Dave’s Trip To, Around and Into Australia, Sept. 26 – Nov. 23, 2016

Oct. 19, at sea (Cont.)

There is a lot of activity and buzz on the ship tonight as some of the passengers prepare to leave tomorrow. We have received Australian customs forms, and written instructions of what to do tomorrow for in-transit passengers (basically, pretty much the same as a turn-around day in Ft. Lauderdale or Quebec – take your papers, get checked by the authorities and don’t come back any time soon.)

Interestingly, this evening we got both the Cruise Log for debarking passengers and the On Location for those staying on board. I will post the On Location tomorrow, but here is the Cruise Log:

More later,

Dave

I think my dinner would have been the potato soup, followed by the mushroom soup, and then one of all four desserts. They all sound really good to me!! I'd have to keep reminding myself that a moment on my lips, just might end up a lifetime on my hips!

Great repowering and pictures.

Many times, if there were a lot of us staying over for the next cruise in Ft Lauderdale, we would get the On Location for the next day and on Transition day we would also get a Times Digest.

Hi Dave,

Great reports and how nice to hear that there was the "farewell" by the crew and the Cruise Log. It looked like those were going by the wayside. May this be a sign of them returning ;)

Hi Dave,

 

Great reports and how nice to hear that there was the "farewell" by the crew and the Cruise Log. It looked like those were going by the wayside. May this be a sign of them returning ;)

I got the Cruise Log on my most recent cruise, on Zaandam's last Alaska for the season.

Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk

Oct. 20, Sydney

We are due to arrive at Sydney’s White Bay this morning. We have a tour to the Blue Mountains booked tomorrow, but today we will just walk about and explore. We plan to go ashore, muster with the Australian authorities and then take the shuttle bus the ship has arranged to take us to King St. Wharf in Darling Harbor. Then, we will wander around the city center area and have some lunch before returning to the ship.

Here are the first four pages of today’s On Location:

More in the next post,

Dave

Oct. 20, Sydney (Cont.)

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

Here are the Explorer pages about Sydney:

More later,

Dave

Oct. 20, Sydney (Cont.)

A quick post of photos of our arrival into Sydney Harbor just before sunrise:

More later,

Dave

Fabulous photos. Thank you!!!!! I think cruising into Sydney Harbor would be absolutely beautiful, and I hope to experience it one day. Cherie

Great sail in weather!

I laughed that they pick eight things to see, there are more then 108 in Sydney!

Oct. 20, Sydney (Cont.)

The transit to White Bay and docking went well, and the authorities cleared the ship quickly; the ship started calling colors and numbers about 7:20. We waited until just before 9 to set out.

As we entered the terminal, we found a long line, but it moved quickly. There were several agents checking documents, and we cleared in about 15 minutes. We walked out and boarded a shuttle bus that took us on a round-about route out of the port and across the ANZAC bridge to Darling Harbor, and then dropped us at Kings Wharf.

We walked a few blocks to George Street and found the main post office where we bought stamps for post cards to the U.S. (By the way, nobody mentioned the steep route up from Kings Wharf to George Street ;-} -- it reminded me of Seattle’s steep streets.) But, the streets in the main part of town were not too steep and we wandered quite a bit, doing some shopping and looking around. We passed a barber offering men’s haircuts for $15 up, and DW firmly suggested I take advantage. Being mostly bald, with not much up, I got the $15 price. The barber did a nice, quick job and we were on our way shortly.

We then returned to King’s Wharf and strolled the promenade, looking at the menus of the bars/restaurants that were opening then, about 11:30. We chose to have lunch at the King Street Brewhouse. After a leisurely meal, we walked up a few stairs to where the shuttle bus stopped. One came in a few minutes, and we returned to ship.

We got our Explorer package for this cruise last night as well. Here is the cover sheet:

There are five Gala nights instead of the three we expected from our cruise docs, but the one that surprised us was the night of our visit to Brisbane – usually they are on at-sea days if it works, and there are sea days either side of the Brisbane visit. It doesn’t matter at all, but seems just a bit odd.

The bar staff and wine stewards have all moved to different locations, and we have a new Cruise Director, Jeremy. His voice sounds familiar, so we think we have cruised with him before.

Whoever is with us, we’re looking forward to the circumnavigation cruise!

More later,

Dave

Oct. 20, Sydney (Cont.)

We went to the Mix bar for a pre-dinner drink, and then into early seating in the dining room. The menu tonight was almost identical to the menu we had the night we sailed from Seattle. Here are the dinner and dessert menus:

DW had the lentil soup again, while I had the calypso shrimp cocktail – the first vegetarian shrimp dish I’ve had (the menu has the vegetarian symbol next to the shrimp cocktail; I’m not even going to comment on the carets).

We noticed it was still sunny after dinner, and then did a head-slap: we are in the Southern Hemisphere, and it is spring, and the days are getting longer. But, the light gave me a chance to take a shot of the ANZAV bridge to the south from White Bay, and of the Sydney skyline to the southeast:

More later,

Dave

Enjoying your reports.

We have seen Gala Nights when you have an early departure like you do in Brisbane, not often, but we have seen that.

Soooo pleased that a shuttle bus is provided.

Enjoy this great adventure !!!

Thanks again for sharing it with all of us. :)

Barbara

Checking on your fascinating report daily, actually a few times everyday. Thank you for sharing your experience. By the end of your trip we should be heading out to Singapore to board the Volendam. :)

Oct. 21, Sydney

Another day in Sydney. We have booked the excursion to visit the Blue Mountains. It is an all-day tour, and we will probably be gone until the all aboard at 3:30. Then, there is another mandatory boat drill at 4:30. So, it will be this evening before I update the blog.

Here are the first four pages of today’s On Location:

More in the next post,

Dave

Oct. 21, Sydney (Cont.)

