Forgap & Rumor, Singapore-Sydney, Feb. 2-20, 2018--LIVE!

mmmm! Lovely shot, but it has nothing on that great photo you got of the Voyager from your balcony! That's a brochure worthy photo!

Thank you, Mudhen for your kind words! It’s funny how the Regent circle was small yesterday. I saw the Starship in the harbor while we were waiting for the ferry from Kirribilli to Circular Quay without knowing Ginny and Rich were on board. We then walked over to the Opera House and had a quick bite at the Opera Bar at about the same time Rachel and George were there. Now, if I had seen George’s iconic cowboy hat, I would have rushed up to them to introduce myself!

Sydney is simply magical. We were pretty tired yesterday due to limited sleep, leaving the ship, checking into our Airbnb (2 flights up -no elevator!), and walking more than my required 10,000 steps. We decided to get takeout while exploring the village of Kirribilli.

Kirribilli is a beautiful neighborhood in which to stay as it is one ferry stop from the Circular Quay yet a world away. The ferry is very efficient and will take you just about anywhere in Sydney.

The houses of the Prime Minister and the Governor are located here (in fact, Admiralty House is next door to our flat). Our cab driver laughed, saying we wouldn’t have to worry about security!

The architecture is varied and interesting with buildings from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. There are cute shops and restaurants and plenty of people walking the neighborhood and going about their routines.

The most spectacular aspect, however, are the night views. Enjoy!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Fabulous photos! Fabulous memories! Thanks--

Sheila

Wow, spectacular night photos.

Holy smokes Jennifer! Are you a photographer in addition to blogger and traveler?? Your pictures are incredible. Love this blog!

Holy smokes Jennifer! Are you a photographer in addition to blogger and traveler?? Your pictures are incredible. Love this blog!

You are way too kind! I always appreciate photographs as they capture not just the image put the photographers interests and point of view. I think that Rich's photos did this, I hope mine did, and it is the aspect of all these live blogs that I appreciate the most. Merci beaucoup!

Beautiful pictures Jennifer. . .thank you so much!

Peggy

The escorted portion of our three-night "Sydney and Beyond" tour is in the books after our second eight-hours-plus excursion.

We traveled about two hours west into the Blue Mountains, which is beautiful but not exactly mountainous as we know mountainous, living in the most southern portion of the Rocky Mountains. "Australia is so flat," our guide Desiree pointed out, "that we're desperate to call something a mountain." The more accurate term, she said, would be "uplifted, dissected plateau" (you can Google the term). In Blue Mountain's case, I'd add the words "with view," such as this one:

And especially this one, Blue Mountain's landmark "Three Sisters":

In Katoomba, we visited the privately owned Scenic World, which claims the steepest (52% incline) passenger railway in the world. The 310-meter thrill ride was over before we knew it, but, afterwards, Stowie was stoked about the experience:

Lunch was at The Covington, a Katoomba hotel founded in 1880, where I enjoyed a Katoomba Brewing Company lager (Roberto, I'm still on the hunt for a Toohey's and/or Castlemain XXXX to raise in your honor, but I'm running out of time). We also had an hour to explore nearby Leura, billed as The Garden Village.

Back at the hotel and feeling like Thai food for dinner we tried Australia celebrity chef David Thompson's nearby Long Chim on the hearty recommendation of a Four Seasons concierge. My Pad Thai with shrimp ($27 US!) was pretty good but Ginny's Rice Noodles with Chinese Broccoli was so salty as to be inedible. When she informed the server of this, we seemed to put the staff into a bit of a panic and a manager took our table over. She delivered a replacement noodles and broccoli (still too salty) and, on the house, a homemade coconut sorbet with candied nuts and little bits of deep-fried rice that wasn't even on the menu and almost good enough by itself to wipe away our Long Chim long faces.

Then, a couple of minutes into our short walk back to the hotel we stumbled upon a scene on Angel Place unlike anything we had ever seen. Above us were scores of birdcages of various shapes and sizes.

Although all were empty, we could hear the sounds of birds singing. Wha??

A server at a restaurant a few steps away explained that we were viewing an art installation called "Forgotten Songs." He directed us to an explanation embedded in the street: "These recordings are from bird species that once sang in central Sydney, before Europeans settled and gradually forced them away. Some of these birds can still be heard on the city margins. . ." On other plaques located here and there--a walk of feathers, if you will--we read some of the names: the Superb Lyrebird, the Scarlet Robin, the Mistletoe Bird, the White Eared Honeyeater. . .

I began to wonder what other hidden delights might Sydney be harboring? We have so little time to find out!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am so glad that Rich posted pictures of the Blue Mountains! Today is our last full day in Sydney and we went back and forth on booking this tour. I couldn’t face another long bus ride, or a bus for that matter, and my sweet husband agreed. I think we’ll just freestyle it today! (And look for the bird cage installation, thanks Rich!)

Yesterday was a full day. We started at the Royal Botanic Gardens which is a beautiful oasis in the heart of the city. One part is directly behind the Opera House and most of it hugs the harbor to Woolloomooloo. (Don’t you love the name?). At the Palm House, they had a show of linocuts and engravings by a very gifted artist, Rachel Newling. Her subjects are the flora and fauna of the region.

Lunch was in the gardens at The Pavillion. We had pasta and salad as we fought off the LOUD myna birds who were looking for an easy snack. The meal was not that memorable except for the clams in the pasta. Their shells were a work of art!

We then went on to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. If you are an art lover, this is a “must visit” in Sydney. They have a beautiful collection of aboriginal art as well as an impressive collection of European art including Picasso, Bonnard, Modigliani, and Lucian Freud.

