrow.

The ship’s departure from Sydney was very exciting, with spectacular views all around just as the sun was starting to set.

We stayed on the top deck for as long as we could before having to go to the dining room for our appointed dinner hour at 7:45.

Can’t miss a meal on this voyage – you never know when there will be another chance to eat!

After dinner we went to the Princess Theater to see a performance by Australian solo singer Thomas Armstrong-Robley. He’s an aspiring younger version of Michael Buble & he gave a great show based on songs by Frank Sinatra & Frankie Valli. Photo below copied from the internet.

Time for bed! We will spend the entire day at sea tomorrow. That will give us lots of time to get to know our way around the ship & to meet our 3,560 fellow passengers.

The breakfast buffet opens at 5:30am!

Cheers!

33° 52′ 25.79″ S, 151° 11′ 34.80″ E
Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre

Today is our last full day in Sydney. Yesterday we discovered that the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center is only a 10 minute walk from our hotel.

Catherine really wanted to have a swim in the 50 meter pool so she had a light breakfast (I had the usual meat fest!) & we walked over to the center. I dropped my girl off for her swim 🙂 & I headed back to the hotel to get organized for the rest of the day.

Photo below copied from the internet.

The was no place for me to sit & watch Catherine swim so I headed out for another walk along Darling Harbour shoreline & we met up later back at the hotel. She said it was the best pool of the trip – salt water, perfect temperature, not too crowded!

Next on our agenda was to take the tour bus back to the Sydney Opera House area. We wanted to do some more exploring of the nearby area called “The Rocks”. This is a historic neighborhood with well preserved buildings & lots of history.

This afternoon we took a guided tour of the Opera House. It is an an amazing facility.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos inside the two main performance theaters but we were given a great tour of them.

We were hoping that we could attend a symphony concert while we were here but everything was sold out. However, we did manage to get some tickets to a comedy play “The Lyin Queen”. Promo photo below copied from the internet.

It was a hilarious spoof/mashup of 3 movies – The Lion King, Jurassic Park & King Kong. Lots of local, national & international comic jabs. We haven’t laughed this hard in a long time!

After the show we enjoyed a couple of “last views” of the Harbour Bridge

& the Opera House.

Back to our hotel for our last sleep there. We can’t believe how fast this past 5 days have gone by.

Tomorrow we board the cruise ship for the last phase of our down under adventures.

Cheers!

33.8568° S, 151.2153° E
Sydney Opera House

Today we booked a city tour on the local hop on-hop off bus service. Good thing I had a kangaroo burger a few days ago so I could hop on and off easily!

We caught our first bus on the “red” line at a stop across the street from our hotel.

It took us through Sydney’s central business district & then to the Sydney Opera House. In the business district we saw many old sandstone buildings mixed in with spectacular modern architecture.

We hopped off the bus at the Opera House & took in the great views of it & the Harbour Bridge.

There was a Carnival cruise ship at the dock where we will be boarding our Princess cruise ship on Wednesday. Very exciting!

We walked around the Opera House which is set on 4-1/2 acres so we got a lot of steps in just circling it!

The bus took us back to Darling Harbour where we had lunch, then got back on the bus on the “blue” line which took us on a different route out to Bondi Beach.

We popped back into our favourite cafe – Le Paris Go – for a cappuccino as it had started to rain. Hard to believe it was three weeks ago that we were here in the 30 C sunshine!

We got in line for the next bus back and were able to get a seat inside. We saw different parts of the Bondi area and some more spectacular views of the Sydney skyline and harbour. The real estate prices in this area must be obscene!

Some of the return route was starting to feel a little familiar. We drove by “our” laundromat three times today! Surely a cultural highlight!

This morning we hopped on the first bus of the day and this afternoon we hopped off of the last one – so we certainly got our money’s worth!

Photo below: the world’s tallest vertical garden building – One Central Park, located in downtown Sydney. 34 stories, 2,200 apartments & accommodations for 900 students.

We bought a two day pass so we can go back to the Opera House tomorrow for a longer visit.

This service is a great way to see the city and hear more about the history of the area. For example, the tour bus guide told the story that when the first British arrived in Australia they pointed at the kangaroos and asked the aborigines what the name of the animal was. They responding saying “kangaroo” which actually means “I don’t understand what you are saying.”

Cheers, mates!

Cook Phillip Park Pool
33.872146 S 151.212805 E

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed out on foot to find the Cook and Phillip Pool where Catherine was scheduled to take a swim clinic at 10:30.

She has been following the YouTube videos of Australian swimmer Brenton Ford at Effortless Swimming for a few years. It turned out that they were offering a freestyle clinic on the 24th here in Sydney so she signed up for it a few months ago.

We found the pool easily and were very early so we were able to have a quick look at St. Mary’s cathedral near the pool and the Anzac monument in Hyde Park. The monument was exceptional & very moving.

Cath went to get ready for the clinic.

I wasn’t allowed to take any photos or videos of the clinic so I made my way over to the National Maritime Museum to see some boats & other cool maritime stuff.

First on the agenda were tours of the submarine & the destroyer on display.

Submarine HMAS Onslow was built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1968 & was in service from 1969 to 1999. One of the tour guides on board told me that the Canadian Navy also had 4 of the same model submarine.

I have never been onboard a sub before so this was a real experience for me. It was interesting to go through it but there’s no way I would want to be in something like this while it was submerged!

The sub generally had a crew of 70 on board. It must have felt very crowded when the full crew was there & submerged!

Our first point of entry was through the hatch into the torpedo room!

Crew workstations were very small with gauges & valves everywhere.

The heads were even smaller!

Twin diesel generators for charging the sub’s batteries.

After exiting the sub I took a tour of the destroyer. It seemed very spacious compared to the sub!

The destroyer HMAS Vampire was launched in 1917 & was originally named HMS Wallace! I knew there was something special about this ship!

It was commissioned into the Australian Navy in 1959 & decommissioned in 1986.

Cath and I rendezvoused back at the hotel around 3:00. She was tired but happy after her 3-1/2 hour clinic.

There were three other adults and two young girls at the workshop, led by an Aussie world champion swimmer turned swim coach named Mitch Patterson. He led the group in some dry land exercises, then videoed each swimmer and analyzed each person’s freestyle stroke.

The group then did some drills in the water focusing on the advice from Mitch who then videoed and analyzed each person’s swimming again. She found it very interesting and helpful!

We treated ourselves to a nice dinner at a restaurant by Darling Harbour and capped off the day with a Pavlova for dessert. No kangaroos were harmed in the creation of this dessert!

The Kiwis and the Aussies both claim to have invented this meringue based dessert named after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. It doesn’t matter to me who thought it up – I’m just glad they did!

Cheers!