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

And, here are two flyers that were delivered to the cabin yesterday. They don’t seem to go together, but maybe you do the first events and then take part in the activities of the second:

More later,

Dave

Enjoy your trip the the Blue Mountains . Many years ago when I lived in Sydney I spent most weekends in the Blue Mountains hiking and spotting exciting wildlife ...

Oct. 21, Sydney (Cont.)

The tour to the Blue Mountains left at 8 a.m. and got back to White Bay at 4:15. The ship held off the boat drill until we had arrived and had time to process aboard, so it started after 4:30 and finished just before early fixed dinner, which also was delayed a few minutes, no doubt because the crew had to get back from emergency stations and get ready to serve us.

We set our clocks back tonight to conform with Brisbane time, but I have been going about pretty much all day – I took a lot of photos, and we visited several places, so I will not attempt to describe the tour tonight, but will pick it up on my tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was a lot of repeats from last cruise. Here are the MDR dinner and dessert menus:

As we dined, the ship got underway, and we sailed out of Sydney, under the bridge, past the Opera House and among the dozens of sailboats as we headed to sea and Brisbane.

DW started with the Garden Bounty Salad, and I had the potato and lobster soup. For main dish, she had the flank steak again, but I didn’t find anything appealing, so I went with the always-available salmon. Dessert was a high spot though – DW had the cherries jubilee and I had the whiskey chocolate torte. It was layers of chocolate cake with whiskey-flavored ganache, and came with whipped cream and raspberry coulis. That was excellent.

More later,

Dave

On your all day tour, did they give you a box lunch or take you somewhere nice for lunch?

Oct. 21, Blue Mountains Excursion

Our tour comprised 80 people, and we were put onto two large buses and left White Bay at 8.a.m. It was the HAL tour called “Discover the Blue Mountains.” It was a good thing it was a HAL tour, because, as I wrote earlier, the tour arrived back at 4:15. All aboard was 3:30, but the ship waited for us.

We drove for about an hour through western Sydney suburban streets and highways to our first stop – Featherdale Wildlife Park. This is a small zoo-like place with many animals and birds native to Australia. It was also very popular with tour groups, school outings, etc., so the small grounds were pretty packed. In fact, here is a typical shot:

But, the crowds thinned the further in you went, and we were able to see many of the animals. The small kangaroos and wallabies roamed pretty much at will, but other animals were in cages or compounds. Here are some photos of the animals:

If this cruise is anything like our Alaska cruise, this will only be the first of many shots of some of these. In Alaska, we took many photos of bald eagles the first few days and not so much later in the cruise. I suspect the same will happen with photos of koalas and kangaroos on this cruise.

More in the next post,

Dave

Oct. 21, Blue Mountains Excursion (Cont.)

After the wildlife park, we again drove for more than an hour up the motorway and the Great Western Highway into the Blue Mountains. Our guide said they were called that because the trees gave off vapors that looked blue in a distance – pretty much the same thing as in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.

The road climbed higher as we went – I saw elevation markings at the towns as we went – 347 meter, 643 meters, etc. Finally, we entered Katoomba, elevation 1017 meters, which is 3300+ feet. The air was cooler, and there were familiar azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias blooming in the mild spring.

We had just missed one performance at the Waradah Aboriginal Center, so we walked down the hill a bit to the Echo Point Lookout. There, we saw the famous Three Sisters formation; we stayed on the upper level, but people could walk to a lower promontory for the view:

Later, in the center, I took a photo of a placard that explained why they are called the Three Sisters:

More in the next post,

Dave

Oct. 21, Blue Mountains Excursion (Cont.)

I also took some photos from slightly different places along the Lookout; these show not only the beauty of the area, but also the ruggedness that kept settlers crossing west from the Sydney area for a long time:

We had noticed signs for various walking trails in the area, and we could see one just below us:

We returned to the Center in time for the next performance. The performance talked about the many separate aboriginal tribes and languages, their tools and lifestyle. There was also the explanation of the origin and playing of the digeridoo, the long hollow wooden musical instrument. The performer was excellent and could make a great many different sounds. The performers also danced and sang. We were told we could take photos. I took many shots, some of which were even in focus. Here is one of a dance:

More in the next post,

Dave

Oct. 21, Blue Mountains Excursion (Cont.)

After the performance, we had a bit more free time to get photos, but not enough to walk any of the trails. So I did some exploring closer to hand, in the Lookout Bar, and discovered a pint of quite nice ale.

Afterwards, we boarded the bus and went a short distance away in Katoomba toa place called the Mountain Heritage, a hotel and restaurant. It was an older hotel, but elegant, and reminded me of similar places in Britain, with a large sitting lounge, reception hall, etc. We filed into the restaurant and had lunch – previously we had indicated to the driver whether we wanted the breaded fish or the chicken schnitzel. Both DW and I had the schnitzel, which came with brown gravy (it tasted like Bisto to us) with vegetables and boiled small potatoes. Dessert was a fruit pavlova. Water and coffee were included, and there was a bar if you wanted to purchase beer or wine. The lunch was very good.

After lunch, we had a few minutes to walk the grounds and garden. I took some photos, including one of the view that could be seen from the restaurant and the front terraces:

Summary/opinions: This was a long day, with many long segments of bus travel. Restrooms were available at each stop. You get to see a good many things, including the wildlife park and a performance at the Aboriginal Center. But, DW and I think we would rather have had a tour devoted only to the Blue Mountains; we would have loved to see one or two of the waterfalls that we could see signs pointing to off the highway, or to have taken a short walk along some of the trails at Echo Point. I suppose the tour we got is a standard one from Sydney and it may be hard to do a “Just Blue Mountains” tour.

More later,

Dave