The work of the day was finding a luggage shop as the pull handle on one of our suitcases snapped off and we needed another. Although it pains me to abandon our faithful suitcase in Sydney, we’ll leave him and his handle by the trash and hope some enterprising Aussie can fix him.

Exhausted from this task, rolling our new suitcase, we stumbled into a great bar on George St. called the Morrison. The Morrison had an impressive wine list and good beer and was packed with locals either having a late lunch or early happy hour.

We caught the ferry home for a quick rest and a nap before dinner in Kirribilli.

PS- Guess who woke me up today his morning? In the words of an Aussie “Cheeky little things...”

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Still loving the pics! Blue Mountains look great as do the botanic gardens. Definitely will have to return to Sydney.

Guess where we spent five hours of our “day of leisure”? We loved every precious Sydney minute. Weather was perfect (not hot and we had a light cloud cover the whole time)!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We had a very low key day today as we packed and arranged a taxi for 6 am tomorrow. We decided to go to Darling Harbor for lunch. Lunch as great but Darling Harbor was just OK. Darling Harbor reminds me of many redeveloped harbors (Boston and San Francisco come to mind). More glitz than substance and hoards of tourists.

We took the ferry to Circular Quay and accomplished all our last minute gift shopping at The Rocks. One last ferry ride home to Kirribilli and we rewarded ourselves with Tasmanian bubbles and a nice sunset to our vacation.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks very much Rich (and Ginny), Jennifer (and Georges) for sharing your fabulous post cruise trip experiences with us. Safe travels home.

Jennifer, bet your garden/plants are blooming--we will hit near 80 today in Atlanta

20,733 steps—it was some day of “leisure” in Sydney!

After a rest back in the hotel following our Taronga Park Zoo outing, we walked over to The Rocks for dinner at Pony, thrice recommended by Four Seasons concierges. Because we didn’t have a res we were seated at one of the longest restaurant community tables I’ve ever seen, stretching the length of the restaurant. No prob, as we had a great dinner conversation with a couple from our cruise we hadn’t met before plus another couple from Scotland who take off on a one month cruise to Singapore in the morning. Ginny adored her homemade roasted cauliflower and potato tortellini entree, while I passed on the seared kangaroo with pepperberry dressing for the market fish, white snapper (very nice).

Then we walked the short distance to Circular Quay. What a huge hopping scene! We were immediately captivated by Lunar Lanterns, a multiartist installation that is nearing the end of its quay run, which coincided with Sydney’s Chinese New Year Festival 2018. At The Rabbit by Claudia Chan Shaw, the playful bunnies’ zest for tai chi was contagious:

I was also on the hunt for a nighttime Harbour Bridge snap:

As I putter to the end of this day and my portion of this blog, DW is already sawing wood. We’re off to the airport in less than eight hours. I’ve dubbed the “day” Forever Friday, as we’ll be in the air 14 hours from Sydney to Los Angeles and another two hours from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, Yet even with the two hours between flights in L.A. we will arrive in ABQ two hours after we depart Sydney due to the huge time difference. It’s hard for me at this hour to wrap my brain around that!

As I’m sure you have gathered from reading my posts, Ginny and I have had a terrific time. We are grateful that we have the health and means to undertake these adventures at this time in our lives. And I’m grateful to you for sharing the journey. Your support means a lot!

G’night!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you so much for taking us on your trip and especially for the pictures! You have brought back special memories of places visited and sparked ideas for more places to go. Safe traveling home.

Mr Rumour what a beautiful end to this wonderful blog.

Thanks to you and your dear wife Ginny and to Forgap for taking us along on your cruise and land vacation.

Your posts and photographs have been excellent.

Safe travels home to you all, and thanks so much for making the cold February days much brighter. Jean.

Oh, Rich and Ginny, thanks so much for taking us along on your wonderful journey. Safe travels!

Susan and Mark

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Wonderful blog to read. I ended up in the hospital a week after our cruise/vacation ended in January and this gave me something to look forward to everyday. Great pictures.

You mean to say the fun really is coming to a close now? Shame....but that gorgeous pic of the koala rounds it all off so beautifully! Thank you all for taking us along. It's been a blast!

Rich and Jennifer I'm sure are both undercover photographers! Your pics were excellent. Safe travels to you both. Thank you for your excellent observations. I'll miss my daily dose of blogging heaven!

Hi Rich,

We were on the Voyager with you and Ginny last year from Sing to HK and we also did the Auckland to Sing before. Your blogs and pics were a great treat! You outdid yourself. I especially liked the "G'night"! And Forgap, we never met but you did a great job! Loved your pics. Your have good taste in art also! (That just means it's similar to mine):D

Stan and Pat

Rich and Forgap-

Thanks so much for sharing you journey with us. So many interesting ports, so many wonderful memories.

We flew home on my birthday, from Auckland to Florida, changing planes in Dallas. So we celebrated my birthday for two days it was a great experience.

Safe travels home. Look forward to your next sailings and until we meet again

Sheila

We are comfortably ensconced in the air New Zealand lounge waiting for our Asiana flight. I have real flight envy as we booked using points so we were at the mercy of United’s website. We are routed from Sydney to Seoul to Chicago to Atlanta. Yes, over 24 hours in transit. Our layover in Chicago was overnight so we booked an airport hotel so we could feel more refreshed the next morning. Wish us luck! At least we’re not in coach!

Australia is altogether fabulous, but it's a loooooong way from everywhere else! 2 flights minimum. One gets used to it.

Australia is altogether fabulous, but it's a loooooong way from everywhere else! 2 flights minimum. One gets used to it.

It depends upon where you live. We did a non-stop flight from Sydney to Vancouver 4 years ago. Long trip but when you have a flatbed seat, it is easily manageable.